Pandora

Last year - I believe - I heard for the first time about the Pandora bracelets. The idea at first was funky and fun: the idea of making your own bracelets, and by then I have been going around with beads making necklaces and earrings for myself and my friends. There's a certain magic in wearing a piece you've done yourself, that's unique and nobody else has. But also because you know what it took you to make it and it's a piece with even less compromising than pieces bought done, where you either love the whole thing or you'll have to settle for the parts you like and leave with the rest.

Pandora kind of opened this up giving you the option to decide each part of your bracelet, picking the beads and the amount of beads, as well as the bracelet string, where you place the beads you've picked. I definitively had to check that out. So after lots of looking around and searching, I found a store in Costa Rica where there place was set like a quite expensive jewelry store, with counters displaying the beads. And well, it is expensive. Beads go from $21 to $1155, and the bases can go from $90 to $5780. Naturally, the prices depend on the pieces, but with this prices, and considering that a base gets filled with 15 to 20 beads, on the cheaper end you can end up with a bangle that takes you back $675 (the cheapest pieces are too thin so I counted a piece of $21 base, 15 thicker beads of $32 and five thin ones of $21). So I ask, does it worth it? Does it worth wearing a bracelet composed by yourself for so much money?

The answer for me is "no". Thing is that to express your individuality, your creativity and make fabulous jewelry for yourself, there's a huge and quite inexpensive world out there of glass beads. Look for a local craft store - google it if you have no idea where to look for! Or ask around - or go online. You can prepare a simple base with a craft thread (looks much like fishing line!), or with leather strips, waxed thread, or silk thread, like the one used for Chinese or Celtic knots! Your imagination and just a little bit of practicing can help you create your own bracelets mixing beautiful knotwork and beads.

On Amazon.com you can get a bag with assorted beads for as little as $5, and they work beautifully with your imagination and give your creativity a boost without being held down by what your wallet can pay for. Even more unique, could be the bracelets you make out of pieces of your old jewelry, or pieces you've picked up from the street. (I'm one of those people who can't help but pick up pieces of jewelry I find on the street, like half an earring, a pendant for a necklace, a broken bracelet... if it has something beautiful in it, something usable, I pick it up, bring it home - nearly cook it to get it clean! - and then store it away until I decide what new fabulous peace will that forgotten, fallen piece of jewelry become. In a way it's also a way to honor the previous owner. Whenever I've lost an earring or a necklace, or any piece of jewelry, I'm sad for a while, and miss it a lot. The thought that somebody found it and liked it an made something pretty out of it gives me a certain comfort. I don't know for sure if that happened, but I like to think about it, so I also do that for others: pick up their fallen jewelry and give them a new, loving home ^_^)

Possibilities are endless, and you don't need much training or many supplies to make a bracelet. Then, if you would like to prepare something a tad more elaborated, you can always ask at your craft store (if you found one) for classes on how to work with pliers (it's really simple and all it takes is practice! I myself still have some work to do to perfect my technique, but that doesn't keep me from doing the job!). This way you can buy a length of chain in any color you want, or just the wire and prepare the chain yourself, and then add the beads to it, either by keeping them in the line with the links, or by dangling them from the links like little charms. The posibilities are only limited by what you can come up with, and how much you want to do it.

So, the next time you walk by a Pandora store, don't frown at them. Go inside, check the store out, the beads, and get inspired! And why not? Maybe you'd like to treat yourself, buy a bead or two, and go home, take out your silk thread, your wire, your leather strips... whatever your imagination calls for, and make yourself unique, beautiful jewelry that reflects the awesome, beautiful person you are inside.