Today I have some photos of a selection of beads from the Trollbeads Music & Theatre collection. Trollbeads has a new marketing scheme whereby they are no longer naming collections by season. Instead of calling the large release in January the spring collection, it has been divided into three collections: Music & Theatre, Hope & New Beginnings and Protection. I’ll do blog posts of the other two collections over the next two weekends. For me as a Canadian, it makes sense not to call the January release a spring collection, because January in Canada is nowhere even close to being spring! I also have some photos of the delightful Valentine’s Day bead called Love & Care Bead. Let’s start with Music & Theatre.
Bead samples are provided by Trollbeads.com.
The main part of this collection is the faceted glass kit called Symphonies Kit, designed by Neetu Gupta.
Soothing sounds of pink, lilac and violet melodies will bring you a symphony of colours. Music has the power to bring you to a magical world and playing a sweet melody will help keep your worries away. In the new release from Trollbeads, you will find notes and tunes for any day. Spice up with colourful glass and remember that every moment has its own music.
Below, left to right, the beads are named Lilac Melody, Green Symphony, Pink Symphony, Violet Melody, Emerald Symphony and Pink Melody.
I thought the two pink ones and the two purple ones worked well together so added in my beloved Sea Anemone beads for a purple extravaganza.
I think that Pink Symphony is my favourite.
Violet Melody is such a rich colour.
Pink Melody is also very pretty.
I received three of the silver beads from the Music & Theatre collection and was especially happy to get the Theatre of Life bead (the mask) because I actually teach drama to grade one students. This bead shall forever be a nice reminder of that.
This bead and the Our Melody Bead (headphones on the heart) were designed by Louise Rimpler. Here’s the other side of the mask. I think the tragic side of the mask would make a great ‘Monday mood’ bead. The third silver bead I received is the Jester’s Hat Bead and it’s on the purple bracelet, third picture from the top. Designed by Søren Nielsen, it’s quite reminiscent of the Clarity Flower Bead.
The glass bead shown below, Green Symphony, has a pistachio green colour to it.
That’s all for Music & Theatre pictures, but let’s look at the Love & Care Bead. I absolutely adore it! Red and pink beads are some of my favourites and I’ve collected a few over the years. The Love & Care Bead has sweet ladybugs and hearts with a touch of sparkle.
Here’s my Valentines’ Day bracelet for this year.
Something I’m very curious about is what kinds of bracelets are people wearing these days. I really don’t wear full bracelets anymore, unless it’s my old Pandora ones that I keep together. And I don’t wear bangles much either, as half of my day is spent teaching outside (Kindergarten Outdoor Education) and I’m always afraid of losing it on a nature walk and not noticing. So lately I’ve been wearing just one bead on a Trollbeads chain with a couple of gold stoppers. It’s super comfortable and I enjoy admiring one bead at a time. This leads me to another thought- no one is interested in seeing that on Instagram, so I never post pictures of what I’m actually wearing. Many of the old timers from Instagram have stopped posting and I was saddened to see that Jahndra of the My Xpressions blog has recently deleted her account. If you are reading this and still like to see bead pictures, what kinds do you like to see? Are full bracelets your thing or are you mostly interested in seeing what the beads look like in real life as opposed to stock images? Do you still collect beads as in the past or are you slowing down? Is there anything from this collection that you really like? Is there a point to seeing the beads after they’ve already been released? All comments are welcome!
marthnickbeads 
Hello Martha,
I am buying less, but still buying specially old beads. Normally I don’t wear full unless the ones I already have done some years ago, 2 Christmas design , 1 blue colored, 1 black colored, spring bracelet. I prefer with less beads.
Although there are different beads ,Pandora, Ohm, redbalifrog, 4 unique, trollbeads, etc…. After some time they become similarly, so people star to choose more I guess.
As for me I love to see less or more beads on a wrist, not only photos, but prefer videos, because we only have Pandora stores in Portugal.
Only like that I can see if I really like a bead, some beads are very beautiful but they look so well on a wrist.
Thank for asking.
I hope you’re having a good weekend.
Gisela💕❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for your response, Gisela. That’s a great point about wanting to see videos of beads on a wrist, since you don’t have any stores other than Pandora. I should do what you do and make up up permanent bracelets themed by colour-great idea! Have a great rest of the weekend yourself!
LikeLike
Hi Martha,
Thank you for your helpful review posts, always. I collect in fits and starts, and still enjoy buying for myself and others (love enabling a new collector) although overall yes spending less. I would like to see photos of what you are actually wearing, everyday mixups.
For myself I wear a couple of dvb literary bangles almost every day, have for years, but wear my Trollbeads/ charm beads less often when I’m only at home … I still often wear two or three on each wrist if I’m going anywhere though.
