Trollbeads on holiday

I had been pondering over what to take away with me when I went on holiday, this was my first trip abroad since collecting trollbeads and whilst I've carted my beads all over the UK, I was a bit more reticent to haul my collection on holiday with me.

I'd read some good tips from other trollies and bloggers who offered that they took a few ready made combinations for convenience, rather than make up bracelets whilst away, which made a lot of sense to me.

 

I had a number of worries about taking several bracelets away with me, mostly about the value of them, and whether or not I had somewhere safe to keep them when they weren't being worn.  I never wear jewellery during the day on holiday so I needed somewhere secure to store them, and in basic accommodation you're never 100% sure you'll have access to a room safety deposit box no matter what the holiday brochure says.

I also worried about simple loss or damage (insect repellent spray, being less careful when out and about) particularly regarding non-production beads or limited edition/retired beads.  Maybe, I'm just too anxious about my beads!

I decided to make up 1 bracelet which I would wear whist I was travelling, that would go with all the clothes I was taking, and to just hope that we had access to a safety deposit box at the apartment!

Easier said than done; as I hadn't actually decided on what outfits I was taking...

I decided to finish a bracelet that I'd already started, I added my 2 new silvers to the combination to make a purple, green and blue combination - and throw caution to the wind with non-production beads and limited editions (given it had several OOAKs and Baby's breath included).

Clockwise from Flower Lock: stopper, purple wave, cool dusk, OOAK budded python, whitecap,
purple armadillo, the hare and the tortoise, midnight flowers, baby's breath, flowers on indigo, happy fish,
forest flowers, forget-me-not, purple stripe, lake eye, OOAK, OOAK, purple prism

It felt like a holiday combo as it has fish, flowers, animals, whitecap and cool dusk to name a few.  Although I wouldn't want to meet a budded python ;)  I really like this one for the colours and I'm still getting over using my 3 flower glass beads as I keep saying I'm not as keen on them but I think they work really well in this combination.

Then I remembered my comments from my last holiday beads discussion that it was a shame I didn't have any pinks as I have a few pink items in my wardrobe that could have done with a pop of pink on my bracelet... given that I'd just received some pink beads I decided to see what could be done.

I choose the 4 I thought would work best, and then it was just a case of deciding where they went... I have to say that 21 beads on a 17cm bracelet is a very FULL bracelet.  I only had room to squeeze one stopper on and sometimes doing it up was a challenge, but it worked with 4 pinks and I especially wasn't going to go without a stopper or safety chain on holiday!

The combination worked really well with all my outfits, the only time I had to change it (to remove the pinks) was when I wore a skirt I'd picked up in the sales in Monsoon at the airport branch... the pinks were just too much for the dark grey with orange embroidery!

For those wondering, thankfully we did have a safety deposit box in the room!

Simply Beads and Bracelets

After all the excitement of the last month and the pitter patter of tiny packages on the doormat I thought it was about time to just make some bracelets.

The first one I wanted to make up was one using Skyline, my competition bead.  It's another "purply/blue" bead with gold glitter, so I chose to put this with other glitters, browns and blues.  I did a glass/silver pattern to show off each individual bead.

Whilst keeping this one to wear I used my agate beads and zodiac stars to make another.  This is now one of  the advantages of having 3 silver bracelets and 3 locks as I can assemble bracelets and not have to dismantle them simply to make a new combination using different beads.

I added Blue Goldstone (which is a glass bead) and my Jasper as focal beads at the sided of the bracelet and quite a small one at the front.  I love the way the camera has picked up the variations within the agate.

I've been good to my word in saving my last planned purchase of September for a special bead, as I've seen some lovely turquoise beads that would go beautifully with these two agate kits.

Finally I played around to see what I could make with what was left in my bead box...

I had fun picking out the rest of my purple beads and, thinking about it I really think I need some more (nooooooo I'm being so good right now... no more beads!)  I put them with blues and greens and made the bracelet combo below.  It went well with the flower lock but I need some more stoppers if I'm going to make a "short" bracelet as I like my beads to stay put... or I need more purple beads to make a full bracelet!

The more I've been looking at this combination of beads the more I love it.  I think that another Baby's breath to mirror the Flowers on Indigo central bead would work really well (if I can find another).  2 of the bigger silvers either side of the other 2 flower beads would set this bracelet off beautifully, and then perhaps to finish it with 2 stoppers either end to keep the beads together?

I may approach this differently and leave this made up for a while to see if I can "finish" it as a complete bracelet - as I tend to mostly collect beads which then get made into bracelets. (As opposed to having a firm bracelet/concept idea and buying beads with that in mind).

Just one (or two) more... (Falling off the Wagon Part V)

I really thought with my recent bonanza of bead packages that the temptation had abated slightly, and actually it had... I was so pleased with my extra beads, bracelet and locks that I was feeling rather content.

Of course I always see beads that I desire, however I can reign it in when needs be (sometimes).  What I wasn't prepared for was when another collector had reduced their prices on some beads I'd liked... to the point where I was totally restrained, oh for all of about 2 minutes when I saw them.

2 quick mouse clicks later (and a short message just in case you thought I was using the mouse clicks as morse code) and pink bud and the limited edition Snow Swirls from the Christmas Kit were winging their way to me...  May just be the quickest transaction to date, posted about 90 minutes after the first message, so requested, paid, packed and posted in record time!

  

My final indulgence of the week was Baby's Breath as described here by Endangered Trolls, it's a spacer and much smaller than normal beads.  I've shown it next to a normal bead and a prism so you can see the size comparison with production beads.  I'd really like another one but I'm being good on the bead buying (at long last) as I'm waiting to spend my final indulgence of September on something special.

Baby's breath was not released in the UK; this was bought from another collector.  The trollbead community are very generous when there are limited releases in other countries; helping out those who don't live there, or who can't, or who are not yet comfortable buying internationally and quite a few of us have benefited from their kindness in getting hold of these to pass on.  To be honest it's probably more considerate to my bank balance if I don't yet buy from abroad as I've seen some stunning beads from other collectors around the globe!!!