It’s not just free shipping – –
It’s shipping in one business day or less – –
And it’s insured!
Get Rings & Things’ free shipping special for 3 more days – – it ends when July ends!
Case study: A customer just called us, very happy that she placed her order Tuesday, got free shipping, and received it in 2 days. (YMMV, but a delightful surprise 🙂 )
(Who gets “freedom from freight“? US orders over $100. Ask your sales person for more details, or order online!)
Notify me?
Have you ever found exactly the component you wanted for making your jewelry…and it was out of stock?
Ever backordered an out-of-stock item…then forgot about it?
Rings & Things has found a better way. Next to any item in our store that’s out of stock, just click ‘Notify Me’:
We’ll email you as soon as it’s back in stock. You’ll be able to order it instantly!
Want to suggest improvements to our online store? Put them in a comment, I’ll pass them to the right person here!
Punchline of a joke?
Real beads! Trade beads. Very collectable trade beads, in fact.
7 things you didn’t know about “vaseline” beads:
1: Many fluoresce. Uranium salts were once used to color beads yellow, giving this side effect. Look at ’em in daylight (before). Put ’em under blacklight (after). Whoa!
Uranium salt/vaseline beads BEFORE
Uranium salt/vaseline beads AFTER
Our #22-708-01 clear-glass vaseline bead does not fluoresce, nor does red or
opaque blue. Not all green beads either (depends on age).
2: Why are these generically called vaseline beads in “campfire parlance”? Newer reason: because of their similar shapes — often a bicone — to the beads originally called vaseline beads. Original reason: Vaseline beads were named for having the same shiny, translucent appearance as petroleum jelly.
3: However, not all have the vaseline, “greasy” colors that originally gave these beads their name. Here’s a non-slippery vaseline bead:
Non-slippery vaseline beads
4: The uranium-salt (glow-in-the-blacklight) vaseline beads were most likely made between 1830 and 1915. That’s some old, valuable beads!
5: The Czech names for the green and yellow varieties are “Anna green” and “Anna yellow”. Do you know why? (I don’t–yet. Will a knowledgeable reader chime in?)
6: Vaseline beads with uranium salts are considered safe because vitrification “traps” the uranium inside the glass. Testing suggests that you can wear uranium-salt glass beads for up to 40 years before the radiation exposure equals that of getting a single x-ray at the doctor’s office.
7: We get these beads from Mali, in West Africa. Did you know? Mali is where you’ll also find the ancient city of Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Here’s one more image of the spectacular ‘black-lit’ vaseline-bead effect:
The CZ’s are here!
Cubic zirconia are sweet. They’re very popular at our bead shows. And we’ve added some wonderful ones…
Sweet how? Cubic zirconia beads have especially fine faceting and exceptional clarity. They shine like crazy!
Check ’em out in the “Russ’s Picks” section of our online store…
This article was very old and out of date (after all, it was written in 2010!) and it didn’t make sense any more so we deleted the contents. We apologize that the former contents of this page aren’t relevant any more!
Bonus points if you spotted the secret Rings & Things code I put in that headline 🙂
Metal stamps of small letters “r” big news right now at R&T. Why?
Short story: we’re selling one of our lower-case letter stamp sets at a smashing bargain price: $20.
We received a shipment with cursive “r’s”, which have been corrected with the right “r.” For a limited, time shipments will be sent out with the bonus cursive “r” — which could double as a wave stamp!
What’s the wire that’s…
99.9% pure niobium!
Did you know?
Niobium is safe for most people with metal allergies. It’s very resistant to corrosion and other reactions–so much so that it’s used in medical implants.
(Did you also know?)
Niobium findings are gentle on your skin, but we wouldn’t call them “hypoallergenic“. Why? It’s a great marketing term, but has never been turned into an industry standard.
We think the health benefits and durable colors of niobium jewelry parts speak for themselves!
So if anyone’s ears are burning from all the talk about niobium ear wires (and more), it ought to be ours–not yours!
