Pandora bracelets... continued!!!
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Divadivine-
I love your bracelet and your rings. I too have been sad about the lack of posts lately! I absolutely love to see the bracelet creations and it is great to see that Pandora's other jewelry is just as amazing. My birthday is tomorrow so maybe I will get a new bead or two (a girl can hope!).
I love your bracelet and your rings. I too have been sad about the lack of posts lately! I absolutely love to see the bracelet creations and it is great to see that Pandora's other jewelry is just as amazing. My birthday is tomorrow so maybe I will get a new bead or two (a girl can hope!).
Here is an updated pic of my pandora. Can't seem to get a good picture, have tried taking loads but the colours just aren't showing up as nice as they are in real life. Anyway got new beads for my birthday last week:
purple oval lights, cat (I just love cats!), purple flowers murano, handbag (also mad about handbags!!) and treated myself to the Easter chick. I absolutely love my bracelet, can't stop looking at it and never take it off. Still have a few spaces left on my bracelet but I am going to leave it the way it is for a while. Hope you's all like the bracelet, the picture does not do it justice at all!! Must try to get some better pics!
purple oval lights, cat (I just love cats!), purple flowers murano, handbag (also mad about handbags!!) and treated myself to the Easter chick. I absolutely love my bracelet, can't stop looking at it and never take it off. Still have a few spaces left on my bracelet but I am going to leave it the way it is for a while. Hope you's all like the bracelet, the picture does not do it justice at all!! Must try to get some better pics!
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Hi loulougil,
Your bracelet is looking really good! About taking pictures of Pandora, here are some things I've learned: Don't use a flash, as the bright light reflecting off of the beads obscures some of their detail. Go for natural light -- diffused is best. Use a solid, contrasting background (which you've done). Also, there are two settings to look for on your camera (though not all cameras have them). Using a preset or custom White Balance will help bring out the colors of the beads accurately. Also, use the Macro Mode to get good, close up shots.
I hope that helps.
-ClioD
I hope everyone here had a good Easter weekend!
I had a slightly upsetting Pandora shopping experience last week that I wanted to share. I have been collecting Pandora beads since August 2009. In that time, I've been accustomed to some retired beads still being available in my local shops, especially the recently retired ones. I was also able to buy the dna bead, the snail, the wide stripe, and 3 of the Asian symbols even though they had been retired for some time. No problem.
As you all know, Pandora retired another group of beads March 1st. Several of them jumped up to the top of my wish list, but I wasn't able to buy them all when the retired list was first announced. I figured I would wait until it worked out better in my budget to buy them, and didn't think anything more of it.
Last week I went to one of my local Pandora retailers (there are only 2 - one white store and one silver). The SA put all the trays of Pandora beads on the counter so I could look through them. I mentioned that I was looking for a recently retired bead, and she said, "Oh, we sent them all back."
"What???" I was thinking. After asking some polite questions, I found out that Pandora has apparently requested that their retailers return any unsold retired beads. Doing so seems to be the individual retailer's decision.
Two days later, I visited the other local Pandora retailer. Needless to say, it was the same story there. "We sent them all back."
After asking as many questions as I could think of, I can't say that I learned very much. Pandora has asked retailers to return retired beads, but it is the retailer's decision whether or not to do so. Pandora would like the beads to be returned by April 5th. And three different SA's gave me three different answers as to what will happen to the beads once they are returned to Pandora: 1) the retired beads will be sent to Pandora Concept stores (interesting... and means I might still be able to buy the ones I want); 2) the retired beads will be sent back to be factory to be turned into new beads (shock and horror!! How could they?! Every bead deserves to be loved... it just needs to find the right owner...); 3) the retired beads will be made available to shops who have customers that are looking for them (also interesting -- certainly much better than option #2!). I am not sure which of these answers is correct (or perhaps none of them are?).
The next day, I called several Pandora retailers in other states that I have bought beads from in the past (all gold level stores). I was able to get the two recently retired beads that I wanted, plus a couple older spacers I had been considering and another older silver bead. (Thanks to Heather of Waterfall Jewelers for her help!)
Whew! So I finally bought the recently retired beads I wanted, plus a few others. But this situation concerns me. There are still a few of the older beads I would like to have, and if retailers are returning all of their retired beads to Pandora, chances of my finding them for sale are drastically decreasing. I'm not sure if this is just in the US, or if other countries are affected as well. I wanted to share my experience here in case any of you have further information. Have you found this situation in your local retailers? What is Pandora going to do with all of the returned retired beads? And what do us collectors need to do to be able to buy the few beads that would nicely round out our collections?
(I know retired beads sometimes show up on eBay, but there are too many fakes also on eBay, and I would much rather buy from an authorized Pandora retailer.)
Thanks for your time in listening to my long story!
