Trollbeads information that can inspire your creativity with your own Trollbeads collection. Share your thoughts, be involved and please leave comments!

  This article has been written by Anna Teresa Bellinzis, a Trollbeads collector from the Netherlands and our own Trollbeads blog contributor! This is her third article! Thank you Anna Teresa.

Trollbeads fans can be divided in several groups. The ones that immediately pop up in my head are young mothers who start collecting after their first child is born. They buy beads that really have a special meaning for them. I think of baby boy, baby girl and hope. And also the letter beads, cherub, baby and one of the Horoscope signs.

There are people that wear Trollbeads as the modern bead that it is. They buy beads at specials moments. Graduation, a new house or job, birth of a child, anniversary or birthday. They collect bit by bit beads and their bracelet grows quietly to a piece of jewelry with a great story behind it.

There are grandmothers who buy a Trollbead bracelet for their grandchildren, having the Trollbeads as a part of their relationship makes them closer.

There are men who want to express their creativity and love with a Trollbead bracelet that is really personal and that can express how they feel. You know there are men that need help in that area!

There are collectors who are attracted like bees are to honey to the gorgeous beads that are like little pieces of artwork. Of course the meaning of the bead matters, but the color, the shape and the detail really stand out.

They can’t pass a jeweler without peeking in the bead case. Stare and drool all over a single bead as if it is their first one.

Collectors that can stare and drool all over a single bead as if it is their first one. I guess I belong to that last group collectors. I see Trollbeads as a finishing touch of my outfit. And since I like to wear every day another outfit, I like to wear different beads every day. Some days I like to wear serene outfits and make a matching ton-sur-ton bracelet and necklace . Other days I really want to sparkle and shine and make a splashing bracelet. So I have beads in almost every color and every style. Before I go to bed, after putting my clothes ready for the next day, I take my bead box and start making my bracelet. Of course I can change my mind in a minute. So when I pull out the bracelet after brushing my teeth my husband starts laughing out loud and asks: Are you going to wear something else, dear? But sometimes I ask myself: why bother? Who cares which beads I wear? Do you get compliments every day about your designs? But I know people do notice, my mother for one. Last night sitting at her kitchen table she took my wrist and looked for minutes at my beads. She really liked the purple flower mosaic, adored the fairy and loved the happy universe. She said that if she had Trollbeads she would play with them every day. Her pleasure is a real compliment for me and the money I put into my hobby. But even without compliments like that, I will always wear my beads. Just because they make me feel pretty.

Photographs (and beads) are from Anna Teresa!

Our Trollbeads Gallery Forum is quite simply a very special place to be if you love Trollbeads.  Our members are from all over the world and it was only about a month ago when we hit 2000 members on our Trollbeads Gallery Forum.  With each member our collective knowledge grows exponentially and our members are both adding to and benefitting from this knowledge base by being a part of it. We have an amazing group of collectors and it is growing stronger!

Our newest benchmark was hit today, Trollbeads Gallery Forum hit its 12,000 Photograph!  Our Forum format allows members to add photographs in a stream, based on when a photo is added.  We limit the subject by allowing only photographs of Trollbeads and by keeping the photos on target we are making sure our Forum is the best format for both serious collectors and for new collectors.  The photograph section allows photos to be featured and I try to change these daily. The serious collectors are always interested in seeing other collections and the new collector becomes easily inspired by seeing all the different uses of Trollbeads.  Trollbeads are very visual and by sharing our passion through photographs we all connect through what we love. Another reason our forum photos are so popular may be how they allow our members to communicate to each other even though we may speak dozens of different languages.

One of our members Ginger is a phenomenal photographer (Ginger conducted a very popular photography seminar at the Trollbeads Fest!2010)and she has added a group on our Forum where she has given her techniques and tricks for taking good Trollbeads photos.  I advise everyone to visit and review her ideas. The better the picture, the better our Forum! You can ask her questions and easily follow her advise and become a super photographer. Don't be disappointed if your images don't come out perfect the first time. The photography of jewelry is very difficult but with Ginger, you have a great teacher. To be a member of her group you will need to join our Forum but here is a link to Ginger's Photography Trollbeads Gallery Group.

