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Monday 7 April 2014

F is for Florimania vs Floricide


This is actually the fourth post I've written for F; having previously written F is for Friends, F is for Fantasy Necklaces and F is for Facebook and ditching all 3 posts.  Who knew F was going to be this contrary!

Trollbeads is a brand that definitely suffers from Florimania, a passion or penchant for flowers... now I like flowers, generally in their native form and planted in the ground.

Flowers in jewellery is something I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with, especially with Trollbeads.

As a general rule of thumb
Flowers depicted in Silver = Good
Flowers depicted in Glass = Bad
Except for the exceptions...
I am as contrary as F has turned out to be.

One of things I like about how Trollbeads depicts flowers in silver is they are often asymmetrical and quite detailed, on the whole they avoid the twee factor that you seem to get with the glass:


My favourite silver flower in my collection is Daisy, a long sought after bead that I love to wear on a leather with an all silver bracelet - and just happens to showcase the Elephant from last Saturday's post!


I have some other chunky flowers such as Forget me not right down to a tiny spacer called Baby's Breath.  The strange looking one on the end is designed to be worn on a Fantasy Necklace over a dangle so looks a little weird just on a horizontal rod.

L-R: Lotus flower, Forget me not, Daisy, Baby's Breath, Flower Lock, Elderflower Fantasy Pendant (splitter bead),
World Tour Sunflowers Van Gogh, Shadow Flower Pendant, 

Here are the glass flowers I have made an exception for.  I didn't realise until I was sorting through them that this mostly just applies to either green or purple glass - with one orange because I loved the background!

L-R: Aurora Flower, Purple Unique, Flowers on Indigo,
Sunrise Blossom, Pale Green Unique, Green Unique,
Green & Turquoise Unique

Actually that's a lot more than I thought I had... mmm maybe I should appraise my opinion of where I sit flower wise... nah, in the grand scheme of how many flowers Trollbeads has in it's glass collection, mine are a mere tip of the Trollbead Iceberg of Flowers*.

I also am not sure about the 2 green ones on the end, the 1st I bought because it goes so well with another bead I bought at the same time, if not for that I would never have picked it up - and the one on the end I bought for a project which hasn't worked out... I do love the light pale green one lots though!  My purple flowers I think are more about the fact I love purple than the flowers themselves although I do like all these.

And, finally, who could forget the crazy pod beads, sort of crazy flowers, these are DEFINITELY an exception, as I LOVE these!


I haven't quite reached the stage of Floricide with my glass flower collection, a few have "disappeared" from my bead box but rather than being a killer of flowers they have been moved for their own safely to be with my more flower loving bead friends.

Flowers in jewellery?  Good or Bad? Where do you sit on the Florimania vs Floricide debate?

*P.S. Okay as an Idiom that didn't make total sense given you can find them in any catalogue or online, but forgive me - this is the 4th F post I've actually written and I was losing the plot slightly!

26 comments:

  1. Hi, I love your blog and I definetly am a flower addicted... I also love the silver ones and the only glass flowers I own and love are old antique flower and pastel flower abd the old buttercup, I can't tell the reason why but silvers are the best flowers to wear. I adore the flower of month and I am collecting them all.
    Kind regards
    Lia

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    1. Thanks Lia, and for stopping by!

      I haven't got any of the Flower of the Month beads, when they first came out I wanted to see them all in person before choosing and my LD didn't have them in to start with. I never got back around to sorting through them yet!

      Mars xx

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  2. Nope I'm with you all the way. Floral silvers - usually fine! Can almost look a little gothic depending on the piece (thinking Trollbeads birth month flowers as opposed to super shiny other brand flowers ;))

    Floral glass - not good. Resembles table cloths, curtains or perhaps skirts that my nan would wear. Miss her dearly but don't share her taste in clothes.

    Like you I love the pods - but they're more plant like I think? I do have some floral glass.. flower diamonds (because they were limited and I get sucked in,) World Tour (same) but they don't get worn very often :<

    /hugs

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    1. I really like my light green one, and I love the vibrancy of Sunrise Blossom, mine is really orangy, and Flowers in Indigo, essentially the middle 3 glass, the others I could sell tomorrow and not really miss them. My aurora flower was also one I bought when I went in for a stripe, but I'm not really using it... time to have a rethink I think!

      Mars xx

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  3. Love flower glass, got a whole bracelet of them!!

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    1. You are most definitely on the Florimania side!!

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  4. Flowers are always good, in whatever form they take (real or otherwise). I always admire creative people. Enjoy the rest of the A to Z Challenge

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    1. Thanks for visiting, just popped over to yours, love your theme!

      I'm on my lunch break at the moment but will pop back tonight to have a proper nosy through your A to Z.

      Mars xx

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  5. Flower beads, hmmmmm. Love em and hate em, it all depends on how they are used. For example the daisy in your bracelet (with elephant) is so perfect, how could you not love that bead? On the other hand, I have seen people do some pretty awful things with flower beads, its kind of like a man/lady wearing cologne/perfume, more is definitely not always better. I always try to remember it's not the bead's fault. Those pod beads are just wonderful,

    Where do you come down on beads that look like candy, for example a peppermint? Sometimes they look so real I want to pop them in my mouth.

    Liz at Bead Contagion

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    1. I think beads that look like the real thing are dangerous if it's food like and anywhere near me... I might choke! I admire glass artists who can do all these things, but generally I'm less likely to wear something like that, I tend to gravitate to less concrete shapes/images. Having said that I do like some critter beads or beads with an indentified symbol on it.

