Enter the newest contender for that top spot - the much anticipated Collectors Case from Trollbeads.
The new box is about one and a half times the size of the old White Collectors Case that many Trollbeads fans might have. If you remember I did some interesting mods to my old case in order to get some more rod storage - as this is how I like to store, look and find beads when I'm making up my bracelets.
You can imagine then, that for me a big selling point was the 8 super long rods in the new case; also the price, it was £99 including postage... which is only £25 more than I paid for my white case, and several hundreds of pounds less than the Ultimate Collectors Case!
 |
| New Collectors Box Vs White Collectors Box |
Now I know most people will be thinking that is a lot for a jewellery box and it is... but there's surprisingly little available on the market for people with bigger collections.
Price wise, as it wasn't that much more than the white box, for a whole load more box, I wasn't expecting the same build quality as the white one, to judge Troll by Troll's own standards. To some extent, this was sadly the case (excuse the pun), so let's get the bad bits out of the way so I can concentrate on the awesome bits!
 |
| The build quality is not quite to the same standard as the white box... But, given it was only £25 more for a bigger case I wasn't expecting it to be. |
Parts of the wrap on the outside of the case are already a little worn looking and the rod ends have that slightly unfinished feel to them by being a little bit rough at the very ends. Finally, I'm not convinced how well the foam side inserts will weather over time, but I do intend to be very careful with all of these issues, and to get some sandpaper to those rods!
Having just said all that - I do think this box is awesome!
To start with it's all about packing a HUGE amount of beads into the smallest space possible whilst still being able to SEE them! Something that a lot of other storage cases don't always deliver, and I think I actually might prefer this way of storage to the Ultimate Collectors Case.
 |
| Look how much bead space you get in a compact area! |
What you actually get for your £99 is 8 lovely long bead rods in the lid, with a top plain layer of flat velvet on the other side to protect everything. Underneath that is the next pull out layer, 6 large compartments which in turn sits on the very bottom of the box - 10 smaller compartments up the sides and 6 single long compartments ideal for full bracelets and 2 double sized compartments that can fit 2 or 3 bracelets depending on style.
I wasted no time in trying to fill it!
 |
| Trollbeads New Collectors Case - 1st play! L-R: Lid rod storage, Top 6 compartments, Bottom Layer |
This was my first attempt and I'm sure I'm going to change this as I go along, especially as I didn't quite manage to get everything in the one box.
I did get all my Trollbeads in, both regular and X Jewellery but I still have some stray beads in another box, and sadly my bangles don't fit in when I have beads on them as I tend to wear quite chunky beads which are too wide for the narrow depth of the top layer.
Another point to note is that the rods don't come complete with rubber o-rings (the bits you use to stop beads sliding off) so I transferred all my extra o-rings from my white box skewer mods across to each end the new rods. I'm also going to order some more and put an extra one in the centre of each rod; so I can remove beads from either side of the rod whilst not holding on to the full load of sliding beads, far more manageable!
I LOVE seeing my beads and bracelets like this, and for me, this is why this case is so awesome!
The flat velvet protection top can also double up as play tray later on - although it's flat, when it's sat on the bottom most layer as the box (with the middle layer removed), the box sides then act as the "lip" to stop your beads rolling off.
 |
| Beadplay on the flat velvet (Trollbeads & Elfbeads) |
Very useful for bead play and makes a nice backdrop for taking photos. Er, so expect to see more photos with a black backdrop in the future I guess!
What do you think to the new case?
Tempted, or would you rather keep your pennies for beads?
Oh gorgeous! Congrats on your new storage box. It looks really neat!
ReplyDeleteThanks, it's reignited my bead play at the moment because I'm only working across 2 boxes... going to have a think to see if I can make it one box without sacrificing too much... but I think the only way to do it is to move some of my bracelets back to travel cases and skewer 1 or 2 bracelet compartments as well!
DeleteWow, this box is awesome! The only thing I might not like are too long rods. I have made a box myself for my collection with quite short rods, and that works very well for me. But of course as a Trollbeads fan this original box really seduces me... By the way, you have a wonderfull collection! I wish I could zoom in and have a better look at it... ;-)
ReplyDeleteXOXO
Do
Thank you, I did umm and ahh about whether to put bigger pics up of my collection in the box; but I have a few surprises left to blog and didn't want to spoiler myself! This way you can still see how much the box holds without me having to write *SPOILER ALERT* or remember which beads to take out - I have a few long term projects I'm going to be blogging about :)
DeleteI must admit at first I was wondering why they didn't split the lid into 2 to have shorter rods, but now I've got it I appreciate not losing any bead space... as the key selling point for me is trying to get everything into just the one box (for now).
Mars xx
It looks like a fantastic case! I'm with you with wanting to be able to see all of my beads and not have them spread in different places. I have my X links in one of the circular travel cases right now and I don't mind having them separate, but I like to see all of my regular beads so that I can find what I'mm looking for.
ReplyDeleteI really need to do something with my case, it's getting a bit unruly and disorganized again, but haven't decided what my next steps are. But, I'm going to make do and for now my pennies are reserved for beads! My bead wish list is still so very long.
I like the idea you have of putting the rubber stopper in the middle of the long rods. Simple, but effective! One of the things that has kept me away from some of the boxes is the longer rods since I don't want to have to fiddle to get beads out of the middle. But that would almost effectively make it act like two shorter rods - so perfect!
As I said before I think the bracelets might have to come out in favour of skewer mods, which is a shame as I love seeing them all in a row like that. Also helps me to see if I'm missing a bead whether or not it's already on a bracelet or not!
DeleteI've used my tiny skewers from the wooden display trays in the side compartments as I didn't want loose beads... I really do like "seeing" everything at once/at a glance. Which is great because I can take the top layer of bracelets out and then I have 2 surfaces of beads, 1 horizontal and 1 vertical - this in itself is just perfect!
Yeah rubber O-rings are go, I did think they were being a bit cheap, as 24 o-rings (3 per rod) included in your package would be pennies but would mean so much to the customers... if they take me up on that idea Trollbeads would be welcome to send me my commission payment in beads :) O-ring in the middle is the easy way to solve this without loosing any precious bead space... I *love* those long rods <3
If this had been a more expensive case I might have hesitated, but after seeing how much use the white one was - the extra £25 for this was a no-brainer for me because I know how I like to organise my beads - but I totally get and also agree with that's at least 4 more beads you could have.
Mars xx