shamballa bracelet
Gold member
While looking at my online bead store, wondering how long the Pandora/European bead bracelets will last, I came across a new arrival called a Shamballa bracelet. It looked fun and casual yet dressy when you wanted it to be. I decided that I needed to order a couple of these bracelets and along with it I ordered the beads and materials that I needed to learn to create my own. I researched it and found that it was started by Tibetan Monks – the beads each had a meaning – one might be for good luck while another might be for love, tranquility, peace, etc.
A trend has started, mainly within the pop culture and I saw that many stars, Jay Z, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Rhianna, Beyonce, Justin Bieber and others have been known to wear these colorful beaded bracelets. A flight attendant was wearing one on my girlfriend’s flight and she said that they were all the rage on the west coast. I wanted to bring them to the east coast.
After much research, I found a tutorial teaching me to make a shamballa bracelet. Not so easy at first but after 100’s of bracelets, I think I have mastered the technique and now my challenge is to make them unique and different. Finding the beads is a challenge – and affording them is another.
As I make and wear my bracelets, I have had many friends and strangers ask about them and I have begun filling orders. I even had a bracelet party at the request of some friends and it was an overwhelming success. I even came away with orders and requests that took a little while to fulfill, as I had to seek out the beads and some took weeks to get to me. I now have friends who want to have a bracelet party and I wonder if that may be another venture that could be lucrative. Home bracelet parties. As long as the trend lasts – but I’m always looking for new ways to be creative. Okay, Pinterest has peaked my creativity and given me some new directions and I continually seek out and create new styles – branching from the shamballa start.
My friends snap pics of the bracelets as they see them in stores – they are finally getting to us. However, I still like my twist – a little different from the rest.
I still love making the Shamballa bracelets and have begun making many bead creations. I think it will become my full time job as I am so happy when beading. It seems to soothe my soul and people seem to enjoy my creations.
