When I first started with Pandora, many people insisted that a safety chain was indispensable, in case the clasp ever came undone. I disagree. Although I think that clips are indispensable on the two threaded stations – and I use silicone rings to prevent beads from getting caught on the end threads – I don’t use a safety chain and don’t see one in my future. Sure, a safety chain is useful, but I do think you can get by without one. I may eat my words if I do ever lose my bracelet but so far I’ve always noticed the few times that my bracelets have come undone. Perhaps if I wore more than one bracelet on my arm I wouldn’t notice the difference in weight on my arm if one bracelet were to fall off, but since I only wear one bracelet at a time it really is quite noticeable if suddenly I’m without it. The only other concern is beads falling off the bracelet and the silicone stoppers prevent against that when the bracelet is undone, whether it was intentionally opened or not.
Although Trollbeads bracelets can also be outfitted with a similarly styled safety chain to prevent both the bracelet from falling off your wrist or the beads from falling off the chain if the lock came undone, it’s only the latter issue that I am overly concerned about. And it is definitely a concern for me since I have more bracelets than locks and therefore not all my bracelets are stored with a lock attached. And even the silicone rings haven’t stopped beads from falling off the chain, either when I’m swapping out the lock or when tiny hands have grabbed a bracelet from my bead box. So to solve the problem, I came up with a very simple (and inexpensive) solution – a basic lobster clasp from a beading store, attached to the smaller end of the chain so that the beads can’t slide off but the lock can still be properly attached. It makes storage easier and safer and I don’t even notice the lobster clasp when I’m wearing the bracelet! I’ve always intended to add some sort of small decorative bead to make a dangle out of it, but in the meantime the functionality is perfect, even if the form leaves a bit to be desired.
Has anyone else come up with an inventive way to prevent beads from escaping from a bracelet?