One of our talented eSMArts artisans, Wilma Travis (a handmade lampwork glassmaker and owner of Whimsey) sent me a few of her latest lampwork glass bead creations the other day and the moment I saw them I knew they were going to be a prominent ingredient in my next pandora stew. Add a few authentic CLIM charms or beads, a heaping helping of murano glass, a touch of sterling charms and maybe even a sprinkling of affordable Tibetan silver et voila! You have a delectable Christmas delight to savour and display throughout the festive season.
The gold beads shown here are from CLIM. Made of the finest quality sterling silver and handmade by veteran craftsmen with over 30 years experience, these lovely creations have a 925 hallmark to represent their sterling silver core. My gold ones also have a quality 14k gold electroplate finish and as depicted here some contain genuine swarovski crystals.
The fun part of a pandora necklace, bracelet or anklet is that you can start with one bead or add as many as you like. The element of fun enters the equation when we personalize our pandora collection to reflect our own unique lifestyle and tastes. What do I mean by that?
Well you can choose from a growing collection of flowers, birthstones, animals, zodiacs and lifestyle symbols to tell your own personal story. In this regard, pandora jewelry (also known as troll, biagi, chamilia or even European beads) is the modern day equivalent of the charm bracelet. The two concepts are quite similar except that pandora beads don't usually dangle and they don't make a noisy nuisance of themselves.
Pandora style beads have a unique 4mm threaded opening that screws onto a snake chain base (usually 3mm snake chain). Most of the pandora style bracelets (even knockoffs) have screw stops placed intermittently that are designed to prevent the charms and beads from slipping all over the place.
Some solid gold, silver and platinum pandora beads sell for hundreds of dollars and the base chains aren't inexpensive either in their precious metal forms. But to get started there are very reasonably priced gold and silver plated chains available such as our "Pandora Starter Bracelet" shown above that includes three free beads for only $15.00.
Above all, don't let the cost and rarity of pandora threaded beads limit your design choices. To expand your pandora jewelry collection, consider adding standard lampwork glass or borosilicate beads. Any bead with a 5mm opening will slide over the screw stops found on most pandora style chains. And some of these oversized glass beads (often called troll beads) can be purchased for just a few dollars. So with a little planning you can collect pandora accessories to coordinate with all your fashions.
At our supplies store GahooleTree Supplies you'll find a selection of quality CLIM beads in both sterling and 14k gold EP. We're also offering affordable tibetan silver spacers and perhaps a few generic lampwork bead sets to complete our sterling, silver plated and gold plated chains. Check us out. We offer a 100% no quibble money back guarantee!
