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Featured bead: rudraksha

October 7, 2009

Get to know a multi-faceted, many-faced bead!

The telling of the beads

The telling of the beads

Reddish-brown rudraksha or rudraksh beads are the seed of the fruit of the rudraksha tree, from India. (This tree, genus Elaeocarpus, also grows in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, some Pacific Islands and Australia.)

Numbers are often mentioned in connection with these beads. Rudraksha beads commonly have 5 mukhs or mukhis (faces of the bead), but you’ll find various numbers of faces on them. There are 108 beads per strand traditionally in a Hindu mala or prayer garland. Malas are used like rosaries in meditative prayer, as well as in traditional Indian medicine.

Closeup

Go ahead, stare ’em in the face 🙂

Rudraksha beads show a great deal of versatility. Because they’re a natural material, they work extremely well with your more organic designs. Because they’re exotic here in North America, they lend a funky, ethnic flair to jewelry. And because of their texture, rudrakshas can pair up in interesting ways with the more unusual beads, like lava, wood or nut beads.

Ever handled rudraksh beads? How would you describe them in 25 words or less? Leave a comment!

Birthstone jones? Citrine dream?

October 6, 2009

Citrine: the November stone 🙂

A great thing about citrine is that you’ve got options, options, options. Both the natural stuff and geometrically perfect lab-grown citrine are available, and each has its charms.

Shapes you can only find in natural citrine — small but rugged chip beads:

Brighten a November birthday party by bringing chips!

Bring chips to the birthday party!

Citrine that’s manufactured by humans is much more regular in shape:

Extra-faceted for extra shine: manmade citrine

Extra-faceted for extra shine: manmade citrine

With artifice comes pizzazz–dig this jazz:

A dash of lime-green quartz!

A dash of lime-green quartz!

You’re not dreaming, there are lots of ways to do your citrine-ing! Look what you can do with a megadose of “vitamin C”:

Several milligrams of citrine beads... :)

Several milligrams of citrine beads… 🙂

Riff on the theme, drop a comment below!

ITS: It's the Image Transfer Solution blitz!

September 17, 2009

As promised, I’m transferring some images from our digital cameras to our blog — To show your our recent Image Transfer Solution (ITS) workshop.

We had a whole crew putting this new product through ITS paces…

Busily trying all kinds of ideas

Busily trying all kinds of ideas

Everyone had lots of inspirations they wanted to try out…

So many images to transfer, so much jewelry to make!

So many images to transfer, so much jewelry to make!

In the spirit of yesterday’s belt-buckle blog post, here’s another approach…

Impressionist belt buckles, anyone?

Impressionist belt buckles, anyone?

You can do so many things with Image Transfer Solution…

Amazing images

Amazing images

It was neat to see how a transferred image works when it’s overlaid on another design…

Try layering contrasting images

Try layering contrasting images

While we were at it, we tried out some new products we’re introducing…

Game spinners & sprocket gears (available soon!)

Game spinners & sprocket gears (available soon!)

We learned tons from doing this workshop! Soon you’ll see an ITS technique sheet on our website. We’ve been adding more ITS-related items to our store, too, to enhance your experience. Check out new Wetordry™ polishing paper for truly delicate hand-sanded results. And Renaissance® micro-crystalline wax polish is a fantastic way to protect your transferred images!

Have you tried Image Transfer Solution yet? It’s a marvelous way to create custom pendants, beads, and more…we’d love to hear of your experiences with it in a comment below!

Rings & Things reminds crafters about memory jewelry

September 10, 2009

For craft artisans casting about for the latest solid trend in baubles, memory jewelry makes an indelible impression… Rings & Things reminds crafters to keep a trove of new supplies in mind.

Memories...

Memories…

Image Transfer Solution (ITS) is a fluid that allows you to transfer images from laser/toner printers (but not ink jet) onto non-porous surfaces like metal, beach glass, wood, and unglazed tile. Using it is simple: it takes only heat-setting (in an oven or with a heat gun) and washing off the paper. ITS may also be mixed with pigments and used as paint on metal.

