Browsing Category

Rings & Things Products

Cuteness: clip charms

July 27, 2009

They’re cute, they’re new, and you’ll love ’em too!

We’ve added a whole passel of clip charms that are just too cute to skip blogging about.* The wonderful thing about these little items is that they come with a little lobster clasp already attached. So they’re incredibly easy & fast to attach & remove. And you can keep a stock of them on hand to sell your customers some add-ons!

These are silver-plated dangle charms, averaging about an inch in size. (In other words, they’re charms.) 🙂 There are 20 of them at last count, and they’re all fun. Let me throw some visuals at you…

Most of these clipon charms are decorated with colorful rhinestones, some with a choice of stone colors. Try this heeled boot on for size:

Heeled boot clip-on charm

Heeled boot clip-on charm

And for your summer beachcomber crowd, how about this flip-flop?

Flip-flop clip-on charm with jet rhinestones

Flip-flop clip-on charm with jet rhinestones

We’ve also got rhinestoned peace signs, moons, hearts, stars, dragonflies, butterflies and this sweet little key:

Rhinestone key clip charm

Rhinestone key clip charm

Not all that glitters is rhinestones, though. Some of these charms are enameled in detailed, glossy designs that will knock your customers’ socks off. See if this ducky doesn’t float your boat:

Enameled ducky clip-on charm

Enameled ducky clip-on charm

Or go Tampa Bay with this buccaneer:

Enameled pirate skull clip charm

Enameled pirate skull clip charm

There are plenty more dangle designs to check out, so connect up with our full selection in the online store. Remember, the code word is “stock number 44-810”. (Or “d’nagly” if you work at Rings & Things.) 🙂

Have more ideas for using these clip-on dangle charms? Share 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!

Bulk chain is hot for jewelry!

July 15, 2009

Tip: bulk chain is hot for jewelry.

News flash: it’s in stock at Rings & Things right now.

09_bulk_chain_017We have pallets of it! I’m dizzy looking up so high!

09_bulk_chain_026Chain is spilling out, overflowing into bins!

09_bulk_chain_030We’ve got all colors & styles!

So get your bulk jewelry chain now…at our usual nice wholesale price.

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!

Featured bead: flower spacers

July 13, 2009

The humble but endlessly useful spacer bead comes into the spotlight this time…

4mm flower spacer beads

4mm flower spacer beads

What would you do without these? Spacer beads are the unsung heroes of jewelry making. While other beads are the focus of attention and the center of your designs, spacers hold them in place. Spacers help make your beads and your stringing material match up in length. Flower spacers, like these, pretty up the corners just enough to maintain a certain visual feel throughout the jewelry piece.

In the understated spirit of flower spacers, I’m showing you just two examples, both in demure multi-purpose antiqued silver finish. Both are Bali-style spacers, made by the reliable TierraCast company, with holes large enough to work with most cords.

6mm flower spacers

6mm flower spacers

Whatever color of metal they are, whatever size they are, and whatever pattern adorns them, we salute the flower spacers of the world! Stock up on a good selection and you’l be able to make any design inspiration come to life.

Have a favorite spacer, or a personal tip for using them? Leave a comment!

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!

August's featured birthstone: Peridot

July 8, 2009

The standard birthstone for next month just happens to be well-represented at Rings & Things. Let’s play with peridot

Peridot: August's featured birthstone at Rings & Things

Did you know about peridot?

  • It’s also known as “Bastard Emerald”
  • Peridot is technically a variety of olivine
  • It turns out that quite a few “emeralds” in queens’ and kings’ treasuries are actually peridot!
  • Peridot is claimed to increase eloquence and remove speech impediments, and, um…oh, what’s that word? (All this info & more is on the Peridot Page of our main website)

Some of the styles of peridot that we stock are snazzy enough to wow any Leo/Virgo child of August. You can even tuck a tiny birthday gift or note inside this peridot & sterling ‘wish box’ pendant:

Peridot & sterling 'wish box' pendant

Peridot & sterling ‘wish box’ pendant

For guys you might prefer going with a chunkier style like these hefty peridot chip beads:

Peridot chunky chips

Peridot chunky chips

Or you can go really smooth and classic with sleek round peridot beads:

Smooth as velvet: peridot rounds

Smooth as velvet: peridot rounds

Just bear in mind (and please tell your customers) that peridot is often enhanced in order to smooth out tiny natural irregularities in its surface — So go easy on the exposure to hazardous chemicals. Also shield your peridot from high heat, deep cold, and hammers, okay?

