Troll Beads, & Opal
Beads for October
This month is Troll Beads and October's stone Opal. Scroll down, or click a link below. If you are in the UK, why not
claim your free gift and visit us during October at a bead show - we're be in
Edinburgh, West London, and Cheltenham - for details click
here. Note:
because of these shows, some orders during early-October may be delayed - e-mail
to check if this is a problem.
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Troll Beads
Opal - October's Birthstone
Peruvian Opal
See us at a UK Bead Fair
Trolls,
in Scandinavian mythology, are powerful giants who are against humans, living in
caves or hill top castles, always stealing and eating.
Troll beads, also known as “Pandora”, make
for unique charm jewelry. Each bead is
enchanting with its own magic and history - inspired from mythology, astrology,
fairy tales, fauna, flora, cultural diversity, and last but not least, familiar
everyday living.
Troll bead charms were developed over 25 years ago by
Danish and internationally renowned jewelry designers.
Originally created in hard wax cast and
finished in metal. What’s most
distinctive about Troll beads, apart from originality, is the use and
combination of fascinating materials. The beads are made from many quality
resources, like sterling silver, 18 carat gold, Italian glass, natural pearls
and precious stones.
The
diversity of symbols, flowers, animals, zodiac signs, colors and materials
offers endless variations and combinations - making the jewelry unique and
personal for charm bracelets, necklaces, and earrings.
With imagination and creativity you can personalize jewelry for a
particular person or market, giving others the opportunity to be part of your
story. Choose the beads that remind
you of special people or memories, or a particular time of year.
Troll
beads are sometimes sold in different categories.
Like Buddhist, which teaches
enlightenment is reached through meditation and self-awareness – for original
Zen jewelry.
Love Designs for loved-ones - she’ll
remember each special moment every time she wears these beads.
Summer Fun – brings back
memories of cotton candy, ferries wheels, beach holidays, twisting colors, for
the romantic or young-in-heart.
Nature Themes, like flowers or clouds – captures the essence of the
outside.
Mythology like warlocks and dragons –
creates a feeling of magic and wonder.
Winter Weather – brings the
sense of the first crisp frost or romantic snowflakes.
Our jade Chinese zodiac beads are ideal to combine with your Troll bead jewelry
– choose the animal for the year of birth the design is intended for.
Or make twelve different designs for each birth year as appealing jewelry
to sell.
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Make
your own Troll charm bracelet!
To see our new
Troll Bead Category click
MrBead.com or
MrBead.co.uk
Opal:
October's Gemstone
What is Opal?
All of Nature’s fury can be seen in fine opal. Like a Rembrandt: fire,
lightning, all the colors of the rainbow and the shine of far seas. Australia
supplies about 95% of the world’s opal from the outback. Aborigines there
believe their creator came down to Earth on a rainbow to bring the message of
peace to all humans. And at the spot where his foot touched the ground, opal was
born.
The name Opal could have came from many places. In Greek “opallios”, translates
as “color change”, and to the ancient Romans “opalus”, was a stone from several
elements. Pliny, a Roman author, wrote that opal combines the sparkle of
Almandine, the shining purple of Amethyst, the golden yellow of Topaz, and the
deep blue of Sapphire.
Types
of Opal 
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Fine opals shine and sparkle in a continually changing play of colors called “opalising”.
Depending on the rock and location they have names like Harlequin, Peacock,
Mexican, and Fire Opal. Most opal has this play of colors except “Common Opal”,
a name give to all others, like Pink Opal. Because demand outstrips supply, fine
opalizing opal is very very expensive, so is sold in individual beads for
hundreds of US dollars each. Therefore, the type of opal common in necklaces is
non-opalizing opal – usually pink opal from Peru (more below).
Opal’s fantasy-like play of color is caused by small spheres of silica creating
interference and refraction manifestations. The spheres, which are arranged in
compact structures, dissect light through the gemstone, turning it into the
rainbow effect, always new and different.
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How to Value Opal
The most important criterion for determining the price of fine opal is the play
of color, the colors themselves and their pattern. If red appears when looking
through the stone, all the other colors will also. Value also depends on body
color, transparency, and original location. Body color can be black, dark or
light, or colored. Black Opal or a dark grey body has the most brilliant play of
color. Black Opal from Lightning Ridge or Mexican Fire Opal is the best. Crystal
opal, is the next best, and should be more transparent with a deep play of
color. White or milky opals show more diffuse color and are the cheapest.
To best bring out the play of color in a fine opal, the stones are cut and
polished to round or oval cabochons, or any other softly domed shape. Only the
best qualities of Fire Opal are suited to faceting. The opal cutter removes any
impurities using a diamond cutting wheel, before working out the rough basic
shape, fine cutting, and finishing with sandpaper and polishing with a wet
leather wheel.
How does Opal Effect You?
Opal is thought to solve depression and to help its wearer find true love. Opals
are supposed to enhance the positive characteristics for people born under the
sign of Cancer. With Black Opal recommended to Scorpios and Boulder Opal for
Aries. The opalizing effect reflects changing emotions and moods of people.
People prefer different opals for different moods. Opals are like human
emotions: each type creates different feelings.
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Peruvian Opal
Peruvian Opal comes in faint pink, light blue and light mint-green tones. From
the Andes Mountains near San Patricio, Peru, just like the name implies.
Although native South Americans have been using the stone for more than a
thousand years, it only became widely available commercially within the last
decade or so. It is usually translucent to opaque with no play of color and
often has lots of black and tan dendrites. Most Peruvian Opal beads are
semi-opaque to opaque.
Peruvian opal’s metaphysical properties are similar to other opals. Helping to
intensify your traits and characteristics and deepening your personal
understanding. Peruvian Opal in particular is used to activate the heart charka
and to assist you during spiritual journeys.
Looking
after Opal
Due to 2 to 6% water, opals easily become brittle and if stored too dry or
exposed to heat over a longer period of time, they will show fissures and the
play of color will fade. Therefore, Opal jewelry should be worn as often as
possible, for then the gemstone will receive the needed humidity from the air
and from the skin of its wearer. In earlier days opal’s sensitive surface was
oiled, but today they are sealed with clear resin.
To buy our Peruvian Opal Nugget Beads click
MrBead or
MrBead.co.uk
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UK
Customers may visit us for a chat & free gift at the following bead fairs during
October - we'd love to see you:
Sunday 4th October
09 - Edinburgh Bead
Fair - Corn Exchange,
Edinburgh, EH14 1RJ - Scotland's largest Bead Fair
Saturday 17th October 09 -
The Big Bead Show - Sandown Park, Surrey, KT10 9AJ - The UKs largest Bead Fair
Saturday & Sunday - 24th-25th October 09 - Gem & Bead Fair, Cheltenham
Racecourse, Gloucester, GL50 4SH
For full details of these fairs click
here
For your free gift, just tell us
your a MrBead newsletter reader!
To go to our bead store click
MrBead.com or MrBead.co.uk
To return to the top of this page click here