Photos or other images can be sealed between the tiny double panes of clear glass in new frame-charm findings to make custom keepsake jewelry. The bails of these frames measure 7mm (over 1/4 inch) inner diameter, large enough to fit most any cord. Platings currently on offer include ‘white’ metal and stylish copper plate. Three shapes enliven the charm of these handmade pendants, with rectangles, pentagons and squares available to set off the individuality of any cropped image. An assortment of these hinged picture-frame charms can make a treasured wearable photo album out of customers’ favorite snapshots, or even a gallery of art or choice found images.

Crafters shouldn’t forget to try out new shadow-box pendants as well. Also known as ‘dream boxes’, these findings have a single pane of glass in an antiqued-copper plated box that fits images about 1½ inch on a side. Display-box pendants like these can also be used to show off tiny prized treasures, from an antique coin or bead to a mini art assemblage.

Jewelry crafters may recall that resin-casting jewelry has made quite a sensation, and numerous bezel findings add even more possibilities for memory jewelry. All it takes is cutting an image to the appropriate size, gluing it into a setting like Rings & Things’ new sterling-silver bezel cups, and pouring in a small amount of epoxy resin such as EasyCast. The results are lasting memories in the form of pendants, earrings and other jewelry.

Suggest more memory-jewelry ideas in a comment!

Featured bead: basic / black / glass

September 4, 2009

What’s true of clothing is true of beads: basic black never goes out of style.

With jewelry making, “basic” means black glass beads. I want to show you 5 reasons why everyone loves black beads…

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Roll with these!

Roll with these!

#1: roller beads

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Black glass firepolish teardrop beads, #23-417-021

Cry fire in a crowded jewelry shop, so you can buy up all of these

#2: firepolish teardrops

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Doubles as a spacer!

Not a UFO, but doubles as a neato spacer

#3: disk beads

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Black glass round beads, #23-224-021

The basic-est of the basics

#4: rounds

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Beadie babies?

Beadie babies?

#5: E beads

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You know we have scads more black beads. I challenge you to take 10 minutes to search our site for “black beads”, come back here, and post a comment on your favorite new find!

Look ahead: October's birthstone will be Tourmaline

September 2, 2009

Where we check into possible birthstone plans for the upcoming month…

Tourmaline meteor bracelet and ring

A great design you can make with tourmaline beads…

Tourmaline beads, the birthstone of choice for October, show some appropriately magical properties. Did you know that if you rub this stone, it generates a charge that attracts small objects like bits of paper or strands of hair? (I couldn’t find an image of this. Bummer. Please submit one if you’ve got one.)

True to its name (which originally meant “stone of mixed colors”), tourmaline is found in a very pretty palette of blue, yellow, pink, red, black, green and clear stones. Here are most of those colors in a strand that we sell:

Tourmaline 21-731-035

Rings & Things also sells strands of the nice black tourmaline alone:

Black tourmaline beads 21-889-183

Here’s a great idea for using black tourmaline in a rosary:

David's Rosary uses the black tourmaline beads

David’s Rosary uses the black tourmaline beads

And don’t forget tourmalated quartz. These beads technically include tourmaline, so they add to your options for “October babies”:

Tourmalated quartz beads 21-884-100

You’ll find lots more neat background reading at our Gemstone Index ‘tourmaline’ entry! And this is the time of year when you can come to our BeadTour bead shows to look for great new tourmaline, tourmalated quartz and many more gemstone beads not found in our catalog!

Featured bead: Hollow sterling beads

August 28, 2009

“Hollow” means a lot of different things when you talk about beads and findings. Let’s look at hollow sterling beads…

Hollow sterling silver beads all have one thing in common — they’re light in weight and they’re more affordable than solid silver beads.