* Alternative August birthstones are onyx or sardonyx, and carnelian.

I bet some of you have sold, or been commissioned to make, August birthstone jewelry. You can share your experiences in a comment below!

Bezel cups "runneth" over

July 2, 2009
Bezel cups -- findings for resin jewelry making!

Bezel cups — findings for resin jewelry making!

Rings & Things is introducing cool new bezel cups in its line of wholesale findings. You’ll have a lot of fun using these to make resin jewelry that expresses your creative personality!

They’re made of solid raw brass, and basically look like teeny tiny saucepans (1/8″ deep) — only they have a loop or two loops, instead of a handle. You just pour resin or epoxy right into them.

Turn one-loop bezel cups into nifty custom pendants; make the two-loopers into connectors. Both styles come in either round or oval shape, and either of two sizes. (Broadly speaking, they’re in the neighborhood of an inch.)

Down in the lab, Rings & Things has discovered quite a few fun things that “resinate” nicely into EasyCast or other resin, in bezel cups. We’ve implanted tiny toys, glitter, candy sprinkles, and little cutouts from photos or other images. (For these, cut out right-sized images using our free template.)

resin_italia_postage_clip

We’re bringing in a full range of great epoxy resin supplies, like Castin’Craft items, to go along with these bezel cups. You can rig out your resin workspace with molding equipment, a resin how-to book, pigments, mixing supplies, and more.

You can also capitalize on Rings & Things’ line of TierraCast® frame charms and square-cup rings to explore even more resin-casting possibilities. Additional resources include our free .PDF “Tips for Epoxy Resin” sheet and the growing roster of resin jewelry in the Design Gallery.

Have a great resin jewelry-making tip? Share, share! Leave 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!

Exclusive new ring findings

June 29, 2009

You asked, we listened: Rings & Things adds a great new thing…

Popular thing: Findings that you can decorate by simply gluing on a focal piece.

Popular thing: Rings (and things).

New, quality sterling adjustable ring findings

New, quality sterling adjustable ring findings

These have been hot items, and have generated lots of useful feedback from our customers. You wanted these to be a little stronger, to withstand being adjusted from one ring size to another. You also wanted nice silver rings. We’ve acted on your requests!

Here’s our awesome new thing: Improved-quality, glue-on adjustable ring findings in sterling silver. We’ve added two styles: the ‘plain’ design shown above, and a snazzy ‘wavy’ design shown here:

'Wavy' adjustable ring findings from Rings & Things

‘Wavy’ adjustable ring findings from Rings & Things

Both of these rings can be easily adjusted to almost any finger size, large or small. Their sleek minimalist designs are Rings & Things exclusives.

Add a nice bauble on the textured glue pad: how about fused or lampwork glass, or a flat-back gemstone? For gluing, we recommend using a 2-part epoxy. (E-6000 and Super New Glue also work great!) These rings can also be soldered!

We’re always interested in what you think of our items. (That’s why we’re running our Product Reviews contest through July–see below.) You can leave a comment here to make more “wish” suggestions!

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!

Rings & Things on TV: metal charms

June 26, 2009

You may have seen Rings & Things on TV. Does this look familiar?

Artisan and author Mary Hettmansperger shows how to make metal charms, using cold connections…

Thanks to public TV’s Beads, Baubles and Jewels for this “Metal Charms” segment. Rings & Things is a proud sponsor of the program!

If you’ve spotted our “stuff” on TV somewhere else, let us know in a comment!

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!