-ClioD
I had a slightly upsetting Pandora shopping experience last week that I wanted to share. I have been collecting Pandora beads since August 2009. In that time, I've been accustomed to some retired beads still being available in my local shops, especially the recently retired ones. I was also able to buy the dna bead, the snail, the wide stripe, and 3 of the Asian symbols even though they had been retired for some time. No problem.
As you all know, Pandora retired another group of beads March 1st. Several of them jumped up to the top of my wish list, but I wasn't able to buy them all when the retired list was first announced. I figured I would wait until it worked out better in my budget to buy them, and didn't think anything more of it.
Last week I went to one of my local Pandora retailers (there are only 2 - one white store and one silver). The SA put all the trays of Pandora beads on the counter so I could look through them. I mentioned that I was looking for a recently retired bead, and she said, "Oh, we sent them all back."
"What???" I was thinking. After asking some polite questions, I found out that Pandora has apparently requested that their retailers return any unsold retired beads. Doing so seems to be the individual retailer's decision.
Two days later, I visited the other local Pandora retailer. Needless to say, it was the same story there. "We sent them all back."
After asking as many questions as I could think of, I can't say that I learned very much. Pandora has asked retailers to return retired beads, but it is the retailer's decision whether or not to do so. Pandora would like the beads to be returned by April 5th. And three different SA's gave me three different answers as to what will happen to the beads once they are returned to Pandora: 1) the retired beads will be sent to Pandora Concept stores (interesting... and means I might still be able to buy the ones I want); 2) the retired beads will be sent back to be factory to be turned into new beads (shock and horror!! How could they?! Every bead deserves to be loved... it just needs to find the right owner...); 3) the retired beads will be made available to shops who have customers that are looking for them (also interesting -- certainly much better than option #2!). I am not sure which of these answers is correct (or perhaps none of them are?).
The next day, I called several Pandora retailers in other states that I have bought beads from in the past (all gold level stores). I was able to get the two recently retired beads that I wanted, plus a couple older spacers I had been considering and another older silver bead. (Thanks to Heather of Waterfall Jewelers for her help!)
Whew! So I finally bought the recently retired beads I wanted, plus a few others. But this situation concerns me. There are still a few of the older beads I would like to have, and if retailers are returning all of their retired beads to Pandora, chances of my finding them for sale are drastically decreasing. I'm not sure if this is just in the US, or if other countries are affected as well. I wanted to share my experience here in case any of you have further information. Have you found this situation in your local retailers? What is Pandora going to do with all of the returned retired beads? And what do us collectors need to do to be able to buy the few beads that would nicely round out our collections?
(I know retired beads sometimes show up on eBay, but there are too many fakes also on eBay, and I would much rather buy from an authorized Pandora retailer.)
Thanks for your time in listening to my long story!
-ClioD
Just an FYI...
If you ladies are on Facebook, there is an official Pandora facebook page. They recently posted pictures of some of the new to be released. I would check it out if your are a fb person. It has a white background with the pandora logo as the avatar. There are over 17,000 fans.
If you ladies are on Facebook, there is an official Pandora facebook page. They recently posted pictures of some of the new to be released. I would check it out if your are a fb person. It has a white background with the pandora logo as the avatar. There are over 17,000 fans.
The next day, I called several Pandora retailers in other states that I have bought beads from in the past (all gold level stores). I was able to get the two recently retired beads that I wanted, plus a couple older spacers I had been considering and another older silver bead. (Thanks to Heather of Waterfall Jewelers for her help!)
Thanks for your time in listening to my long story!
ClioD
Very interesting how you have written all this that I have also learned doing my own research. I was also mortified to hear they "melt" the retired beads to create new ones. I cannot agree more with you in regards to Heather with Waterfall Jewelers. Their service is excellent and I have purchased several retired beads from her too. I recently purchased a retired bead from Two Sisters Gallery (they stopped carrying Pandora as of Easter Sunday). I contacted them to find out if she had a retired bead and they did not have it but they ordered it for me. It took approximately one and a half weeks for them to get it from Pandora and that is how I was able to get it. This tells me that scenario number three is correct.
Thanks for your time in listening to my long story!
ClioD
Very interesting how you have written all this that I have also learned doing my own research. I was also mortified to hear they "melt" the retired beads to create new ones. I cannot agree more with you in regards to Heather with Waterfall Jewelers. Their service is excellent and I have purchased several retired beads from her too. I recently purchased a retired bead from Two Sisters Gallery (they stopped carrying Pandora as of Easter Sunday). I contacted them to find out if she had a retired bead and they did not have it but they ordered it for me. It took approximately one and a half weeks for them to get it from Pandora and that is how I was able to get it. This tells me that scenario number three is correct.
I have been checking that facebook page too. They have posted pictures of some of the new beads, mix and match and even sun glasses!
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