      I think you hit the nail on the head though, it *very much* depends what you do with it, I've discounted some beads only to see someone do something stunning with it and I've changed my mind, as I make and break my bracelets all the time I know I've had that effect on others too, a "I wasn't fussed on that bead but now I've seen "X" I really like it".

      Sorting out my flower beads for this has been quite good though as there may bit of flower adoption that needs to happen shortly in case I lean too far towards floricide.

      Mars xx

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  6. Beautiful. I love the metal ones and silver is my favorite. I collect jewelry at time, but I rarely wear it - wrong lifestyle!
    Marlene at On Writing and Riding

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    1. Thank you. Ah you and Victoria sound like you have the same issues, for that I'd recommend the bangle...

      Trollbeads Bangle


      ...good for people with busy equine lifestyles! Can't speak from that angle but I know at work it's the easiest one to wear as it's flat on the underside so doesn't get in the way.

      Mars xx

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  7. Wow! I just learned a whole lot. Glad we found each other's blogs. Happy A-Z!

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    1. Hi Jodie,

      So pleased I found your blog yesterday, that was such lovely timing... might have to watch FGT again this week as a result!

      Good luck with the rest of the alphabet!

      Mars xx

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  8. I thought I'd be able to say that I have no floral beads in my bead box, but then I remembered the silver Tulip bead! So I guess I also fall into the camp of silver = ok, glass = not so much. :D

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    1. :D I'm reconsidering some of my glass, as I'm not using some of them at all, also my elderflower fantasy splitter, I always use Baby Dragon if I need to split, plus it's symetrical... I don't do symetrical as well, unless it's the lotus flower, 'cos hey that's a lotus flower and they're just cool!

      Mars xx

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  9. I personally love silver flower beads if done as crisp as possible, which is possibly why I really dislike glass flower beads. I love and adore that silver lotus flower - I noticed it right off! Really cool blog you have here. Go A to Z Challenge. :) I actually clicked here from a comment you just made and I am so glad I did. I love making jewelry though I don't blog about it. Cheers.

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    1. Thanks for commenting :) The lotus flower is a really lovely bead, I keep meaning to pick up a second one - it works especially well at the end of a bracelet as it overlaps the ends creating a lovely effect.

      Lotus Flower

      So glad you enjoyed the blog and good luck with the challenge!
      Mars xx


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  10. Funny I never buy myself flowers but love the ones I have been gifted, and your collection is so pretty. There is a craze for a daisy type flower jewellery here in Denmark over the last few years, in either black or white, that so many women are wearing, maybe that's why I'm not fond of it.

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    1. Ah would that be the Story by Kranz and Ziegler daisies by any chance as modelled by Medina if you are based in Denmark? Or is Denmark just Daisy crazy in general?

      It's funny as I've never seen anyone else wearing Story over here apart from me, or the girls behind the counter if I go in to buy it - would probably get a bit over excited if I bumped into someone randomly wearing it!

      Mars xx

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  11. Hello :)

    I love the special month flowers edition... and I do really plan to have them all, may be once or twice ...the are my favourites

    It appears that I have already one garden blet... and still continue buying beads on this theme I bought glass with flowers (love the retired rose, and the wistaria) I think the reason is my own garden has so many roses and a beautiful wisteria) and for me is such a reminiscence of childhood !!

    On another hand I have two flower beads on my pirates sea leather .... one is Brown flower on blue end the other is blue flower on orange... they are uniques and look like corals

    To sum up... I think the more important is the match between the beads that they really make a lovely pattern :)

    Huge hugs from France

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    1. Yep I think *how* they are used does make a massive difference, my silver = good, glass = bad is a general rule as you can see not one I always follow slavishly, having said that I do see another cull in my glass flowers coming. Simply by writing the post I'm already reappraising what I have.

      I might force myself to try a girly bracelet just for the hell of it before I do... just to see what it looks like!

      Mars xx

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  12. I'm actually a fan of both the silver and the glass flowers, although I am much more picky about the glass ones.

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    1. Thanks for popping in and commenting.

      I think glass ones can easily go either way, from stunning to oh my god (in a bad way). I've seen flowers I generally dislike, but one individual bead, same flower/glass colour/pattern might stand out as lovely just because it's been done really well.

      Mars xx

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  13. Wow! I never knew there were so many different types of beads out there, much less glass vs. silver flowers to consider. I would have to agree with you that I tend to prefer flowers planted in the ground. They're usually much too girly-girl for my taste, when it comes to jewelry or clothing. I do like more unusual, asymmetrical flowers, I suppose because they seem more "wild" that way. So I like that you have a Van Gogh Sunflower bead; those are definitely more my type of flower - wild, brightly colored, and maybe even... edible? ;)

    Cheers from Laura @Buttontapper.com

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    1. Hi Laura, thanks for popping in!

      It's amazing what can be done with glass, I admire the skill having tried it once myself, looks easy when you watch an experienced lampworker (person who works with glass in this way) but not so easy when you try and do it yourself ;)

      Will be following the rest of your challenge, fun topics!

      Mars xx

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I love saying hi to people who've read my blog, or are just passing through via the A to Z, or anyone not a spam bot!

P.s. If you use an iPad/iPhone and are having trouble leaving a comment on Blogger, you might have better luck using a browser that's not the default iPad one... Then from the "Comment as" drop down menu choose Name/Url (you can leave URL field blank or add your web address) or Anonymous and (hopefully) away you go! Mars xx