Budgets and Decisions... and a pre-order discount!

Bank Holiday Weekend in the UK and I have a rather sedate time planned.  

The weather is somewhat grey today, and as I had unexpected expensive expenses this month (as both my car and my fridge/freezer needed repairs and replacement respectively) - you can imagine some online shopping for beads with my budget next month seems super exciting by comparison!

I've actually been really good over the last few months and have been underspending my budget which is practically unheard of, plus it means I have a bit extra to spend for September.

So what to choose? 

As a fan of Ohm's Bead of the Month I've been given a break as I was less keen on August and September's offerings, lovely charms just not for me!  The new Trollbeads release is ready for pre-orders for September delivery and X Jewellery have just released details of their new collection, oh, and I did rather like the new Thomas Sabo Karma release and it's not long before details will emerge on Redbalifrog's next release, Enchanted Glade.  Plus at the end of next month it's Endangered Trolls first release partnered with the fabulous Alex of ACA Kreations. 

I was going to wait to see what Redbalifrog had to offer, and I definitely wanted a Troll from Endangered Trolls and Alex's collaboration, so I thought my spending would be at the end of September... but I have been tempted down a different path a bit earlier than planned.

New twisted bangles in silver and copper from Trollbeads - release date 9th September 2016

Trollbeads 15% off Bank Holiday Weekend deal via Acotis, who are offering the 15% on new pre-orders as well as existing collection, spend over £100 and you can throw in a free travel case too!  

I had to stop at just Trollbeads as they are offering the deal across all brands!!

My choice?  One of each of the new twisted bangles and lots of stoppers are on order... I still can't get them until September but it will be something to look forward to next month!

What's tempting you at the moment?

Rebel without Tomato Sauce!

Like many others I was really intrigued, and rather excited, when Trollbeads announced they were going to release a copper version of the very popular solid silver bangle at the end of April.

I love the use of different metals in jewellery and as I don't normally react to copper (I'm quite lucky on the metal allergy front) I couldn't wait to receive my bangle and stoppers.

Copper Bangle & Stoppers from Trollbeads (bead my own)

This is my bangle as it arrived, the background is actually the tissue paper it was wrapped in!  I started wearing it straight away and Yay no reaction - not that I was expecting to have one, but it's nice to know I still don't!

I've made very few changes since it arrived, I liked the copper next to the green bead so much that I've actually not swapped the bead at all; I've just added a couple of silver stoppers to the mix.

Copper Bangle from Trollbeads paired with
Bronze & Silver Links from X Jewellery 

One aspect I was really curious about was how it would age as there was lots of chatter on the Internet about this element of using copper in jewellery.

On purpose, I've followed none of the guidelines for keeping it shiny; I've deliberately left it out all the time (ooh you rebel), just over 2 months now, so that it would get as "aged" as it possibly could.

Prompted by a question on the Wednesday Twitter #Trollbeadschat (8pm GMT if you're interested?) I tweeted a before and after pic of my bangle for comparison.

Left: Bangle on the day it arrived, Right: Bangle 2 months later after no care

It's gone a lovely deeper copper colour which I quite like!  I left it another week but then decided it was time to try out some of the methods for cleaning it.

Me, being me, didn't bother to look them up... so I tried vinegar as I had a vague recollection that was one of the possible, find it around the house, cleaning products - not so great, it was much better on my chips!

The one that bead friends seemed to swear by was Tomato Sauce, oops having just had some chips I'd run out of Ketchup!  So I turned to the next best thing...

The cleaning power of HP

Really I should have taken a pic when the bangle was half clean to show the difference... the black marks still on the bangle have actually come off the inside of my silver stoppers; I haven't been able to remove those yet!

Although I forgot to take a pic of the bangle halfway through, I think this next pic might demonstrate the difference between the before and after quite well!

Left: Stoppers before cleaning     Right: Stoppers after cleaning!

It's very simple, just put a tiny blob on some kitchen towel, rub your bangle and stoppers with it and voila!  I washed them in mild soapy water afterwards to remove the food smell, dried them very thoroughly and I was good to go.

Personally I'm very happy with the colour that develops over time with my bangle; for now at least though it's back to shiny!

My Copper Bangle, shiny again thanks to HP Sauce!

Next step - test it on my bronze X Jewellery links!  Now, for some reason I'm craving a bacon sandwich...

Would you wear copper jewellery and other metals?

What do you currently use to clean your jewellery? Share your tips!