Monthly Archives

November 2010

"As seen in": December/January BeadStyle magazine

November 29, 2010

“Purple often suggests refinement, grace, and elegance. To me this shade is just calming.”

That’s what Jane Konkel said about some attractive resin tube beads from Rings & Things that she used in her “Take a Look at Lilac” jewelry set:

Rings & Things beads in BeadStyle's "Take a Look at Lilac" design

Calling it a “New Fave”, Jane paired this resin tube with some of our popular
glass faceted round beads, also in purple hues.

See these regal designs starting on page 70 of BeadStyle magazine’s December/January issue!

Cool bead alert: powdered-glass donuts

November 24, 2010

Cool bead alert!

We’re told these invitingly inexpensive, glowingly colorful powder-glass “donuts” are made by crushing solid color seed beads.*

Powdered-glass donut beads from Africa

Recycled-glass wafers like these have been popular at our BeadTour bead shows. Look for them in your city soon (next spring), or order some now!

*Beadmakers might be interested in the process of making these discoidal darlings. In a nutshell:

  • Make a clay mold.
  • Choose glass by color, crush it by hand into “fritt”.
  • Dip the mold in water, treat it with kaolin clay to prevent sticking.
  • Place a cassava stalk in the center of each mold; fill in with fritt. (Firing burns the stalks away, leaving a hole for stringing.)
  • Bake the molds in a kiln hot enough to fuse the glass.
  • After firing, remove the molds.
  • Shape and polish the beads on a stone using sand and water.
  • Beads are sometimes oiled to bring out their natural shine.

Cheapskate booth ideas

November 19, 2010

Ever do craft / trade shows? Wendy Rosen is going to save you some money. And hassle!

Cheapskate Booth Ideas

Cheapskate booth ideas from Wendy Rosen: music stands

Music stands!

Cheapskate-booth-ideas-Wendy-Rosen-dioder-lights

Under-shelf lights!

Cheapskate-booth-ideas-Wendy-Rosen-JoAnns-cutting-table

Cutting table from JoAnn Fabrics!

See 20 Cheapskate Booth Ideas (and more) at Wendy’s Facebook page! ….Please note that if you become Wendy’s “FB friend”, you’ll receive more booth ideas, plus tips about wholesaling to shops and galleries!

PS: for extra ideas, check out Tradeshow Stuff and The Buyers Market!

"For a holiday gift, I hope for __________ from Rings & Things."

November 18, 2010

How do you finish this sentence?

“For a holiday gift, I hope for __________ from Rings & Things.” <|:-)

Leave a COMMENT below, for a chance to WIN a bag of HOLIDAY BEADS! And for extra brownie points, tell a friend to stop by & do the same.

Here’s what some Facebook friends said…

Lynn Perry Bennett metal stamping supplies

Joy Mcdonald Pearls and Amethyst necklace from my best friend πŸ™‚ lol πŸ˜‰ Helen where are you πŸ™‚

Juli Nocita A gift certificate!

Anita Carbone Anthony one or two of everything (Can you tag hubby in this?) lol

Stephanie Dixon A gift certificate for a million dollars….

Kala Taylor You to relocate to the UK

Adrienne York Campbell texturing hammers!!

Claire Goverts The metal stamping kit (though that’s probably going to be a ‘to me from me’ gift)

Linda Roden A Large Gift Certificate.

Miz Fit new and exciting products

Patricia L Beaudin sterling silver wire to string some mirage beads on for rings!

Sandy Flynn chokers, chokers, chokers!!!!!

Krissi Sandvik GLASS TILES and glue-on bails

Vanessa Kennedy There’s far too much that I would love to have to pick just one thing, so I would definitely love a large gift certificate..or lots of small ones πŸ™‚

Metal charms

November 16, 2010

We get a lot of requests from you for metal charms.

Metal does have its charms πŸ™‚ Peek at the newest & coolest! My picks:

1. A fresh crop of delicate leaf-shaped sterling charms:

Sterling leaf charms

7 species!

2. Rhinestone metal cross charms:

Rhinestone crystal cross charms

In gunmetal & more!

3. Textured brass cut-outs and charms:

Cutlery sets, even!I want to know, what’s your favorite metal charm lately?

Leave a comment!

Product Testing: Radishes Required

November 12, 2010

Yesterday was an eventful day for product testing! We sent the obligatory email telling people not to worry about “the strange plastic smell’ that arose from testing some non-toxic faux enamels.

We decided to add a great new riveting tool ~ watch for it in December.

We also tested the usability and effectiveness of various patinas and metal treatments. It started out simply enough, test a metal treatment from a new vendor. No problem, we’ve done this quite a few times and know the drill, or so we thought!

We definitely noticed that the basic instructions were written in calligraphy. And, we did wonder about the need for a solid copper pot. We questioned whether rainwater was really needed. But, we didn’t pull the plug on the test until we read the instruction to mix-in freshly grated daikon radish.

The radish requirement inspired fits of giggles. Fortunately, we have several other non-radish based metal treatments that are great to work with!

β™₯ Sondra

When bead shows are…different

November 6, 2010

Sometimes, bead shows can surprise you. Sometimes, they even surprise us

After one long day of driving, running a bead-show, and more driving, our crew decided to just have dinner at the hotel. But when they went to the restaurant, they weren’t able to have dinner there — Because the tables had been taken down to set up for our show! Yep… our setup was in the usual bar / restaurant of the hotel. The checkout stations were set up around the bar, 2 per side, with cabinets of liquor behind them and coolers full of beer between them. Unfortunately(?), the cabinets and coolers were all locked. Hard to say how much some customers would spend otherwise…

Bead show in the bar

This one was the first bead show we’d ever seen with bench seating:

Bench seating at the bead show

One hotel in California where we did a show charged a small fee for parking. Some customers commented on that…but most of them were used to paying for parking. According to at least one customer, “The only place you can park for free in LA is the freeway!”

Thanks to everyone for the bead-show memories! We’ll be back “on the road” starting in early spring!

Chinese turquoise

November 2, 2010

Chinese turquoise:

This is a gemstone bead that ranges over a swath of spectrum from blue through green (“grue”, anyone?)… When you find beads called Chinese turquoise, you can figure they’re genuine turquoise, usually stabilized. The stabilization of Chinese turquoise beads is often done in any of a variety of ways:

  • wax treatment (formerly more common)
  • resin stabilization (now more usual)
  • and/or dye to improve the naturally soft stone’s wearability

Most of Rings & Things’ Chinese turquoise beads come from the province of Hubei, China, but we also have Ma’anshan turquoise from the province of Anhui (which more closely resembles the well-known blue turquoise from mines in the US Southwest.

Chinese turquoise "Nested" necklace

Did you know? The free Design Gallery at Rings & Things is a good resource for Chinese turquoise jewelry inspirations. Just plug those two words into the Search box…and you’ll find necklaces, pendants, and many more designs!

Chinese turquoise used in the "Secret Garden" necklace design

Tip: Some of Rings & Things’ Chinese turquoise beads don’t carry our standard gemstone stock numbers. Some have stock numbers beginning with 20-4 (not our usual 21-x numbers). These are usually less regular in size and appearance, so if you need an exact size, please let us know so when you order. We’ll make an extra effort to match your needs!