Voting is Open

Lise has posted the FB page that they have removed the 2 designs in question from the Top 10 and the voting is open. I'm a little surprised, as it seems sad that two other people could have had a chance for their designs to make it to the Top 10.

So. Log-in to Trollbeads Universe and place your vote. I just checked and yes indeed there are VOTE buttons within the design descriptions.

People's Bead Revisions

Trollbeads HQ is working hard to review the finalists & semi-finalists to resolve any copyright infringements in submitted designs. I'm looking forwards to seeing the revised list for the Finalists & Semi-finalists. I still think this will evolve into a great competition & we will end up with a lovely and original People's Bead for 2011.

And judging by the comments & discussions on the social media (Twitter, Facebook, and the Trollbead fan forums), people are nothing if not passionate about their Trollbeads & protecting the brands integrity!

http://www.trollbeadsuniverse.com/global/en-us/events/peoples-bead-2011/__finalists

http://www.trollbeadsuniverse.com/global/en-us/events/peoples-bead-2011/__semifinalists

Unofficial Controversy

Although the links to the People's Bead 2011 finalists show unconfirmed finalists & semi-finalists, there is already controversy raised on a couple of the designs. First the "Star" submission is a photo of a ring from Sylvie Meis' jewellery collection, that ironically enough, was released in the Netherlands (corrected from: Denmark.)

http://sieraden-tassen-uiterlijk.marktplaats.nl/ringen/420764254-orgineel-zilver-nieuw-pure-ringen-van-silvie-meis.html

The picture may have been borrowed, but the design is already owned by Sylvie it seems. More about Sylvie can be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvie_van_der_Vaart

And a poster did an interesting comparison on FB of the Acorn submission to the "Ohm" brand silver Acorn bead. The similarities are startling. But, decide for yourself.

Photo source: http://i55.tinypic.com/357oms5.jpg























Check the discussions out yourself on Trollbeads - The Official Page, on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/trollbeadsofficial

What is this???

People's Bead 2011! My favorite time of year!!!

Hooray! The People's Bead competition for 2011 has started!!! You have until April 26th to submit your idea for a bead design. Follow the link below to read the rules & deadlines for the contest. One important note for those in North America, (or anywhere else behind the Denmark timezone), make sure you leave plenty of time for your entry to be submitted just in case you have problems uploading your photos & ideas. It's nice to have an extra day in case that is the moment your internet connection misbehaves.

http://www.trollbeadsuniverse.com/global/en-us/events/people

There is only 2 more painful days- wait, just 1 more now in most places - to find out just what lovely beads lie in store for us with the UK World Tour release. OK, OK, OK. I must confess I have seen microscopic blurry pictures of the beads & at first glance I think most people will be quite pleased with most of them. If not, don't worry, I'm sure they will grow on you like most of these beads seem to do. Then they almost magically appear in our beadboxes whilst we scratch our heads wondering just what the heck happened???

And for your daily inspiration, a photo of what I did with my new South Africa World Tour beads. 2 of the "Africa" glass and the "Drum Beat" silver.

April 2011

April will be busy - if the rumours are all true. The UK World Tour beads are set to be released. No official release date or sneak peeks of the beads have leaked out yet. Speculation is thick though that the April date may tie into a Royal Wedding bead??? The jury is out on this one, as I'd imagine that the bead designs & production would have been completed long before the engagement was announced. But stranger things have happened.

Strange, like the Europe OOAK mystery, for example. After the recent price increase the OOAK glass price when up to 39Euro from 28. Then, back down to 28. Now the 2010 OOAKs are to be 28, but the "new" 2011 OOAKs will be 39. But, so far the "new" OOAKs have not appeared to be any different than the old. And then someone threw the idea in that the new OOAKS would have "universal" size cores, larger to fit other brands. So now we don't know just what the heck is going on. Will there really be "new" OOAKs so different & wonderful that we won't mind the 39 Euro price? Or will it just be more of the same? Will they all have larger core size? Gaaa! I'm going to leave this one alone for now. I'll believe it when I see it.

However the US now has access to the same beautiful OOAKs from TB Denmark that Europe has traditionally had. Which should mean more stable prices & more desirable beads. I don't know about you, but if any more uglies turn up the message really has to be sent to TB HQ to make the types & colors of beads the customers love & will buy instead of forcing the customers to collectively pay for unsold ones. Why punish the collectors? Nuff said on that topic.

Final tidbit - I have heard whispers that the People's Bead contest will begin in April of this year. I would look forwards to this change in the hopes that it would bring forth a different season of bead ideas and less of the "holiday season - winter - frigid cold" types of entries.

Oh, and later this year Trollbeads has their 35th Anniversary. In November 2006 they released the Anniversary Bracelet to celebrate 30 years of Troll. Let's hope they may have a little treat for us to celebrate this new milestone!!!