The image above is one of Ginger's photographs. Thank you Ginger!

If you're not a member of Trollbeads Gallery Forum, please join and travel through our photos and transport yourself to Trollbeads Nirvana!

Below is a brand new photograph from Ginger!  I had to include it!

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As I was deciding what to include in my 2010 Trollbeads summary it astonished me to see how much Trollbeads accomplished in just one year.  Too much, in fact, it will take more than one blog to include all of the special releases that made 2010 such a remarkable year for Trollbeads and Trollbeads Collectors. Thank you Trollbeads!

February 2010 Trollbeads released a Limited Edition of the Crazy Lace Agate beads.  This bead is one of many different colors and forms of agate and is a deep rich pink with veins of purple, gray, rust and black running through the stone which gives the beads a wide variety of appearances.  For the first time there were actually two shapes created.  Europe was offered the smooth Crazy Lace Agate and the U.S. was offered the bead in a faceted version.

Crazy Lace Agate is known as a healing stone.  It provides balance and it protects the wearer.  It brings laughter to its possessor.  Crazy Lace Agate is used to help in making decisions by balancing the energies used in the physical, the emotional and the mental which keeps the possessor focused and better able to make good decisions.

As with all of the limited edition releases, only the Premium Trollbeads dealers were offered the Crazy Lace Agate beads.  Premium Partner dealers are dealers that offer no other competing interchangeable bead line. Crazy lace Agate was only available for a very short time and is no longer attainable through Trollbeads. Trollbeads Gallery sold many of these beads and is always looking for more to sell under our retired Trollbeads line.  We have the beads and will soon be adding them to our retired website. Please email if you have any you would like to part with! http://RetiredTrollbeadsGallery.com

email: Louise@TrollbeadsGallery.com

*Photo taken by Trollbeads Gallery Forum member! The four smooth pick beads are Crazy lace Agates.

Professional photographer Celia Pearson was visiting recently and I handed her the Trollbeads Coffee Table Book to watch her reaction.  Celia is a highly visual person and I wanted to see her reaction from a non Trollbeads collector's point of view.  While she finds Trollbeads fascinating, she isn't a jewelry person.  I always show, discuss and sell the book to Trollbeads collectors and I thought it would be fascinating to hear Celia's impressions.  She has illustrated books with her photography and I was eager to see what her reaction would be.  To understand Trollbeads could she see it from the the pages within this book?  I think she did!  LR

I was visiting Louise Rogers recently and she introduced me to the book An Icon in Jewellery Design: Trollbeads.  She’d already introduced me to Trollbeads. I think they are fascinating and beautiful - so creatively designed. I haven’t purchased any, but that’s only because I’m a person who wears very little jewelry.  When we opened this book together, Louise and I, I was immediately drawn to its strong and vibrant photographs. I am a lifelong photographer, so it was natural that I would notice the images.

All at once I understood Trollbeads better. The story of this family, and its company and designers, is compelling. Just as the beads come alive in the creative and inspired hands of the designers, the story comes alive in the book’s amazing photographs. All are flawlessly composed, and without exception the images are imbued with a sense of vitality and energy. There is life in these pages.

Trollbeads, too, seem to be imbued with this same life (so well described by the book’s stunning close-up photographs of them), and now I see that the vibrancy and integrity of the humans behind these beads is part of that life. They are an inspired and inspiring community and not only do they share who they are in this book, they seem as well to invite us to become a part of them.

This family and company have an unerring sense of and ability to share what I believe many of us want. I believe we want fine things, a sense of the life all around us (and in us), and community. Beauty, vitality, connection. The photographs in this book power that message, and the Trollbeads take on an added significance as they become a symbol for those things.

Thanks, Louise!

