Trollbeads New Collectors Case

It's no secret that I have a rather unhealthy addiction to beads and I'm forever trying to find a storage solution that will keep my beads in one place, or as near to one place as I can manage as my collection grows.

Enter the newest contender for that top spot - the much anticipated Collectors Case from Trollbeads.

The new box is about one and a half times the size of the old White Collectors Case that many Trollbeads fans might have.  If you remember I did some interesting mods to my old case in order to get some more rod storage - as this is how I like to store, look and find beads when I'm making up my bracelets.

You can imagine then, that for me a big selling point was the 8 super long rods in the new case; also the price, it was £99 including postage... which is only £25 more than I paid for my white case, and several hundreds of pounds less than the Ultimate Collectors Case!

New Collectors Box Vs White Collectors Box

Now I know most people will be thinking that is a lot for a jewellery box and it is... but there's surprisingly little available on the market for people with bigger collections.

Price wise, as it wasn't that much more than the white box, for a whole load more box, I wasn't expecting the same build quality as the white one, to judge Troll by Troll's own standards.  To some extent, this was sadly the case (excuse the pun), so let's get the bad bits out of the way so I can concentrate on the awesome bits!

The build quality is not quite to the same standard as the white box...
But, given it was only £25 more for a bigger case I wasn't expecting it to be.

Parts of the wrap on the outside of the case are already a little worn looking and the rod ends have that slightly unfinished feel to them by being a little bit rough at the very ends.  Finally, I'm not convinced how well the foam side inserts will weather over time, but I do intend to be very careful with all of these issues, and to get some sandpaper to those rods!

Having just said all that - I do think this box is awesome!

To start with it's all about packing a HUGE amount of beads into the smallest space possible whilst still being able to SEE them!  Something that a lot of other storage cases don't always deliver, and I think I actually might prefer this way of storage to the Ultimate Collectors Case.

Look how much bead space you get in a compact area!

What you actually get for your £99 is 8 lovely long bead rods in the lid, with a top plain layer of flat velvet on the other side to protect everything.  Underneath that is the next pull out layer, 6 large compartments which in turn sits on the very bottom of the box - 10 smaller compartments up the sides and 6 single long compartments ideal for full bracelets and 2 double sized compartments that can fit 2 or 3 bracelets depending on style.

I wasted no time in trying to fill it!

Trollbeads New Collectors Case - 1st play!
L-R: Lid rod storage, Top 6 compartments, Bottom Layer

This was my first attempt and I'm sure I'm going to change this as I go along, especially as I didn't quite manage to get everything in the one box.

I did get all my Trollbeads in, both regular and X Jewellery but I still have some stray beads in another box, and sadly my bangles don't fit in when I have beads on them as I tend to wear quite chunky beads which are too wide for the narrow depth of the top layer.

Another point to note is that the rods don't come complete with rubber o-rings (the bits you use to stop beads sliding off) so I transferred all my extra o-rings from my white box skewer mods across to each end the new rods.  I'm also going to order some more and put an extra one in the centre of each rod; so I can remove beads from either side of the rod whilst not holding on to the full load of sliding beads, far more manageable!

I LOVE seeing my beads and bracelets like this, and for me, this is why this case is so awesome!

The flat velvet protection top can also double up as play tray later on - although it's flat, when it's sat on the bottom most layer as the box (with the middle layer removed), the box sides then act as the "lip" to stop your beads rolling off.

Beadplay on the flat velvet (Trollbeads & Elfbeads)

Very useful for bead play and makes a nice backdrop for taking photos.  Er, so expect to see more photos with a black backdrop in the future I guess!

What do you think to the new case?

Tempted, or would you rather keep your pennies for beads?

Thomas Sabo Jewellery Boxes - Karma Beads & Charm Club

So I mentioned back in my Karma beads post at the end of 2014 that I'd received a free jewellery box but didn't actually show you the box.

Since then I've not only finished my Karma Bracelet (sort of, remember the small bead issue?) but I've also treated myself to the Thomas Sabo Karma Jewellery Box as well.

So without further ado...  I shall start backwards with the one that I ordered specifically and then show you the one I received as a Gift with Purchase.

Thomas Sabo Karma Beads Jewellery Box

This is a satin box with an embroidered top.  

It has one top compartment which holds a full bracelet and has indentation space for a further 10 charms and it also has 3 drawers in the bottom that can hold a further 20 charms across 2 draws with 1 deeper draw for pendants or other accessories.

The benefits to this jewellery box are that it's perfect for Karma, er, as you'd expect being the Karma Jewellery Box!  It fits a full bracelet and has enough room to expand on your charms, I can't really envisage me having 30 Karma charms in addition to my bracelet just yet, so there's plenty of life in the box whilst still being a small and beautiful thing to have on your bedside table, or wherever it is you store your jewellery boxes.

The downside for me is that the satin picks up every speck of dust and I'm not the most hoover happy of people, so I do wonder how long it will remain pristine... I've already had to clean one smudge off before I photographed it!

I'm hoping I'll get to test the indentations out soon as I want to replace my smaller bead with something more in keeping size wise for my current bracelet.

Thomas Sabo Charm Club - Charm Suitcase

Now let me start by saying up front that this is not to my taste in jewellery boxes, so I personally wouldn't have paid the RRP of £15.00 - however as a Gift With Purchase for spending too much just enough money to qualify, then I welcome it as extra storage for some of my other jewellery!

It doesn't seem to hold much for it's size, but as it was designed to hold TS charms from their regular charm line that hardly seems a fair criticism of it!

Inside there is removable top tray split into 3 open and 1 closed compartment and an integral bottom layer split into thirds with the middle one being a closed compartment.

Because it's round with a flat back, the outer compartments are an unusual shape when trying to fit larger pieces in, but as I've mentioned previously it's not really designed for what I'm currently using it for.

Side by side there is quite a difference between the 2 boxes...

Both have a magnetic closer to their lids and are held in place when they are open by a ribbon and both boxes are holding up to normal wear and tear so far.

In summary both have proven useful, I'm really pleased with my Karma box, it's not expensive so it's not as robust as other jewellery boxes I have, but then I'm not planning to throw it around anytime soon.  It's absolutely perfect for Karma which was the point of the purchase!

What do you keep your jewellery in?

Would you be tempted by either of these?