I’ve noticed a few more people getting into Trollbeads and thought I’d make a little guide about how their pieces work. Like many people, I started out with Pandora but once I saw the Trollbeads glass I was immediately hooked. The story of how they got started is here on the Trollbeads website. Some people might not know about how the head of Trollbeads helped Pandora in their early days with glass designs. Check out that story here on a Pandora news release page and/or a summary of the whole story is on Endangered Trolls here.

The bracelet works using a foxtail chain and lock. There is a sizing guide here on Trollbeads.com. The thing to remember is that the lock adds about 2cm, so if you order an 19cm bracelet, the chain will be 17cm, because the lock then adds 2cm to the overall length. It can be confusing, so never be afraid to ask someone for help! I usually wear spacers (stoppers) on my bracelet so the beads don’t slide around but you don’t have to.

There are lots of decorative clasps, although I really like the plain one!

The bangles are really popular and make it super easy to change things up. There is a guide for sizing bangles here. You will also need two spacers (used to be called stoppers) to keep the beads from falling off. There are plain ones, like on the left or you can get more decorative ones as shown at the bottom. I really like the fabulous Dancing Butterfly Spacers as pictured on the Twisted Gold Plated Bangle.

There are also some pretty rings. Aurora Ring, Rosa Pearl Ring and Snow Bubble Ring are just three of many. There are also quite a few earrings.

The Fantasy Necklace is a staple of my work wardrobe. You can wear them plain or add pendants to them like below. The sizing guide with a great illustration to show the various lengths is here.

It’s also fun to put on beads and they easily slip on and off.

They also have other types of necklaces, one of which is the Changeable Fantasy Necklace. You can switch out the pendant at the bottom by just clipping it on.

Another necklace type is the Sterling Silver Necklace, which works like the bracelet. There is also a Leather Necklace and a Neck Bangle. So many choices!

Next for the beads! There are plenty of silver ones of course, plus there’s a wide variety of glass ones. Trollbeads have a small core, so in general they do not fit on Pandora bracelets. As well as the regular catalog glass beads, there are also Uniques (bottom left) which are made in smaller batches and available at retailers. Below right are Universal Uniques, which have a larger core, so those ones do fit on Pandora bracelets.

Here’s a bracelet I’m wearing today and an array of glass beads in the back.

What makes Trollbeads really special in my opinion is the gemstones, faceted glass and pearls. I have only recently started to collect these.

The amount of combinations one can make is simply mind boggling. And don’t even get me started about the variations in the glass and stone beads themselves. Check out these Sea Anemones. Trisha, Sarah and I went on a Beads n’ Cheezits roadtrip recently and we might have bought a few things. 🙄

So, if anyone has any questions at any time, just let me know. Hope this post is helpful for at least one person!

Disclosure: A lot of these sample pieces were provided by Trollbeads USA.