Celia Pearson

Celia Pearson Biography

Celia Pearson has been a fine art and assignment photographer for many years. Richard Bond’s lectures in Annapolis, Maryland in the 1970’s sparked a passion that has defined her adult life. Her fine art photographs are collected privately and are in two permanent museum collections: The Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD, and The New Bedford Museum of Glass in New Bedford, MA. Her work has been shown in galleries in Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The Cape Cod Museum of Art has just mounted an exhibit of her sea glass images that will continue through October 10, 2010. 

Pearson’s photographs of architecture, interiors, and gardens have been published in national magazines such as Coastal Living, Metropolitan Home, Southern Accents, and Residential Architect. Book credits include Pure SEA GLASS published by Sea Glass Publishing, with more than 85,000 copies sold since publication in 2004; and Wayne L. Good Architect: Tradition Elegance, Repose, a monograph published in four languages.

As a result of the book Pure SEA GLASS Pearson's work came to the attention of Maryland Public Television and was the subject of a segment on ArtWorks. MPT’s host, Rhea Feikin, described Pearson’s “innate ability to find the essence of an object that resonates with beauty”.

The artist lives in Annapolis, Maryland.

To Celia, Many thanks for looking into my world! Louise

Trollbeads is the original interchangeable bead line and through its 35 years Trollbeads continues to show its collectors why they remain head over heels ahead of the dozens of subsequent copycat bead lines.   Yes, there is at least one other company, Pandora, that has higher recognition in the market place, has higher sales and is many times larger but that is not what being top is all about.  Definitely not in my book because Pandora’s size and sheer volume has made the brand too common. What is there in Pandora to be emotionally committed to? How can you feel passion for a conglomerate making cookie cutter beads?  Trollbeads as a company, as a brand and as a product is so much more for so many reasons.  Is it that Trollbeads is still family owned and run?   Is it that Trollbeads are created by true artists who start with their sketches then moving on to wax models and then to the actual mold? Trollbeads are not computer generated designs like other bead brands. If you think of Trollbeads as a “being”, which many of us do whatever the reason, Trollbeads is the true folk hero of bead lines.  A major category of folk hero is ‘the defender of the smaller populace against the oppression or corruption of the established power structure’.  How perfect is that for Trollbeads when looking at Trollbeads in the bead marketplace today? Trollbeads does not bend to the common marketplace pressure to deliver beads like the other brands do such as cute cartoon-like children, puppies and birthday cakes. The Trollbeads designers continue to have the artistic freedom to create beads they believe in. Throughout the years Trollbeads collectors have contributed to this heroic brand through understanding the true essence of Trollbeads and understanding the deeper personal meaning to each bead. Just look at this year's winning "People's Bead Award" winner "Ice Bear" by Kristi Denning. Almost the whole of the Trollbeads collecting world voted on it because it fits the collection perfectly.  The "Ice Bear" bead truly captures the spirit of Trollbeads, the voters and Kristi's passion for the environment.  Brand new bead!

In October 2010 Trollbeads Gallery and Rogers Gallery presented the first Trollbeads Fest or “convention” of its kind in the United States. Creating the perfect weekend for collectors meant the planning took months of work but it was all worth it. Trollbeads Fest was a huge success. Mary Jo Coe, the National Director of sales at TrollbeadsUS who was present at Trollbeads Fest 2010 said “Incredibly the event was the “essence” of what Trollbeads is all about.”  There is an intangible energy within Trollbeads that brings out a similar energy in its collectors and its this phenomenon that is creating a cult like following for Trollbeads.  It is incredible to be a part of it and to watch it in action. I can’t put my finger on it but it is truly magical and to many of us that is what Trollbeads is all about. If you would like to see more of the Trollbeads spirit you may want to go to the website for the Trollbeads Fest and look through the slideshow of images.

