Trollbeads News: Canadian Designers in The Peoples Bead Contest

As passionate collectors know, Trollbeads hosts an annual design competition named the “Peoples Bead”, in which we are invited to submit our original bead designs on a theme.  This year’s theme is “Favorite Sayings”, a wonderful way to explore our cultural commonalities and differences.  Hundreds of thousands of entries are received, and then Trollbeads has the difficult task of narrowing the choices to just a few for our consideration.  At that point, voting opens, and Trollbeads fans from all over the world may view the finalists and vote for which ones they would like to see join the collection.

It’s an exciting process, and all the more so if one has a personal connection with any of the final designs….  This year we are thrilled to congratulate the seven (!!!) Canadian designers that have made it to the final round, and we ask that you take a little time to go to www.trollbeadscanada.com to review and vote for their fine work.  Voting is now open – and we only have a few days to show our support, as the voting closes May 4th!

Here are our Canadian Finalists:

You are part of your home and your home is part of you.
Home is where the Heart Is.

Designer: Lawrence Wilton

This design represents the saying “The grass is always greener on the other side”. Meaning that from your perspective, other peoples possessions, job, and life in general may seem better than your own when in fact your just experiencing the feeling of never being satisfied. So in short, be happy with what you have.  It’s similar to the White Diamond bead, but one side would be a deep green and the other would be a dull tint of green to signify the two sides of grass. With the diamonds acting as dew I was thinking it could be called either “Morning Grass”, “Spring Dew” or simply “Green Diamond”. Designer: Kevin Powell  (Savvy Trollies will recognize Kevin’s name as one of last year’s winners, and a local resident and Tartooful customer… congratulations Kevin!)

“Blood is Thicker Than Water”
The expression that family bonds are closer than those of outsiders…

Designer: Rob Zylstra (Note:  Rob is a lovely guy, a North Shore resident, and a fine artist who shows at Tartooful!  Congratulations, Rob on your design accomplishment, we love this bead!  Cristi, don’t you think that you & your Mum both need this one?!)

This design represents the saying “like a night owl” which is normally used to refer to someone who tends to be more active at night rather than in the day.  This saying definitely applies to me. I’ve always been a night owl since I can remember. It’s a two part fantasy necklace bead, much like the retired Little Princess.  The top bead makes up the owls head and shoulders. While the bottom is the lower torso, tail, and feet. The mid torso is left out so the owner can be as creative as she wants and fit a glass bead in between. My original idea was to have a single piece owl bead with an empty space to allow for a glass bead to be encapsulated within the torso in some fashion. However I felt it would restrict people from being able to fit in larger sized beads like Midnight Flower. Simply by making it into two smaller beads, it frees you to use any size bead of your choice.  I personally think this would even look great on the regular bracelet. I’d like to call this one Night Owl. Designer: Kevin Powell
“Variety is the spice of life.”
This saying means that life can be more interesting if we experience different things.
The star anise is a very pretty looking spice and that’s why I chose it to represent interesting things. I made it in various sizes to represent variety. I decided to make the star anise growing on it’s branches with leaves to represent life. I made this bead as a reminder to try new things and that life can be as interesting as we chose to make it. Designer: Tracey Pitz

“Don’t count your chicken before they hatch.”  This is a phrase that I have heard numerous times growing up and find myself repeating to my own children. The meaning to me is simply not to make plans based on things that you think may happen. Things are not always as they seem and may not work out the way you expect. I tried to think of a way to represent this saying without doing several chickens and one unhatched egg. I thought about other things that hatch and came up with the idea to do an alligator. I tried to make the bead originally with several chicks hatching out at different stages but found that detail was lost by doing more chicks and opted to do just one chick. Designer: Tracey Pitz

” The best things in life are free.”

The inspiration for this bead is family, friendship and the beauty that life holds that doesn’t cost any thing.

I chose daisies linked in a daisy chain that wrap around the bead. The daisy is a symbol of both friendship and love. It makes me think of the many carefree hours I have spent as a child sitting in the grass with friends stringing daisy chains. I think of the sunny afternoons I have sat and made daisy chains with my own children. Flowers, sunshine, love and friendship, just a few of the best things in life that are free. Designer: Tracey Pitz

Every year we’re astonished at the huge amount of talent, time and care that goes into the design submissions…. this year is no exception, with a uniformly high level of accompishment from all designs, and a very tough competition ahead.  Please take a few moments to show your appreciation for their talent and care, and vote for your favorites online!  The winning entries will become part of the regular collection, and will be announced in October of this year.

C.