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Getting creative about birthstone beads

January 8, 2009

Birthstones are always a popular theme for beaded creations. Did you know, you can create a whole line of jewelry using not only the “official” stones but appropriately-colored alternatives?

One creative approach that keeps the quality level high is to use Swarovski crystal beads. Since these are available in so many great colors, you have some gorgeous options for each month.
An array of suggested birthstone equivalents is laid out in our
Swarovski Birthstone Chart page.
Or follow your own inspiration and browse through all of the colors available: the
crystal bicone beads section
of our online store is a good place to do this.

Another way to go is to look into traditional birthstone lists, like the ones in Bruce Knuth’s neat book
“Jeweler’s Resource”. This can be your starting point for finding some great equivalent stones.

For example January’s traditional stone,
garnet,
also comes in a green variety, and one stone often
considered as ”
green hair garnet”
is green tourmalated quartz.
You can find these
“green garnet” beads in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Voila, there’s a great birthstone equivalent!

Jasper is also sometimes considered to be
January’s gemstone, and there are countless varieties to choose from, including fancy jasper,

leopardskin jasper,
and
poppy jasper.

And that’s not even getting into February’s stone! (Amethyst.) What ideas do you have for birthstone equivalents in the jewelry you make?

Stylish new black-lip shell pendants

December 9, 2008

Black lip shell from French Polynesia (think Tahiti) has just arrived in our store to heat up your jewelry designs. With deep-gray to black coloring and occasional white sections,
this shell also can exhibit a greenish color or a full rainbow. Black mother of pearl, as it’s also known, is most likely to be cut from a special black-lipped mollusk known as the
pinctada margaritifera oyster. It naturally secretes a black pigment that, depending on the quantity, gives a resulting dark color shading to these gorgeous pendants.

Among the new arrivals is a
convex (bent) collar

carved with a floral flourish. It’s 2 inches by 3.8 inches, and as you can see
it will make a really nice centerpiece pendant.

We’ve also added a
Celtic knot pendant
, just shy of 2 inches across. It’s carved in openwork style, with plenty of loops so you can attach it at one or more points depending on the style of your design.

Stylized dragons
have also arrived.
Also openwork, these have a nice light lacy feel, considering they’re also 2 inches across! Like the previous item, this one could be used as a link / connector if that strikes your fancy.

I’ll leave you with one last style of these new black-lip shell focal pieces, a real South Seas

starfish (sea star).
This pendant has a 1.5-2mm hole (that’s about 1/16 of an inch), and a fairly intricate carved design on the surface.

We think you’ll enjoy the lustrous shimmer and warmth of these new black-lip shell pieces. They’ve come along at a great time to brighten up winter for you and for your clients!

Gifts that won't burn a hole in your wallet

December 2, 2008

Some like it hot. Not content to just string beads, some folks need to fire up a kiln to create metal-clay wonders. Some get their kicks with torches and lampworking. Others fuse glass.

You know that person. Reading the Rings & Things blog, there’s a good chance you are that person. But the rest of us are stuck with the burning question,
what’s the hot holiday present for one of these fiery types? To buy something special enough for a flameworker, will the old wallet wind up with a hole burned through it?
Rings & Things has a couple of new ideas to fuel your gift-giving.

On the lighter side (pardon the pun, and please don’t send any flame emails), we’ve introduced a cute new
license-plate frame for your special flame. Emblazoned with the slogan “Plays with FIRE”, this lightweight plastic frame is a fun personal statement, and advertisement, for the crafter.

Another great gift for the hot-blooded is our four new
Art Clay(TM) Silver kits. Each of these sets provides a great new way to apply designs to metal-clay pieces. There’s an
enameling kit:

For a more hands-off approach, there’s the
photopolymer stamp kit:

The silver overlay paste kit lets you add silver stencils and more to ceramic or glass:

And the UV resin kit lets you embellish metal-clay pieces with vibrant color in minutes:

So brighten up someone’s holidays, whether it’s with a car decoration or a kit for exploring a new silver-clay technique!

–Dave
at Rings & Things

New hematite connectors: solid link!

November 14, 2008

Need to iron out some wrinkles in your jewelry making? Missing a link that would perfectly evolve your designs? Hook up with four
new connector findings in an unusual material, hematite!
We think you’ll find they bring in a rock solid look. Here’s the lowdown:

We’ve added two of these connectors in a button style (having two holes). These are both contoured ovals. The
smaller connector is
18x13mm, which is about 3/4″ x 1/2″. The
larger connector is 28x22mm,
or about 1 1/8″ x 7/8″. The holes are large enough for a pretty substantial cord, being 4-4.5mm wide in the smaller style, and 5-5.5mm in the larger. Both connectors are fairly thick too, at 4mm and 6mm respectively.


The other two hematite connectors just added are in a “square donut” style. As you can see, the first one is actually a
rectangular donut!
It’s 30x22mm (about 1 1/4″ x 7/8″). The other is a 30x30mm
square donut
(so 1 1/4″ on a side). These are a little less thick than the button styles, at 4mm and 3.5mm respectively.

