Pandora bracelets... continued!!!

[Sally T]

As a quick answer, they are not always marked in the same place. Especially if it is a bead that has been in production for years, as molds wear out and new ones are made. I have old style fish with ALE in different places -- both versions are authentic. Some beads don't have the ALE marking due to design issues.

Regarding your two beads, can you post pictures so we can look at them?

Hi Izzy's Mom

Thank you for your post - I felt a lot better after reading it. I have tried taking pictures - with not very much success - but will try to attach them to this note.

I have also contacted the seller to ask for her thoughts as to why there are no ALE and 925 marks. To be fair her comments were along the same lines as your own. DH thinks I should just put the bead on the bracelet and forget about it - perhaps he's right?

 

[Erinbuffy]

Thank you Erinbuffy, I've added a safety chain and 4 more beads since then. I have another bead coming on Thursday (friend from Australia bringing over) and then I will only have 2 more to finish. Will post updated picture when I can find camera. Don't rush with your bracelet I took ages planning and tweaking mine it's all part of the fun!!

I'm going to try and wait until next month now and rather than go out and buy 3 or 4 (which I have just done!) I will just buy one really really nice one... thats the plan.

 

[pjaye]

I have mixed a couple of non Pandora beads in - mainly on my cat themed bracelet. All are sterling silver and not plated, and surprisingly not much difference in quality to Pandora.
I have bought from Charmilia, Lovelinks, European Bling and Amorica.
I'm not really into mix and match but there were certain beads that I wanted that Pandora didn't have - plus I collected the cat beads from all of them. You really can't tell the difference from looking....and I am a bit of a Pandora snob!

 

[shinylizard]

The lenght of the leather cord is 38" it's 39.75 tip to tip. It appears crimped on, so I dont know that it can be removed.

Does anyone know the Chamilia beads well enough or has seen them in person? Tanzanite is my favorite stone, and for my shiny bracelet, I'd like to combine the Pandora Serenity with the Chamilia Lilac Spin beads.

Also, if someone has it handy, could you send a list of the recommended ebay buyers? I don't have PM on here yet, so I'm [email protected]. TIA for all and have a good Monday.

 

[pit_bull]

pjaye

Where did you find the Amorica charms? Do they fit all Pandora bracelets? I have one Pure Pandora bracelet, but I can't afford building more and some of the other charm companies are awfully cute - as long as they are Zable makes some interesting beads but no one on here has given a review of them yet. http://www.zablebeads.com/catalog/ They also sell on ebay. Any thoughts good or bad?

 

[karinjg]

Zoppini is/was one of the major brands in the Italian charm business. Zable is made by them, so they ought to be good. I've not seen any of them or heard of them until you asked. I think it depends on what you are looking for.

A local store has decided to get into Chamilia. (The store that had sold Chamilia closed.) There is another Chamilia about 10 mi away and two Pandora sellers 10 mi away in opposite directions, as well as one that is closer, but has very little stock. There are also two stores that sell Trollbeads, both about 10 mi away, sort of in the same direction, both south of me, but like two sides of a triangle.

I have started a list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Addicted2Trollbeadsandmore/ where questions can be asked about all brands as a resource for all of us. I've set up files for things such as favorite ebay stores; favorite etsy sellers; links; etc.

Karin

 

[pit_bull]

They're cheap enough, I may just order some just to see. Hopefully they won't look like they came out of a gumball machine. I have the feeling they will, I'll let you know.
Just wish I could find a seller that wasn't in China! Seems unlikely though.

I LOVE the gumball machine analogy. I've never thought of looking for beads there!

 

[karinjg]

I have seen a lot of the Chamilia in person.

 

[ClioD]

Wow. I haven't been here in a couple days and you all have posted a lot!

