 Professional PMC:
Create PMC Specialty Beads to Size
For Troll, Pandora and Biagi Bead Fans
By Bridgette Rallo
Introduction
It’s official. Troll, Pandora and Biagi bead bracelets are the hottest jewelry craze since Paloma Picasso designed the sterling silver “Bean” for Tiffany’s. In fact, I can’t keep up with orders for these one-of-a-kind tiny treasures.
They have the kind of cachet that literally draws a crowd. When I wear my Troll bead bracelet in public, people stop me on the street to ask where I bought my beads. I almost always walk away with another customer when people learn that I make them myself. Bead charm bracelets are the kind of trend art jewelers dream about.
So, what’s so special about these beads? First of all, they’re made in a specific size; Troll bead bracelet chains measure slightly less than 4mm in width and Troll beads have a 4mm diameter hole. In layman’s terms, this means that Troll beads will only fit a Troll bead chain. Pandora and Biagi beads are slightly larger, with a hole that measures 5mm. Pandoras and Biagis will fit Troll bead chains but Troll beads won’t fit either Pandora or Biagi chains. Of the three brands, Trolls are the most expensive and the most limited.
They are also the funkiest in terms of design. While Pandora and Biagi bead manufacturers cater to the kind of customer who is most comfortable with traditional jewelry designs like faceted stones, pearls and tiny stone clusters, the typical Troll bead aficionado likes patterns, animal beads, fairy tale characters and oriental designs in silver or gold.
They compliment their metal and stone creations with handmade glass beads in an astonishing array of colors and designs. The very, very popular glass bead makers, Karl and Krista Tseu of 5Fish Designs, have been selling a selection of lampworked glass Trolls for more than a year and they can never make enough! I own several of their beautiful beads.
Notes
The first thing you’ll have to recognize about all three brands is that their designs are exclusive. This means that you can’t copy their designs and must come up with your own. Secondly, it’s more cost effective to make your beads in the 5mm size because collectors of all three kinds of beads can wear them. And finally, I purchased an actual Troll bead bracelet and clasp (they are sold separately) so that I could understand how they work and what looks good on them. Troll claps are quite unique and people automatically grasp the fact that you’re wearing a Troll bracelet. It makes explaining what you’re doing a lot easier.
Finding a plastic drinking straw that has a 5mm diameter measurement is a trial and error process. Just keep looking until you find a straw fits over the end of your bracelet (without the clasp) with a little room to spare. Alternatively, you can measure straw ends with a jeweler’s brass caliper, used for measuring stones.
Lastly, I used a brilliant orange cubic zirconia for this bead because of its wonderful color but you can use any 6mm synthetic stone. I’ve used lab diamonds, lab spinels and lab corundums in other designs.
About The Designer
 I truly believe that jewelry is wearable art and I approach each of my pieces that way. The color and form of my stones, the compatibility of stone and metal type with the piece I have in mind, the “wearability” of each piece, all of these things are in my mind as I work on a particular composition. My work is strongly tied to the environment because I understand that Nature is the ultimate artist.
From my earliest memories, I have been in love with handmade art jewelry. My affair began in earnest during high school, when I started making pieces for myself and my friends. Visiting Italian artist Paula Wolfson noticed the quality of my design and my attention to detail and accepted me in an offhanded apprenticeship in painting for three years. Thus I absorbed the fundamentals of abstract art from one of its celebrated European proponents. Next, I studied and worked for East Hampton potter and sculptor Frank Pereira. There I met the next generation of 1960s jewelry artists, many of whom sold their work through Pereira.
But I was also a talented writer, and, after college and marriage to painter and architect Harry Rallo, I began a career as a newspaper reporter in Florida that lasted until 1999. Tired of the hectic pace of news writing, I decided to begin a new career handcrafting jewelry. My first step was to immerse herself in the mechanics of my craft: I studied advanced wire wrapping techniques with Amy Duloff of Ft. Lauderdale, FL; metalsmithing techniques with prize-winning jewelry artist Susan Lewis at the Boca Raton, FL, Museum of Art; and Precious Metal Clay (PMC) techniques with Vera Lightstone of Lightstone Studios in Manhattan. In June of 2005, I became a certified PMC instructor and, in January of 2006, a certified Level 2 instructor.
Visit Bridgette’s website, www.greenwoodsstudio.com,
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