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What is Standard Trollbeads With a Twist?

Sometime last year I created a new category on Trollbeads Gallery entitled "Trollbeads With a Twist" and while it's been a quiet category it is also hard to keep Trollbeads on there for long before they are snapped up.  Recently a forum (not my own "Trollbeads Gallery Forum") mentioned our Twist Trollbeads and I have received a few emails asking me what they are.  So with this blog I can offer a definition for people to come and read.

They are just what they are called, standard in-line glass or stone Trollbeads with a twist or something that makes them unique from what the average in-line bead is supposed to look like.  For me it is a labor of love as I have to sort through all the Trollbeads that come in then photograph them and then process the photo through photoshop and then spend the time listing them...all for the same price as the bead is if you were to buy it sight unseen on the website.  There are 2 definate pluses for my customers when I can sell like this.  First a website buyer is usally only able to buy sight unseen as the beads all pretty much look similar and with the twist category they are buying the bead that is photographed which is similar to the Unique Trollbeads listings where I list 1-3 photographs per bead.  The second benefit is if you are collecting a bead such as the bead shown above, the Blue Desert, andif you are looking for a variety of versions for a necklace then this is way you can shop for the unique versions. Many collectors don't have the luxury of a Trollbeads store close by. I also think of it like another sort of unique bead.

Both of these Trollbeads shown on the left and above left, believe it or not, are both the "Blue Desert" Group 1 Trollbead for $31.00. See how extraordinary the differences are?  The difference here shows just how much one bead can appear in the line. It is true that "Blue Desert" is one of the most variable beads in the line but there are plenty others that can look different bead to bead.

The Azure Bubbles is a great one for this "Twist" category. I think the one I just listed is #42 which means I have listed 41 other uniuqe Bubbles that have all sold.  Organic Bubbles is another great bead for me to list.  Sometimes the stripes in Khaki Stripes aren't khaki at all but rose,light blue and even yellow.So if you want your Trollbeads jewelry to have a creative twist to it just check out this out this category from time to time!  

The three glass Trollbeads above  are unique versions of

1.)Fireflies-You don't often see the two wings with 2 distinct colors.

2.)Black and White Stripe-Usually the black stripes are larger and more like maroon.

3.)Azure Bubbles-This bead is always wonderfully different from bead to bead.  Below shows just how different the Azure Bubbles bead can change.

 As a U.S. retailer for Trollbeads my head is spinning and I feel like I'm on a rail climbing the highest peak of a roller coaster and I only hope I can keep up with the gaining momentum. I'm holding on with both hands, knuckles white while struggling to keep my head on straight. Sounds dramatic doesn't it? Well that is exactly how selling Trollbeads right now seems to me. It's exciting to be a part of the new regime by way of being a retailer but I must say the specials that are in effect and the future specials will keep all of us retailers jumping just to keep up and to keep you all "in the know". Beyond the product specials being offered the company is also working on furthering its brand recognition.  The planning and hard work set in motion by worldwide CEO Peter Aagaard and now by the new United States CEO Michael Belleveau is coming to the surface and every day brings new events, new media exposure and new recognition daily.

Just to mention a couple of the recent public events:

Trollbeads  announced their partnership with Oprah Magazine to be a sponsor of O You! Trollbeads U.S. is proud to partner with this fine company which will bring heightened awareness to the Trollbeads brand.  This year's O You! event was at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia on October 15, 2011. As a sponsor of the event, Trollbeads personally met many of the 5000+ attendees.

Trollbeads attended, as an exhibitor, the Teen Vogue Fashion University on October 22, 2011. Trollbeads was a sponsor to this event and was recognized as "the" bead brand among some of the nations most influential young women, Teen Vogue readers. The 500 fashion savvy students learned about style-education through seminars and were exposed to the current branding trends.  The parent publication Vogue Magazine is the leading consumer publication for the fashion industry.

A couple current Trollbeads product specials:

Trollbeads Ring promotion: If you purchase a Trollbeads ring you will receive a free $31.00 glass Trollbead. If you haven't familiarized yourself with the rings...do it!  They are quite remarkable and remarkably affordable.

Free Bead Promotion: When you purchase a chain and an upgraded lock you will receive a free $31.00 glass Trollbead.  What better way to start collecting or start your Autumn bracelet or even your Holiday themed bracelet!

