In my previous post I reflected on the joys and processes of blogging, the trollbead community and shared that I'd finally spent some of my holiday fund, actually on a holiday, rather than on trollbeads.
Some of the thoughts and ideas behind that piece was to expand on the short My Blog piece that sits along the right hand side of any posts you might be reading, to explain how my blog process happens and why I write a blog in the first place and finally to give some background on the lack of posts for the week given how many packages were popping through my letterbox (and still are... a'hem).
Today I want to get back to telling you all about some of my new beads and return to a theme I've talked about before.
Silver Zodiac Birthstone Stars
The first bead to pop through the letterbox was another retired silver birthstone zodiac star, Gemini. As blogged, I love this collection but it was retired before I started collecting. I've only ever seen 4 beads for sale since I discovered them out of the total collection of 9. (For those wondering several of the star signs are doubled up so it's not a collection of 12 like other zodiac collections). My Virgo bead, which I bought as a reminder of my Dad and was the first in my bead box, was shortly followed by Leo as my second bead from this collection.
By a process of simple logic Gemini was my third, this bead was purchased online via a retired beads sale so I got this at a bargain price. When I bought this bead I suddenly started to get the fear that if I didn't buy the other one that is still available I'd miss out on the chance of it.
I buy and sell on Ebay but had never done this for Trollbeads before; online I do buy from other collectors but that is on a more personal level through the trollbead community. I wanted Taurus so much, but I was sensible enough to not want to pay over the odds for a preloved bead when I could buy new from a retailer. With my bidding plan decided, I bid, I won, I *love* my new bead and it's been on my leather constantly since as shown in my last post!
I played around with with my two new zodiac stars to make a new combination without breaking up my current combinations and this is what I came up with.
Obviously I couldn't do this piece without showing you my favourite Virgo bead below ;)
So what are the rest of the beads in the collection?
Aquarius - this has a gorgeous turquoise bead which would work brilliantly with my agate beads on a bracelet and is also my live-in geek's star sign.
Libra and Sagittarius - not only do I want this bead because I'm Sagittarius myself; but I think the deeper blue would look great with a lot of my beads, as I have a high proportion of blue and purple beads in my collection.
Capricorn - this bead has onyx as it's stone, I've mentioned before that I have a fondness for the stones!
Scorpio and Aries - I adore the red colour on this bead and have recently started to increase the red colour in my collection, my first bead with any red in it was featured on my first finished bracelet.
Cancer and Pisces - this star has a pearl on it, I recently saw a photo of a leather bracelet that contained 2 of these, the bead looks very pretty on a cream combination. Obviously those who know me, know that I'm unlikely to ever have a cream/white combination but I'm sure I can think of a few different uses for this bead ;)
So finding those 5 beads would make up my first full collection of a particular release and render my Zodiac Wishlist obsolete; I've not yet done the research to find out what my chances are of collecting the final five!
I'm Sagittarius too! Nov 28. I'm lucky that I work at the Beaverbrooks that sells the most beads so all retired beads and cancelled lines come into our store. I started collecting after these were retired but I managed to get one! just a warning with them: don't get them wet and try not to bash them. they were retired because the beads came out a few of them (but don't let that put you off enjoying them!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up with the beads; I'm not surprised they're a bit delicate, but will be more careful in future, it's hard not to bash them a little bit sometimes as they're so fiddly to pick up ;)
DeleteI've already discovered they can stick to each other when next door on a bracelet and not good to put them on the end of a bracelet without a stopper either... they're still brilliant though, and one of my favourite sets of beads!
Ooh forgot to ask, which one did you find?
DeleteA mad impulse, saw Gemini in a sale, good value and my son's birth sign so No.1 purchased. So the same day, today I looked for others to add to my 'family' found Scorpio and Virgo and after nearly 6 frantic hours secured Pisces for me!! MY FAMILY :). I think Pisces is beautiful, whether I shall be tempted to but the others, not sure, these have a special meaning. I will take care of the stones Michael, thank you.
ReplyDeleteAnd another zodiac fan was born... the joy spreads!
DeleteGood luck with your hunt, I think you'll be really pleased with your stars, they really are the most versatile silver beads and I've been heard to remark that if I could only choose one type of silver beads for the rest of my bracelets I'd choose these every time!