Take a look at Trollbeads Gallery Forum.  It is clearly a very energetic group of some of the most enthusiastic Trollbeads fans in the world.  The Trollbeads Fest became a reality through the Forum and for many of us that are active forum members the closeness we all felt at the Trollbeads Fest was not unexpected.  For many it was a continuation of friendships that have formed through Trollbeads all over the world because of this one shared passion, our very own folk hero beads, Trollbeads.  It may be a shame so many cookie cutter bead brands have sullied the market since Trollbeads were born but the people who truly understand and feel the energy Trollbeads exude, it matters not.

What are your thoughts as a collector? 

Trollbeads Fest! 2010 Very Happy Attendees!

The New Trollbeads release for the Winter 2010 is coming out in the U.S. on November 12th! There are  all sorts of wonderful new additions to the Trollbeads line!!  We are particularily excited to see the 2010 People's Bead Award Winner the "Ice Bear" bead designed by Kristi Denning from Maryland. Kristi was at our Trollbeads Fest! 2010 in October and she had with her the model she made for the contest.  The "Ice Bear" will be a huge favorite, especially for all the people who were lucky enough to meet Kristi at Trollbeads Fest. Below Kristi is holding the model for her award winning design.  Just this weed Kristi received the Gold version of the "Ice Bear" as an award from Trollbeads Denmark.

Another favorite will be the new "Pink Diamonds" bead.  The "White Diamonds" and "Black Diamonds" Trollbeads are two of the more popular beads for Trollbeads Gallery customers.  The new silver Star Trollbead and the new Snowflake Trollbeads look to be a great addition also.  There is one new 18K Gold bead and it looks to be very interesting, I can't wait to see it in person!

The brand new Trollbeads earring components are frosty and fun and interchangeable! Add them to your holiday wardobe!  We have begun to create more earring designs with the interchangeable accessories to much acclaim from our customers and Trollbeads will continue to add fresh components with each new Troll release.

While Denmark enjoys a white Christmas,  the designers at Trollbeads have not forgotten those on the other side of the world that celebrate Christmas with beach parties and blossoming cherry orchards. For Premier Partner Program members, Trollbeads has two Special Edition glass kits - Christmas in Hawaii with blue nuances and Christmas in Australia with patterns of Cherry Blossoms.  These two glass kits will be sold separately and will add a great set of colors for your holiday jewelry designs. 

For those of you looking for a more traditional Trollbeads look please check out the Red Stripe Glass Bead, the Green Stripe Bead which is much darker than the photograph on the website and is perfect with the red stripe!  Also think of adding White Diamonds !  With the old silver Trollbeads favorites like the Snowman bead and the silver Snow bead and the new snow bead we should all be able to make many very unique Christmas designs this year.  Very soon Trollbeads Gallery will be releasing our holiday favorite "Holiday Uniques". We have assembled a huge quanity and are quite excited by our selection! Many beautiful unique (referred to OOAK in Europe) in greens and reds are being photographed as I write this!  We will announce it on Trollbeads Gallery Forum and we will send out an email when they are released!

Trollbeads Fest! 2010

Rogers Gallery /Trollbeads Gallery

New Bedford, Mass.

October 15 & 16 2010

Post Trollbeads Fest! 2010 Letter

Dear Trollbeads Fans,

How can I thank you all enough for everything you each brought to our amazing event? It has been referred to as a truly historical event for Trollbeads in the U.S. and we should all be proud to have been a part of it.  I have tried to imagine what I would say to you but words can’t quite express it.  Having been present, you know what I mean. 

There was something magical in our midst, palpable yet indescribable.  Mary Jo Coe, the National Sales Director for TrollbeadsUS, summed it up by saying what we created and what the event embodied was exactly what Trollbeads is all about.   So I thought I would sum up the event in Trollbeads.

Friendship Bead.  Do you realize that our Forum is only 1 ½ years old and we were more like old friends at a high school reunion? Look at some of the photos and you’ll see why I think that. The closeness we all felt allowed us to” let our hair down” and be who we are and enjoy the moment with friends and with Trollbeads. Our forum had brought together a very real sense of ourselves relating to each other through our hearts.