Featured bead: basic black onyx

June 23, 2009

They say the name comes from the Greek for “fingernail”. I guess our featured bead does resemble the fingernails of some Gothic types I’ve known!

It would be a grave slight if I didn’t feature black onyx beads in this space. These are a true standby for jewelry designers, with their lustrous gloss and their dark versatility. They’re available in a huge range of styles!

Black onyx beads in a round, 4 millimeter style

Black onyx beads in a round, 4 millimeter style

If you’re shopping more to stock up your bead arsenal, with no particular designs in mind yet, try black onyx rounds like the 4-millimeter jobbies shown above. By the way, that size is about 6 to the inch. The smallest rounds that you’re likely to find are 3mm (or 8 to the inch); you can get bigger sizes like 6mm, 8mm and up.

Black onyx rounds are a classic bead for certain basics, like evening jewelry or the rosary market. But they look great in higher-fashion environments too! Check out this “Blackberry Necklace” design from Rings & Things’ ever-popular Design Gallery:

The Blackberry necklace, from our Design Gallery

The Blackberry necklace, from our Design Gallery

Don’t stop with the smooth rounds, though — faceted rounds of black onyx are some gorgeous beads! Look at how these, in the 6mm size (4 to the inch), catch the light:

Black onyx, 6mm faceted round beads

Black onyx, 6mm faceted round beads

And other styles, like black onyx tube beads, have lots of promise:

4x13mm black onyx tube beads

4x13mm black onyx tube beads

I’ll leave you with one last inspiration. One of my favorites in the Design Gallery is the Cute Cubes Squared necklace, which uses various black onyx beads in a dazzling way:

Cute Cubes Squared

Cute Cubes Squared

I’d love to hear about your own discoveries that you’ve made while designing with black onyx beads!

Leave them 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!

Make (cold) connections!

June 18, 2009

A summertime blog post should be about fun and beating the heat. I think I’ve got just the thing for you…

Cold connections are the secret to this "Unity bracelet"

Cold connections are the secret to this “Unity bracelet”

I thought I’d start this with the stylish “Unity” bracelet we’ve just added to our Design Gallery. Unity is all about joining together and making connections. So let’s talk about a hot topic — metals in jewelry — in a cool way: cold connections.

Copper is still really popular in jewelry, and now the fun metal-stamping trend has fully taken shape too. If you love the metals, but don’t want to go as far as (say) chainmaille, how do you integrate more delicate items with them?

Susan Lenart Kazmer's book "Making Connections"

Susan Lenart Kazmer’s book “Making Connections”

A new book in our store brings some very exciting suggestions, “Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewellers and Mixed-Media Artists“, by Susan Lenart Kazmer, is full of inventive, attractive ways to unite fragile, even organic materials with metal in your jewelry designs. The results are great to look at, fun to wear, and fascinating to the touch.

The author shows you quite a range of ways to put hand tools to use in altering “found” objects, wrapping, riveting, and much more. This resource is really going to turn the crank (sorry) of the metal worker in you! You’ll also get to peruse the artist’s techniques, her sketches and projects she’s created using the ideas she teaches here.

This 143-page full-color hardback is coming to print in our Summer 2009 Supplement!

Do you have cold-connections tips of your own — or questions about this concept? Leave a comment!

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!

Featured bead: Coin pearls

June 12, 2009

This week’s featured bead is a huge favorite…

Coin pearls are worth their weight in money!

Coin pearls are loved for a lot of good reasons.

They go great on bracelets, since they’re pretty flat. That nacreous, mother-of-pearly surface feels nice against your skin. And these days, with the booming cultured freshwater-pearl industry, you can get a strand of coin pearls that are neatly matched in shape and size — at a great price.

coin_pearl_20-642-01-081

Besides the luminous-colored offerings in our online store that you see sampled here, you’ll always find our latest purchases of new styles and hues if you attend our BeadTour bead shows. Make sure you’re on our mailing list to get invited!

coin_pearl_champagne_20-642-01-096

Have a favorite way to use coin pearls in your designs? Share your inspiration 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!