As with all of our hematite products, Rings & Things likes to point out that this is a manmade material.
The real thing is nearly impossible to get these days at a reasonable price. More information on this gemstone. T
he artificial version is nearly indistinguishable from natural hematite, and has the advantages of better price and of being available in many more interesting shapes–like the ones above.

Manmade malachite joins our gemstone-bead line

November 7, 2008

When we’re crisscrossing the country doing our bead shows, Rings & Things gets lots of requests for
malachite beads. That deep, rich green just can’t be beat! But now it’s been matched:

We’ve located a source of
manmade malachite beads.
This makes it possible to bring you the marbled look and substantial feel of malachite, at a significantly lower price.

These are all round beads. We offer them in sizes from 4mm (about 3/8 inch), through 6mm, 8mm and 10mm, up to 12mm (about 1/2 inch). All sizes come in 16″ strands, so you get anywhere from 26 to 92 beads per strand, depending on the bead size.

It’s very hard to tell natural and artificial malachite apart. At Rings & Things we had to look twice, then do some checking. Apparently
researchers say the two varieties are identical in almost every way. The one giveaway is that this synthetic malachite may be banded with
somewhat more regular-shaped white marbling than the natural stuff. Have a look at some more manmade ones:

We think that what your customers are going to notice about man-made malachite is…the nice price!

New catalog, new gemstone prices

October 31, 2008

As you know, Rings & Things puts out a catalog every 2 years. (Our 2009-2010 catalog is coming in the New Year!) Part of the catalog-production process is to review and revise prices as needed.

For the last two catalogs–that’s 4 years–we chose to not raise gemstone prices across the board but rather “eat” vendor price increases we received over the years. Unfortunately this year we are forced to implement a price increase for most gemstone beads.

The reasons for the price increase are varied:

  • Lack of “rough” material means higher prices for finished gemstones. Gemstones are not a renewable resource.
  • Competition for high-demand gemstones has increased prices.
  • Vendors have given us multiple price increases over the years.
  • The US dollar has lost exchange value compared to the Chinese Yuan (RMB).
  • Inbound freight cost has increased over 15%.
  • China, where most gemstones are processed, has implemented three cost-of-living minimum-wage increases for its workers.
  • New EPA-style laws in China raised our prices.
  • China has changed their tax laws, which caused an increase in prices.
  • Our desire to maintain a higher-quality gemstone than some of our competitors requires us to seek out new vendor sources at higher prices.

The average price increase is about $1.25 per strand at wholesale price–but many items went up only 25 to 50 cents. A few items have had a larger price increase due to the multiple vendor price increases we’ve received over the last four years.

We appreciate your business over the last several years, and our commitment is to continue delivering you the highest-quality gemstone beads at the best prices we can. We think you’ll see and appreciate the difference as always!

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!

This just in: update on tube-top bails!

October 22, 2008

Rings & Things has designed a fresh, new alternative to glue on Aanraku bails!

Our Fall Supplement announces the new, R&T-exclusive plated tube-top bails as “now available online” (page F-2). As of mid-October 2008 they are not available, yet…

The tube-top bails were supposed to be in our warehouse by October 1. Due to a manufacturing delay (plating them) they are yet to be received. They may ship in time for us to have them in stock on Halloween.

In the meantime here’s the latest news about the tube-top bails:

  • We’re keeping a list of customers who are interested in these bails. (You can’t pre-order them, but you can have first crack when they come in.) Call our awesome sales people at (800) 366-2156 to be added to the list!
  • The bails now have stock numbers (and extended descriptions) in our online store:

So you can search for these bails in our store and get more information on them.

We know how eagerly people are awaiting the tube-top bails. Stay tuned, and we’ll let you know as soon as we have them. Thanks so much for your enthusiasm, and for your understanding!
[[editor’s note: links updated 2022]]

New: Hidden-knot magnetic clasps

October 17, 2008
Magentic clasp from Rings & Things, #39-425-1
This just in: Now you can finish your necklace or bracelet and add a clasp, with one handy finding. It’s our new hidden-knot magnetic clasp!

These come in two sizes. #39-424-1 is 6x6mm, and #39-421-1 is 6.5mm, and more rounded in shape. Both are “white” metal plated, meaning they perfectly match other -1 white plated findings, and are similar to the color of sterling silver.

Both of these clasps have a 0.8mm hole, which will accommodate finer stringing cords. Each features a 2mm inside “cup” for hiding your knots, resulting in a very tidy-looking end.

To make your end even neater, our hidden-knot magnetic clasps feature a self-aligning closure. This ensures that those ends match up nice and symmetrically, maximizing visual appeal. The magnets in these are exceptionally strong. Use with your strongest cording, and your most secure knots. These may also be used with crimps and stringing cable.

These are officially safe for use in jewelry (California “Class 2” for lead content). How to get them? Order through our online store!

We’ll leave you with an action shot of both ends of these clasps “magnetically attracting” each other, while a representative third piece looks on from the side (just for perspective…there are only 2 ends!)

Hidden knot magnetic clasp 39-424-1 from Rings & Things