Pax Bead. Having the designer, Suzanne Hopping and her husband with us from Australia created a sense of the world just as she portrayed it.  Protected by the doves wings we were safe amongst each other to celebrate our love of Trollbeads and our own community.

Waves Bead. How was I to know about the Northeaster storm hitting New England mid-October when I planned the event and the accompanying Harbor Cruises?  Frede got a wave in the face and I know a lot of you other hardy souls did to!

Three Monkeys Bead.  There was definitely mischief about!  The monkeys were busy will pranks and tricks although I would love to name you all, I can’t! 1 monkey would be Maddog, 2 would be his sidekick Mary Maddog and 3 would be Mary Anna the screamer!

Angel and Devil bead.  Dearest Frede, with your smooth southern accent and your tall stature you resemble an angel in all ways…but boy what a devil you are!  Our Soren didn’t know what he was in for!

Lucky Knot bead.  This bead is for luck and happiness and we surely had luck and happiness all covered for our Trollbeads Fest. My face still hurts from all the smiling and laughing.

Harmony bead. Most importantly this bead is about harmony, something our gathering was graced with and out friendships are sealed by.

Victory bead. This I dedicate to New Bedford’s Mayor, Scott Lang.  At our dinner Saturday night Scott gave a great talk sharing his love of New Bedford and its history for everyone to take home and share. Scott has been leading New Bedford to rise again to its past prominence with grace and intelligence, which are two things not often seen in politics.  Thank you to Scott and to his wife Gig, our courageous event planner!

Transition Man bead. I definitely want to give a “Hat’s off” to all the wonderfully patient and enabling spouses.  What amazing men!  I have never seen such supportive men and the best were the ones that ended up sporting their own Trollbeads by the end of the Fest!  You guys are the real men!

Yesterday all of our gang from Rogers Gallery and Trollbeads Gallery assembled for a post Trollbeads Fest meeting.  Before I knew what was happening Carole, Penni, Nate, Marjorie, Ruth and Gig were all chattering about Trollbeads Fest! 2011.    Did you all notice I left Ben’s name out of it… actually we are all on board for next year.  So many people wanted to be there that could not be this time around that for we owe it to them and to everyone else asking for Trollbeads Fest! 2011, we are off and running!!

Please accept my heartfelt thanks to everyone who came and who made the effort to travel to be a part of this amazing event.  We all made it what it was. 

Warm regards,

Louise

PS. If you have not joined Our Trollbeads Gallery Forum do so! You can catch all of the photos from Trollbeads Fest and believe me they are high on the factor!

With only 12 days to go before our Trollbeads get together gets underway we have only to sit back and ponder our plans!  The Fantasy Necklace, Leather Bracelet and New Trollbeads Earrings learning stations are well thought out and well stocked. The teachers are getting their learning stations ready!  The photo above was taken by our Trollbeads Fest visiting photographer, Ginger Hatten from Wyoming.  She will show you how to shoot photos of your collection with clarity and detail so you can be proud of your Trollbeads photographs.

The famous Rogers Gallery/Trollbeads Gallery selection of Unique beads totaling almost 1500 Assorted Unique Trollbeads (referred to as OOAK in Europe) could not be more diverse and more beautiful.  The stunning possibilities for adding to your Troll collection in one place has never been as great.  Trollbeads Fest! 2010 will be the the first festival of it's kind in the United States.

A Trollbeads Trunk Show will be running concurrently with Trollfest offering specials to all attendees. If you purchace 4 Trollbeads of any value you may receive a free Trollbead of equal or less that the lowest priced bead purchased. If you purchase any of the Gold Trollbeads you will receive $100.00 off and if you purchase a Silver/Gold Trollbead you will receive $50.00 off!  The Trunk show specials offer such great savings attending Trollbeads Fest for this alone is worth it! If you need further details call the gallery at 1-508-758-3641.

