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Mardi Gras: A Celebration of Beads!

February 3, 2011

Here at Rings and Things, we eat, sleep, and breathe beads. In fact, some nights I think I actually dream about beads! We are by definition bead enthusiasts. Every year I can think of only one day, in one city, that celebrates beads in a way that can possibly rival our passion here at Rings and Things: New Orleans on Mardi Gras!

Let the good beads roll!

Each year, 46 days before Easter Sunday, the Big Easy erupts into a Bead Mecca. Beads are thrown from the balconies, collected by party-goers and hanging from the trees. The city is literally decorated in beads like a Christmas tree is adorned with tinsel.

In honor of such an amazing display of beads, I have decided to design some Mardi Gras-inspired jewelry that can be easily re-created to celebrate the big day, whether you live in New Orleans or New Hampshire!

This jewelry features beads in classic Mardi Gras colors; Purple, Green and Gold. (Did you know? — these symbolize respectively Justice, Faith and Power.) There are also cute little gold Fleur de Lis charms, an image synonymous with New Orleans. The jewelry is done using all gold-plated findings.

All of the supplies to make these items are readily available at our on-line store, www.rings-things.com! Any questions on making the jewelry? Contact us at 1-800-366-2156 and mention this blog!

Mardi Gras is on March 8th this year. So hurry and get your jewelry making supplies to celebrate Fat Tuesday in style! These projects are both affordable and fun!

—Tiffany, Designer, Rings & Things

P.S.: Want more Mardi Gras jewelry inspirations? Enjoy our “Mardi Gras Memories” bracelet and “Mardi Gras Choker” designs!

Design contest: Early-Bird prize deadline!

February 2, 2011

Your Designs Rock Contest Early-Bird Drawing

Enter our annual contest by Monday, February 7, and we’ll add your name to our Early-Bird Drawing for a goodie bag!

Last year’s Early-Bird goodie bag included gemstone beads, wooden chain & gold-filled components.

Contestants are entered in the drawing 1 time for each of up to 3 complete entries submitted by February 7.

Don’t delay — that’s less than a week away! Contest details & entry form.

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!

Turn memory wire into custom earrings!

August 20, 2010

Ever made your own custom ear wires, to get just the look you envision? Spiral Skull earrings by Rita show how!

Use memory wire to create your own ear wires!

Suggested materials are simple:

Tools and supplies are pretty minimal, too:

Get out your flush cutter (#69-057), side flush cutter (#69-056), round-nose pliers, flat-nose pliers, and a cup bur (#69-128).

Rita suggests 2 tips to help you make these ear wires on your own:

* Use flush cutters to cut 2 equal lengths of memory wire. Form a loop at one end using round-nose pliers. With flat-nose pliers, create a bend at the “middle” of the wire. Smooth the opposite wire end with a cup bur.

* Form a spiral to size of your choice with plated wire. Add the skull bead, complete the wrapped loop and attach to the ear wire.

For information on how to create wire spirals, see Mark Lareau’s book All Wired Up: Wire Techniques for the Beadworker and Jewelry Maker or the

Congrats to the 2010 Bead Dreams winners

August 12, 2010

Congratulations to the winners of the 2010 Bead Dreams “objects & accessories” category!


Rings & Things is pleased to provide prizes to these three talented designers:

1st Place – The Elegant Bead Partition with Fluttering Cherry Blossoms, Satoko Toyoda – $300 gift certificate (Also won “Best in Show”!)

2nd Place – Swirl, Cindy Pankopf – $200 gift certificate

3rd Place – Gaze of a Rose, Olga Shumilova – $100 gift certificate

We’ll post pictures as soon as we have them 🙂 In the meantime, you can also read about last year’s winners in this category!

Bobby pins: favoriter & favoriter

June 24, 2010

A jewelry “basic” for years & years: bobby pins.

Several new colors of bobby pins: favoriter & favoriter.

Along with a bunch of brand-new platings to expand your design palette, another great thing about bobby pins is that they’re perfectly made for popular “gluing stuff on” styles.

Bobby pins with buttons glued on

Glue buttons, resin pieces, art glass, Vintaj components…anything that catches your eye and will make a pretty hair decoration…onto a bobby pin!

Make Vintaj bobby pin designs!

Oh, and the 5 new plating colors? Well, a picture tells the story instantly:

New bobby pin colors

Tip: while you’re browsing bobby pins in our online store, you’ll see big, useful chart of gluing tips.

Did you know? Other ways to attach decorations to bobby pins include riveting (cold connections), sewing, or soft soldering.

* Update 6/25/10: I’ve received another photo showing all our bobby pin platings side by side. Thanks Nory!


Make your own no-solder resin bezels!

June 18, 2010

The no-solder bezel-making workshop in the Rings & Things showroom a few days ago was a huge success. Thanks to our customers who joined in the experiments down in the lab!

This “Pink Portal” necklace used technique #3 below…

Continue Reading…

New free technique sheets!

April 28, 2010

Technique sheets: learn all the hottest jewelry craft tips. They’re now right in our online store!

Print them right out there, as high-quality PDFs — Or, click to add any technique sheet to your order for free.

Basic technique sheets now offered include these fun fliers:

ITS Image Transfer Solution technique sheetITS™ Image Transfer Solution

Gluing to metal, a technique sheet for jewelry makersGluing to metal

Metal stamping

Epoxy resin

Stamping on resin

And that’s just a sampling. Check ’em all out! Grow your business with a new skill or two.

Let us know if you have a request for guidance in the form of other technique sheets…

Two great inspirations

April 13, 2010

Two great inspirations! You may have seen these in recent magazines…

Here’s a pair of creations by R&T jewelry designer Mollie Valente and graphic designer Selina Shehan:

Click for fullsize version!

Click for fullsize version!

The ad above features a necklace called (click the title to view a guide to making one) Cross my Heart.  Below is another of Mollie’s necklaces, As the Crow Flies.

Click to see the big version

Click to see the big version

Did you know?  Rings & Things ads often feature jewelry from our Design Gallery, where you can learn how to make each design — and shop for the components “with a click”.

Hot for cold connections

April 1, 2010

Love the look of mixed metals? Have found objects taken you ‘beyond findings’…but your soldering’s not up to snuff? Cold connections are the common cure!

Also called cold fusion, cold connections are what they sound like: ways of putting metal jewelry together without dangerously glowing or flaming implements. Some tips on how to achieve this…

Tip 1: game spinners

Tip 1: game spinners

Game spinner findings from Tim Holtz Idea-Ology are a super fun way to hold metal pieces together. They make jewelry you can play with!

Tip 2: the hardware store is your friend

Tip 2: the hardware store is your friend

Did you know that by getting into cold connections, you can help support local businesses? It’s true. The guys at your local hardware store needed to learn more about jewelrymaking anyhow, and they’ve got the teeny tiny hinges & things to hold your metal stamping blanks together!

Tip 3: there's a really good book for that

Tip 3: there’s a really good book for that

There’s at least one awesome book about cold connections, and it’s so gorgeous that it’s sold as a coffee-table book too. Relax with Susan Lenart Kazmer’s book “Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed-Media Artists”. Susan’s all about using regular hand tools to join metal parts, found objects and even fabric into jewelry pieces that people won’t be able to keep their eyes, or hands, off of. (Just look at that cover!)

I know quite a few of you who have done some cold-connecting…care to share your work? Rings & Things (that’s us!) loves seeing your work — you can upload photos on our Facebook Bead Fans page!