I too have noticed a decline in dependable online news & reviews sources, but that’s been happening for a couple of years.
LikeLike
FWIW yes it’s good to see beads even after they’re released. Sometimes a different angle or arrangement will be inspirational, for example.
Currently I’m wearing a fantasy necklace with 7 items on it, including the Tree of Awareness, which I’d been coveting for quite a while and finally purchased from Silver Moon Gallery in Lancaster PA, when we discovered them while on a road trip. I also enjoy the other brands, and am starting to get back into collecting regular silver charms for charm bracelets like I wore as a youngster.
LikeLike
Your Fantasy Necklace sounds wonderful! And how interesting that you are back to collecting silver charms like when you were young. I still really enjoy my old Pandora travel bracelet as I like to look at the charms and remember trips. I suppose that’s always been the idea for charms, to have something to evoke a memory or a good feeling.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Lizzie and thanks for your thoughts. That would be fun enabling a new collector. I would love working in a Trollbeads store and helping people to start out-what fun that would be! When I say I mostly wear one bead at a time, I mean that’s all-nothing else with it! Maybe when spring gets here and I don’t need to wear a huge coat, I’ll get back to wearing more than one bead at a time!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I always look forward to your post on Instagram and have noticed that you are not posting as much. Your pictures are always beautiful, so I enjoy what you share no matter how you are styling it. I smiled when you wrote that you don’t wear bangles because you are afraid of losing them. For me, it is the exact opposite. I trust the bangles to stay on my wrist more and only wear those when I am outdoors. We are still in the window of stores selling the new collection from real images, so seeing collector’s beads in real life as much as possible is very useful. I purchased the 3 green round stones. I like to keep my collection in a constant state of flux. As I get new, inevitably there are beads that aren’t as attractive to me as they once were. I list them on Ebay. This way my collection is quite controlled and always feels new like the magic of when I first started collecting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now that is a smart idea, to sell what you aren’t using and then have money to buy new things. I would love to see what the 3 green stones look like together. I have the bright green one and absolutely love it. I wore it by itself the other day with my gold stoppers and was really happy with it. I’m definitely not posting as much on IG anymore, especially in the winter when we have so little daylight. I basically go to work when it’s darkish and come home when it’s dark-too dark for photos, anyway. Thanks so much for commenting as I really enjoy hearing what people think about beads and collecting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
hi chequamegon21 what’s your ebay ID? is it OK to ask that here?
LikeLiked by 1 person
dogviolet
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Martha,
I love seeing your bracelets! I don’t mind when you show them, I rarely jump on new releases now, I give myself time to think if and how I’m going to use beads. I am more selective now, I buy less but smarter ;+))) So it is really nice to have inspiration, you have way to mix beads I would not have thought about.
LikeLike
Ah, good to know! Sounds like you are a smart shopper!
LikeLike
The new collection is absolute fun and colourful.
I do not wear my full bracelets at this time, but I still buy silver beads to add to or exchange for one I have on a complete bracelet, it gives me pleasure to update what I already have. I have no need to assemble another bracelet, I have quite a number of them.
It is always a pleasure to receive your emails and postings on face book. Keep up the good work.
LikeLike
That’s wonderful how you still find pleasure in buying silver beads to update your bracelets. Thanks for your kind words!
LikeLike
I’ve gotten out of the habit of wearing my bracelets at all over the last year, but I’m trying to pick it up again. I still have full bracelets made up, but I’m more likely to wear the lighter ones made with the small round stones than the ones with glass and faceted stones. Those are pretty big and heavy. When I do wear a full bracelet with the bigger beads, it’s usually my labradorite bracelet. The grey goes with everything, and I really like the stones.
Unfortunately the selection of smaller stones from trollbeads are rather limited, and I no longer have a store around to pick them out personally, which has limited my entusiasm a little. It also prevented me from picking up the christmas bracelet with the red glitter glass. I found it impossible to judge based on pictures alone.
That being said, I still order the occasional glass bead ( Aided by your excellent pictures. Thank you 🙂 ), and wear it on a bangle with two plain stoppers. But most days I just can’t be bothered. Having little kids makes bracelets much less practical, really. The full ones especially, but they all get in my way occasionally.
Most days I’m just wearing a naughty dragon on a necklace. I regretted not picking one up when they were available, only to stumble upon one in a secondhand jewellery store recently. Clearly, it was meant to be 🙂
LikeLike
What a great find in a secondhand jewelry store! I remember one time when I stumbled upon a faceted Aurora bead in a store that had a few Trollbeads. Always great fun to find an unexpected good find! I hear you about little kids making bracelets less practical. I always get grossed out when my students want to touch my beads with their sticky little fingers, ha ha! Your labradorite bracelet sounds lovely!
