How do I customize my mala?
We are honored to help in creating a custom mala, as all custom malas are made to order. Please allow up to two weeks for us to create your special piece, but often we can get to it in 1 week.
Sakura Designs staff are professional mala makers and the very best materials are used and your mala is made with great care. Please choose the product called “Custom Designed Mala”*
Custom Mala Design Basic Options, there are additional add ons on the order page:
#1 Marker Bead: color and placement More Info
#2 The End of the Mala: tassel, snakeknot or beadknot?
#3 Metal Spacers: None or silver or gold-plated metal spacers?
What happens if my custom design doesn’t come out “exactly as I was hoping,” or “I did not like what I designed?”
This is very rare, as our professional craftsmanship is considered excellent, and we try our very best to accommodate custom designs. However differences can happen sometimes when you are designing your own mala rather than purchasing what is photographed, and is an inherent limitation of the internet. This can also happen if you’d like marker beads placed differently than our Tibetan Style, which is how most malas are made on our site. We prefer to keep custom requests simple, and request that customers choose from the options above, so no other requests please! *
Custom work is never guaranteed to be exact as stated in our policies, but we can usually come very close. We must ask for design and natural materials flexibility. Please understand our limitations and policies before requesting a custom design, and that we must waive all liability for mis-communication, omissions in your requests, natural stone color and tassel tone variations, as well available materials. We will inform you if we are not able to accommodate a custom request, and we can discuss another option.
Custom Mala Redesigns
You may decide that you’d like another design, or you mala may be broken and in need of repair. You can send them back for a re stringing, there is a $30 +s/h charge for redesigns.
We’d be happy to remake it, please order this service ($30 s/h) online here:
https://www.buddhistmala.com/store/mala_restringing.html
The address of where to ship it to is available at the link above.
Custom Mala Returns
If you decide to return your custom piece for a partial refund, please know that custom design fee for labor and time ($30), restocking fees (15%), $50/hour consultation fee if applicable, and shipping to and fro are not refundable, since this mala will be made for you, by your request, and is not re-sellable as is, but we can always recycle!
Thank you for your understanding, and in the rare instance when this does happen, please… above all ….remember kindness, and we’ll work to get it right! You can always be “safe” and choose mala design as photographed, and there are no additional custom fees.
* Custom requests are limited to the options above, and no additional requests can be honored. We cannot offer imported knot of eternity/ wheel tassels, all guru bead choice customization and the custom fee is for an unknotted (knots after each bead) mala. Malas are not designed to be worn, so we cannot offer custom “size requests” for wrist sizes or for wrapping around wrist. Our Buddhist Malas have about one bead space in-between, just right for counting, that will slowly loosen slightly over time and with use.
Some materials have limited availability, particularly guru beads. We can usually match your guru bead either the stone or marker type. Thank you for your understanding!