When is a Trollbead not a Trollbead?

My not-quite-local dealer Duncan-McPhee had a glass event a few weeks ago with one of the Trollbeads glass artisans, Georgina Black, in attendance to demonstrate the bead-making process. These in-store events seem to be very commonplace in the U.S., but since I can’t reasonably spend the airfare to get to them, I was very excited to have one within driving distance. And since I found out about the event back in September, I had plenty of time to anticipate it! Although I’ve watched a few videos of the process online, I was looking forward to seeing it in person, and was also a little excited to have the opportunity to chat with other Trollbeads collectors. When I found out that there would be several demonstrations throughout the day and that they were auctioning off each demonstration spot – with the proceeds benefiting a local hospice and the winning bidder getting to choose the design and keep the bead – I briefly entertained the idea of putting in a bid before resigning myself to going solely for the enjoyment of seeing the process in person. Even though the money was going to a good cause, I didn’t want to get caught up in the bidding and spend past my limits.

Since I already had plans for that morning, I arranged to be able to duck out of the house for part of the afternoon to watch a demonstration. When I called to find out what time the glass demonstrations were so that I could plan my trip there, I had a moment of weakness and put in a small bid for one of the spots. I fully expected to be outbid so I was surprised when I got the call a few days before the event to say that my bid had won! When the day came, so did the first snowfall of the season, so I left my house early so that I would have plenty of time to get there. In the end, the roads weren’t bad at all, and I ended up being able to watch three bead demonstrations as well as having the chance to chat with the store owner and her Trollbeads rep in-between the demonstrations.

I had a hard time choosing the design but as you can see I finally went with a dot pattern that snaked back and forth across the bead since it was different than other beads I had in my bead box. And although I have lots of olive greens, I don’t have many other greens so I decided to go with a brighter green for the base, with white dots. Unfortunately I had to leave before it had cooled, so I didn’t see the final colour until I picked it up! It turned out even brighter than I had anticipated, but it makes for a nice change on my classic Christmas bracelet, evokes a bit of a lemon/lime feeling when paired with yellows, fits in nicely with my retired Green Dot, and also goes well with my bright Malawi bead, which also was a charity bead since it supported the Danish charity Danmarks Indsamling.

The funny deal about the glass beads made at the event is that although they were made by a Trollbeads artist, who was there representing Trollbeads, they aren’t officially considered to be Trollbeads. As such, the edges of the silver core aren’t rounded like you would find with other Trollbeads, and the bead isn’t stamped with the Trollbeads branding on the core. It’s a moot point to me since every other aspect of the bead – from the care and attention taken to create the bead, down to the polishing and precise coring – is the same, and knowing that all the proceeds from the beads went to charity does make it that little bit extra special!

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