LikeLike
Oh, would you mind someday doing a size comparison between the small smooth round stones from trollbeads and the new faceted round stones? I find it difficult to judge the difference – seems like the faceted are a tad bigger, but not by much?
No rush, I’m not particularily tempted by the new stones right now, but it would be nice to know.
LikeLike
I will for sure post a comparison photo this weekend in my next blog post!
LikeLike
Hi there everyone! Greetings from North Carolina. I enjoyed reading everyone’s responses.
I truly think my beads go into hibernation during winter! You have long sleeves, heavy coats, and wearing bracelets / bangles just get buried underneath. Winter can be a pretty blah season without beads!
So when I can wear some beads, I tend to gravitate towards my bangles, usually two glass beads with one large silver piece as focal point. Although, my favorite thing to collect is the glass beads- and that has slowed down ( cost is factor)
I have 3 foxtail bracelets that I keep the same all year, and they are full of mixed beads, mixed brands; I wouldn’t wear them if I was traveling or working in the yard, nor during winter. It is heavy, but I love how they all work together.
Martha- your real life pictures are amazing and so helpful! I go back many times to some of your older posts to see how a certain bead looks size wise, color wise, etc. before I purchase.
I definitely seek out pictures of beads vs. stock long after they are released. Also, I don’t have an Instagram account, so I don’t use Instagram for viewing bead pictures.
And finally, sometimes I just want to de-stress, and looking at your bead photos can be very therapeutic. Definitely bead-therapy. Thank you Martha!
LikeLike
Hi Lisa! That’s a good point about bracelets being a bit difficult in the winter when they are hidden under sweaters and big coats. I also like bangles the way you wear them, with two glass beads and a silver focal point. Must make up something like that weekend. Thanks for reading and commenting!
LikeLike
Hi Martha,
Thank you for asking for our input!
I am primarily a Trollbeads collector but also have quite a few Pandora beads. Most of my bracelets have a mixture of brands on the same bracelet because I like the variety that mixing provides. I recently have discovered/purchased some Palace of Amber, Ohm and a few other bead
brands that I’m really liking. My bracelets usually start out with 2-4 beads but somehow(?!) end up close to full bracelets. Although sometimes I feel that an especially beautiful bead is not being highlighted that way, so my latest bangle has only 1 bead (TPOA with 2 basic spacers) as I think the bead deserves to be a stand-alone.
As others have said, I prefer to see beads in person before purchasing but sadly the number of local bead stores has diminished quite a bit over the years. I therefore appreciate your live images and videos as well as reading your comments and suggestions. And of course it’s always exciting to see the new beads that are being released.
+*
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kathy, I like how you describe mixing bead brands on a bracelet because you like the variety. Like you, I also have quite a few Pandora beads, including many orphan ones that are not on bracelets. Maybe I’ll try to use some this week for something different! Thanks for reading and commenting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Kathy! I’m primarily a Trollbeads fan, and I mix brands too, have pretty much from the get-go, including Ohm, Redbalifrog, Elfbeads, Melinaworld, and some indies. I saw recently that someone had purchased the rights or designs from RBF so we won’t lose all their beautiful work. I usually use the regular chain bracelets but also have a couple of necklaces — one TB fantasy with a pearl drop, and a TB two-strand leather bracelet that adapted well to being a choker! Do you have any from Evolve-Jewellery in NZ? I don’t, yet. 🙂 I want the Newgrange bead from Tara’s Diary. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Lizzie, I believe Black Raven is the company that is now selling some Redbalifrog. I have never heard of the last 2 brands you mentioned. The Evolve beads look very lovely so if I ever take a trip to NZ I will have to do some shopping! Thanks for the suggestions.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hello Martha, please keep posting all your lovely pictures either here or facebook/instagram. I do not have local retailers any more, so comparing your photos with stock ones from Trollbeads is a great help to me. I still enjoy collecting but do tend to wait for the sales, although I did order the Happy New Year bead and the Love and Care bead on release as I adored them and couldn’t wait! I have noticed that Trollbeads have been renaming their beads. I can still search their site using the old names at the moment, but just wondered why?
LikeLike
Oh that’s interesting about renaming beads. I did notice kits have been reorganized, but hadn’t noticed that about the names. Must go take a look online!
LikeLike
Don’t think every bead has changed but when I was searching for beads off my wishlist, I noticed some had new names on Trollbeads UK. One example is Shade of Sparkle Lagoon is now called Emotional Diamond Sparkle Bead!
LikeLike
Oh, very interesting!
LikeLike