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Rings & Things Website

Our Design Gallery expands

March 5, 2009

[ ~ 2018 Update: We’ve upgraded our design gallery (again!), and expanded some of the sections – so links below are updated. Also, we no longer produce a printed catalog; we’re just online (plus we have a Showroom in Spokane, Washington — it’s open to the public, so come visit us if you’re in Eastern Washington state!) ~ ]

You’ve received our new 2009-2010 catalog, haven’t you? We’re very happy with it. One reason is all the fun jewelry designs it features. Now…

gallery_logo

Rings & Things has uploaded dozens and dozens of these new entries to our Design Gallery! (Finally done. I see the light at the end of the carpal tunnel.) ☻☺ At last count we had something like 668 designs up. We group this free inspirational material into some useful categories:

Every design is illustrated by a great big beautiful picture of the finished piece and a parts list, complete with links to our online store if you’re going to buy the components.

You’ll also find links to free downloadable PDFs with full instructions to extra steps for making each design. (For example, we don’t re-write how to properly open and close jump rings, or make good head pin loops in each tutorial — we have a link to a PDF of jewelry basics. And for how to torch-enamel jewelry, we link back to our blog article where this is lots of room for good photos.)

Have a favorite Design Gallery item? Ever been inspired by one of our designs? Saw your contest entry on our site? Leave a comment to talk about it!!

March 2009 news: New monthly lottery, right here on the Rings & Things blog. Here’s how it works:
* You enter by leaving comments. Comment on any March post(s).
* At the end of March, I’ll randomly draw 2 winners of surprise goodie packs! …So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

Bead news, good news: RSS

February 17, 2009

Yes, I said bead news. ?

A secret of many thriving Internet jewelry and craft sellers is called RSS. Use it to keep up on trends and grow your business!

RSS means “really simple syndication”. Actually, that doesn’t mean very much, does it… It boils down to getting news sent straight to your computer desktop. With RSS, you don’t have to remember all those websites that you like, or fumble through a huge Bookmarks or Favorites list.

Instead, at a website that offers RSS, you just click on the snazzy orange icon…

…and it installs a news folder right on your browser’s toolbar. Now, every time you sit down at your computer, you can just click on that toolbar folder to see the newest headlines pop out. Here’s what that looks like (*if you’re a maniac like me, who has dozens of feeds) :

Each of these headlines is clickable, and takes you into that website for full information. Why is this a competitive edge for your craft jewelry business?

Because RSS is such an easy way to keep up with multiple sites and pages. Especially ones that are updated a lot. Sites like Rings & Things provide several examples of this “newsy” material (you can click “RSS” here to check out our news feeds):

If you’re on Twitter, you can use the Search feature to locate favorite artisans or suppliers, and set up a custom RSS feed of their “tweets”. And if you blog, you might even provide an RSS feed for your readers. These are just a sampling of the possiblities!

You’ll figure out for yourself which RSS feeds are the most useful. You may be amazed how much you’ll start relying on them to point out great new beads and findings, styles, and more.

How do you use RSS? Share your experiences by posting a Reply!

Exciting news: every month, we’re going to hold a lottery right here on the Rings & Things blog. Here’s how it will work:
*At the beginning of each month, I’ll announce a new lottery.
*You enter by leaving Replies, also known as blog comments. Comment on any post(s) this month.
*At the end of the month, I’ll randomly draw 2 names to receive surprise goodie packs!

For that turquoise look: Turquoise Magnesite

October 28, 2008

Now you can afford to make jewelry with that coveted turquoise look!

You’re probably aware that gemstones are a non-renewable resource (we’ll take up that idea later this week). Turquoise is one of the most desired gemstones, so it’s been getting “mined out” over the last several years — leading to steep price increases.

What’s a blue-and-green-loving designer to do? Substitute Turquoise Magnesite beads, now in 32 new styles at Rings & Things!

As always, we work to label our gemstone beads as honestly and clearly as possible. (We’ve gone so far as to create a very popular Gemstone Beads Index that gives as much background information as possible on these stones.) So let us stress that these beads are made, not of turquoise, but of
magnesite enhanced with dyes in the appropriate colors. With their surface “crazing” of black or brown lines, Turquoise Magnesite beads often resemble the real thing so closely that it takes an expert to tell which is which.

Our new Turquoise Magnesite beads include classic turquoise shapes. There are cushiony-looking puffed ovals:

Puffed oval Turquoise Magnesite beads

Puffed oval Turquoise Magnesite beads

And glittering faceted rounds:

Faceted round beads of Turquoise Magnesite from Rings & Things

Faceted round beads of Turquoise Magnesite

As well as wheel-like rondelles:

Rondelle beads of Turquoise Magnesite

Rondelle beads of Turquoise Magnesite

And smooth oval nuggets:

Smooth oval nugget beads of Turquoise Magnesite

Smooth oval nugget beads of Turquoise Magnesite

These are just a sampling. Grab a cup of tea and look through all of the
Turquoise Magnesite beads in our online store!

I Am Product Reviewer (And So Can You)!

October 24, 2008

(With apologies to Stephen Colbert, LOL.)

If you have ever bought stuff from Rings & Things — I want you to do this to become Internet-famous:

You can rate every product we sell:

  • From 1 to 5 stars
  • With a title that shows your true feelings
  • Share details about how you like to use the product

We show your review as you intended it–whether it’s one star or five.

Here’s a quick example of a review as it displays in our online store:

“A very nice pendant”Jenny Schumaker on Monday, July 07, 2008 6:25:55 PM
Comments: I bought this and I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do with it, but decided to use copper metal and findings and make it into a pendulum. It’s a nice size and very earthy. I would buy it againin fact I might need to if this piece sells!
Rating:

Your name will be all over the internet, showing what a jewelry expert you are. So send your fellow bead-shop-a-holics in the right direction. Review stuff now!