  • There are organic-shaped hollow sterling nugget beads. They’re hollow because they’re a continuous surface like a pebble, only empty inside:
hollow sterling nugget beads

Hollow…

hollow silver roller beads

…toroidal…

  • Silver teapot charms are hollow because they’re shaped like a real teapot, with room inside for a tiny drink:
hollow 3-D silver teapot charm

…concave

If you really think about it, “hollow” could mean even more things… how about those deeply pockmarked lava beads? Leave a comment to suggest more ideas about hollow beads!

Dapping tools and why you need them

August 27, 2009

Do you use metal clay? Or metal sheet? Or metal disks?

dapping tool set

If you do metalwork, making a smooth finished product is a major goal. Dapping punches with their ball-shaped ends are a huge help. They’re used to “dome” metal. (So some call them “doming punches”.) Think of adding depth to pendants…or making each half of your own unique bead!

“Dappling” punches (as we’ve also seen them called) are usually used in an affordable set with another dapping tool…

dapping block

Dapping blocks are a block of wood or steel with domes (half-spheres) of various sizes indented into the sides.

You just place the metal, or metal clay, against one of the dimples in the dapping block. Then you work it smooth, rounding it by “dapping” at it with the punch. See our April 8, 2011 “How to Dap and Dome Metal Jewelry” article for do’s, don’ts, and inspirational jewelry ideas.

Dapping blocks are also wonderful for forming a domed filigree, as Mara Marlow did in her “Eglantyne” necklace for the Rings & Things Your Designs Rock design contest:

Domed filigrees made with a dapping block

Domed filigrees made with a dapping block

Share dapping ideas or questions — leave a comment!

September's birthstone as a trade bead!

August 3, 2009

Carnelian is an established birthstone for September.

I’ll let you browse our awesome stock of carnelian beads at your leisure…but before you click that link, let’s focus on a rarity: a carnelian trade bead.

Carnelian cubes - a rare tradebead treat!

Carnelian cubes – a rare tradebead treat!

You don’t see these every day, even if you’re an African-bead connoisseur. Five corner-cut beads to the strand, a reasonable price, and the joy of finding something really unique!

Have a favorite birthstone bead choice for September babies? Talk about it in a comment!

Featured bead! The un-plain "dash 3"

July 30, 2009

I wrote the title of this post to purposely make you ask “What?????” Got your attention! Now read on about one of the coolest beads I know, and why it’s so…

So what is a “dash 3”? Rings & Things geeks like me use that name for anything silver-plated. And I wanted to talk for a minute about the basic, but not plain, silver-plated round bead.

What are the great points of round silver-plated beads? Off the top of my head, here are 5:

Silver-plated bead awesomeness #1

Silver-plated bead wonderfulness #1

  • These have big holes. For example the 5mm bead above has a 1 to 1.5mm hole. That’s a lot of space for stringing onto a range of wire, cable or cord! How versatile!
2nd silver-plated bead wonderfulness

2nd: silver-plated bead supremacy

  • They’re shiny. Of course! And with that real-silver gleam.
3rd silver-plated bead thing

3rd silver-plated bead thing

  • They’re affordable. Up next to a solid sterling bead, the “dash 3” plated version is an incredible bargain.
4th silver-plated bead feature

4th silver-plated bead feature

  • What a blank slate to work with! Silver goes with so many colors and textures. Along with basic black (and lava stone 🙂 ), this is one of the easiest ‘colors’ to work into all of your designs.
5th 'dash-3' fabness

5th ‘dash-3’ fabness

  • They’re from Rings & Things…so you actually know they’re silver-plated. We don’t try to tell you they’re sterling or anything else. Just the facts, ma’am!

Dash-3’s have lots more going for them. Do you have a testimonial for silver-plated beads? Write it in a comment below!

DON’T MISS OUR June-July giveaway:
* in our online store, find a fave product & review it there, then…
* …leave a comment about it at the contest article in our blog
* On August 3, five winners will receive coveted Rings & Things gift certificates!
* Enter often & see if you win!