I will continue to relay information on the activity of this climbing momentum and suffice to say there are some very exciting events lined up for the new year.  To our collectors who enjoy wearing what they consider a quiet and exclusive brand fear not, the powers at be understand why you collect Trollbeads and will always keep quality as the number one priority, as you can see by the quality of the events it parnered with.  Trollbeads will never follow in the steps of the other brand of beads as it over-sold itself, always running our of product and by turning to huge jewelry "box" stores, shutting out the smaller retailers. From what I gather from their basic philosophy, Trollbeads will not go down this road.  They understand the close communication the smaller retailers can achieve and Trollbeads understands the importance this is to the brand. Yes there will be greater recognition but won't you be happier when someone looks at your wrist and asks "Oh, are those Trollbeads?" instead of what you have been asked in the past?

Yesterday I made our newest category on Trollbeads Gallery go live...and within half an hour 14 Trollbeads had been sold!  With no notice my very quick customers caught on and took advantage of a new product category created JUST for Trollbeads collectors who can only shop via the internet.

"Trollbeads:With a Twist" is the name of the new category and that is exactly what it is.  They are standard glass Trollbeads that have some noticeable difference from the bead it is supposed to be. From color, design and size! The really big versions or small versions of the standard Groups 1,2 and 3 will also be included in this new category. Have you seen those great Azure Bubbles with green streaks or the Blue Deserts that are red or even yellow? The Trollbead to the left is a striking rendition of the new White Cap Trollbead. How about the Khaki Stripes with Pink in the khaki area?  I know for a fact that many collectors who are close to Trollbeads stores love to collect these beads and go around hunting for them. Notice the pink in the Khaki Stripes below!

Whatever the bead is the price is it's original retail price. Also shown here will be the precious stone beads that are very light compared to the standard stone bead or very dark.  The extremes of the stone beads makes them beautiful when used all together.  The dark Aventurine looks like deep emerald.

Another precious stone Trollbeads to keep your eyes out for is the very light Golden Quartz.  It looks like a yellow sapphire! The one below is a beauty but they

come in even lighter than this one!

The beads like Azure Bubbles (above) are good to buy from this category because where they are all so different at least you can choose the one you want. Do you like it with brown? With Pink? With light green? The Blue Desert (below) is certainly a beautiful bead but it definitely is not blue!  I will be posting more and more beads here so stay tuned!

...but were afraid to ask!

Part 1. It's All in a Name

The Unique glass beads by Trollbeads are undeniably the one category of Trollbeads that is open for all kinds of interpretation depending upon your own experience with and knowledge of these incredible beads. To begin this discussion let’s start at what to call  these beads as this is one area that confuses many collectors. I remember a couple of years ago having a debate with our Trollbeads Gallery Forum members on what the best name is and it was really quite arbitrary with the name being different on different websites and in different countries. 

Lund (our past U.S. Distributor) referred to them as “Assorted Beads” but that name was too vague for me and we were permitted to call them anything that fit but not "OOAK".  Many dealers in the U.S. chose to call them "limited edition" beads but for me this didn’t work either.  Owning an art gallery my idea of a limited edition is something that has a finite end and I’m sure no one has been counting the beads as they were being made. Another problem with calling them limited edition is that Trollbeads had actual limited editions such as Brilliant Hearts and later Crazy Lace Agate, for two examples. Calling them "Limited Edition" would surely confuse the collector because these releases had nothing to do with Unique beads.

In Europe the dealers were selling these beads as “OOAK” beads  (which is  an acronym for "one of a kind") but as I mentioned Lund did not allow us to use the term due to legal ramifications. They believed the term to be misleading, where most all of these beads were not one of a kind.  This difference in the terminology may not seem like a big deal yet it was for the U.S. dealers.  At this point in time collectors the world over would run computer searchs for the term “OOAK” Trollbeads and where we could not use the term, it cut us out of a lot of internet searches. This was a big drawback for the U.S. dealers but I also understood the issue involved. The discussion I mentioned on our Trollbeads Gallery Forum brought up interesting points but I remember one of my Forum members telling me that “Unique” literally meant one of a kind and she was right of course but my use of the word was more about something being different from the norm. Since we had been using the name on Trollbeads Gallery since the early days, people had come to know the Unique beads on Trollbeads Gallery were in fact the same as the OOAK beads in Europe.

So call them what you want but on Trollbeads Gallery they will always be known as Unique!

In future blog articles I will be discussing the styles, values and origination of the Unique Trollbeads. Please contact me if you want anything specific or have anything to add!

The photograph above was taken of the Unique Trollbeads I was sent for Trollbeads Fest 2010.  I can't wait for the Unique beads to arrive for Trollbeads Fest 2011!

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.