Purchase a "Pax" Trollbead at Trollbeads Fest and meet Suzanne Hopping the designer.  Suzanne is coming from Australia and will be at Trollbeads Fest signing special Trollbeads Fest presentation certificates for the "Pax" bead so you will always have unique memoriabilia for the first festival of it's kind.  Suzanne will also be signing the coffee table book "Icon of Jewelry Design, Trollbeads".  The 2009 Trollbeads People's Bead Winner is featured in the book.

If you haven't yet signed up for Trollbeads Fest, it's not too late! Join us for a fun filled weekend in the best month of the year in New England!  Enjoy the foliage and the crisp clean fall air with a lot of other Trollbeads fanatics!

Check out the excitement here!

History in the making! On Friday October 15th Rogers Gallery will be unveiling the first Trollbeads Museum of its kind in the United States.  Two years of collecting some of the oldest and the rarest of Trollbeads has produced a collection worthy of seeing!

If you haven't yet joined the Trollbeads Gallery Forum you may want to join for the following reasons and when you discover what is there, you'll have many of your oiwn reasons!

 1. Hear about new beads, bead retirements and any pertinant updates from Trollbeads first.   Timely information like this can be the difference between getting a bead and not!

2. Share your collection through photographs, everyone wants to see the Trollbeads you have. Beyond anything else on the Forum our 8000 plus photographs have inspired more collectors than any other source available.

3. Meet collectors from around the world and hear what they are collecting and how they are using their beads.  Remember Trollbeads has been around for 35 years and some of these collectors have retired beads we have never even seen before.

4. Make many new friends who share a passion with you. Many of our Trollbeads Forum members have traveled great distances to meet each other and to go Troll hunting together.

5. Read fun commentaries such as:

"The Top 10 Reasons you should embrace your Trollbeads addiction". (Under the Troll Masters Group)

6. Join one of the 3 dozen different groups. Including:

"Those that revere retired Trollbeads" group.

"Trollbeads for Men Club" group.

"Troll Master: For Addicts with 4 bracelets and above!" group.

"Troll Jedi Masters-Collectors with 10 or more bracelets." group.

7.Learn about the upcoming 2010 Trollfest!! 

Link to Forum: http://trollbeadsgalleryforum.ning.com/

I have a unique perspective from a Trollbeads collectors point of view and this has helped me understand something.  Not only am I a Troll collector, I have a Trollbeads store , I am a seller of Retired Trollbeads, a Trollbeads Gallery Forum moderator and manager, a Trollbeads website manager and that's just the tipof the iceberg.

My perspective is one of experience, research and personal friendships to the largest and most enthusiastic collectors of Trollbeads around the world.  Some of these personal collections rival the inventories of many authorized Trollbeads stores. But these collections aren't created by greed or by the  "have to have more than so and so" thoughts, they are created by a depth of passion that goes way beyond many of the "collectables" of recent decades. Compare it to other subsequent beads lines, all of todays bead line are subsequent to Trollbeads so pick any of them and make a comparison.  There is none.  No other line has the depth of colors and materials Trollbeads has not do the silver and gold beads have the fine artistic quality to them.  There just isn't another bead that can muster this much passion and when one starts collecting them  they just can't and won't stop.  There are over 500 beads in todays offerings but that doesn't even begin to describe the color families of glass or the color families of jade, pearls, aventurines, you name it.  The best part of this unparalleled selection is that collectors join in the creative process and design bracelets, many of them, based on themes,color ways, personal meanings and eras of the beads themselves.  When there is 35 years of Trollbead history, there are plenty of eras from which to create and to draw from for the many ideas you may have.

When working on your Ocean or water themed Troll bracelets make sure you visit our Retired Trollbeads Gallery to see the Flounder bead! Hurry before he gets away!  Or when you start working on your pale blue themed Trollbeads bracelet check out the Light Blue Stripe.

So don't ever consider your bracelet finished if your chain is full, it is only the beginning of your Trollbeads Journey.