Pandora Junkie and pit_bull: Thanks for the compliments on my necklace. It was partly inspired by a necklace posted by charmqueen in the old Pandora Bracelet thread: Pandora Bracelets anyone?

lorna278: You have such a thoughtful husband! I hope the rest of your summer goes smoothly.

divadivine682: You've made a great start on your bracelet!

Bethc: I think you've set a new world record! Going from nothing to a full Pandora bracelet in 2 hours is amazing. By the way, your pictures were rather blurry. Did you try the macro setting on your camera? That usually helps a lot.

Regarding swapping beads, I know we can't swap or sell on tPF. xx
please don't discuss it at all, thanks

shinylizard: Since you like the oxidized chains, but not the Pandora clips, have you considered oxidizing some of the plain clips so they would match the chain? As Izzy's Mom suggested, you can ask a jeweler to oxidize them for you. But you can also do it yourself. (It's cheap and easy. I'll have to post some details.)

 

[pit_bull]

Thanks Karin for opening up this thread. I can't seem to make my ID access it. Could it be I've forgot my ID and or Password? I'm in contact with help as we speak.

 

[beadbaby]

Where did you find the Amorica charms?

Pit_bull are you in Australia? Amorica beads are sold through Zamels, it's their version of Pandora. I've got a whole Amorica bracelet (attached) before I knew what Pandora was. They are good quality s/silver like Pandora.

 

[Bethc]

ClioD - Thanks!! I'll try that next time. I was lucky, I had the full attention of an excellent SA and the store litterally has every charm, so all I had to do was point at what I wanted, no pressure.

I went back today to look and started another bracelet, this one will take longer, I'm doing hearts and flowers w/purple in it. Some of the beads that I want are all gold, so I need to take my time. The center is the gold puffed heart

 

[~Mina~]

shinylizard -- Thank you for the measurements. I really appreciate it. The crimps can be removed, I'm sure. I've had leather cord bracelets before. After a lot of wear the black finish begins to crack, and the leather gets weak.

 

[Nelly4]

Thank you Erinbuffy, I've added a safety chain and 4 more beads since then. I have another bead coming on Thursday (friend from Australia bringing over) and then I will only have 2 more to finish. Will post updated picture when I can find camera. Don't rush with your bracelet I took ages planning and tweaking mine it's all part of the fun!!

Pandorascot, I really wish I had have seen your post about taking your time with your bracelet. I absolutely love your bracelet but I have just rushed into buying beads for mine and I'm wondering if its going to look half as good as yours when I'm done. Can you post your bracelet where you are up to now as I'd love to see what new beads you have added.

 

[ClioD]

As I mentioned before, I wanted to post some details on oxidizing (or re-oxidizing) sterling silver. This works on Pandora beads -- I've done it twice now. It takes a bit of time, but the process is cheap and easy.

I know it sounds crazy, but the way this is done is with boiled egg. The boiled egg gives off sulfur, which reacts with the copper content of the sterling silver and creates the oxidization. This process oxidizes the whole surface of the sterling silver (as in, the whole bead). You then need to polish the raised areas to return them to a bright shining silver. That part takes some time.

Here are two Pandora beads I bought, and wanted to tweak the look of slightly. The single rose bead had light gray oxidization and the raised flower bead had uneven oxidization (it was practically non-existent between the flowers). This is before I re-oxidized them:

This is after the boiled egg treatment:

And this is after polishing:

It was time-consuming, but it was an interesting process to learn, and I like the result. And now I know how to do it again, should I ever need to.

Here are several websites that break down the process step-by-step:
OXIDIZE WITH HARD BOILED EGGS - BEADING HELP WEB
Contrariwise ramblings: Tutorial: How to oxidize sterling silver using eggs
how to oxidize sterling silver without chemicals

The websites give a few options on how to make this work. I put the Pandora beads on a cotton string with knots between them to keep them separate, and then put them in a ziplock bag with the crushed hard boiled egg. Some took an hour to oxidize enough for me; others took 2 hours. I polished them by hand with silver polishing cloths.