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Chain that charms

February 7, 2011

Guest blogger, Rings & Things’ Nory, suggests:

Make a jingle to your design jangle with our inspiring new
Charm Chain.

This dangle chain is bound to add movement and improvement to any design!

"Bell Flowers" bracelet by Mollie Valente

Within this unique style of chain, choose from several style variations:

"Greek Goddess" earrings by Tiffany White

Each soldered link has two charms attached. This Charm Chain or Fringe Chain, as some folks have started calling it around here, appears in 5 plating styles:

  • antiqued brass
  • antiqued copper
  • antiqued silver
  • matte black
  • matte silver

"Spring Skies" necklace by Cindy Morris

We currently offer Charm Chain in a generous meter portion (3.28 Feet), and a bulk 10-meter spool (32.8 Feet).

A week ago, I challenged some of our in-house designers to come up with a design project using our Charm Chain with whatever else they felt “charmed it together”. I gave each designer half a meter of the 40-092-02-AB, the classy leaf design in antique brass pictured above, and let them loose to creatively construct these wonderful designs seen here.

A meter of this chain makes 9 pairs of 2″ earrings… With more than enough jingle in a meter to get any design dangling off the ground, try it out and tell us how you love it!

Cameos at W

January 21, 2011

Trend watch excitement! Rings & Things’ Laurae tells about it…

The latest W magazine has a nod to a trend that’s taken on new life:

“Long considered aristocratic, sentimental and romantic, cameos have never been seen as cool. Until now.”

Rings & Things, itself known to be cool 🙂 , has an interesting selection of cameos. The classic
profile view and flower motif as well as punk skull-and-crossbones. They’re tight! (Especially when you glue them on & use them like a cabochon.)

Check cameos out here (click)!

Check out Rings & Things wide variety of cameos – from classic Victoria cameos to edgy skeleton and octopus cameos!

How do you use cameos? We love to hear your tips!

Kawaii! What's it to you?

January 11, 2011

Style alert: Kawaii!

What’s it to you? In Japan it means “cute”. Worldwide, it’s a growing trend. Remember how “steampunk” became big over the past couple of years? Exactly: it’s really hard to define kawaii charms, but you’ll know ’em when you see ’em!

But allow me to explain through interpretive dance:

A hop

Kawaii popcorn bead

…to the top of the pops!

A skip

Kawaii 'Boo' beads

…to my Boo!

And a jump

kawaii cat beads

…to the ever-popular kittehs!

If you made me pick one thing that kawaii charms are, I’d say super-cute, tiny ceramic beads 🙂 Search our Design Gallery for ideas…

Kawaii jewelry

But promise me you’ll check out Etsy, too! Search there for ‘kawaii’ and enjoy the crazy variety!

SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS 2011 trends

January 5, 2011
Create Your Style with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS from Rings & Things.Spring & Summer 2011 Inspirations from Swarovski flow from water, an ultimate source for creative originality, development and renewal. Water bestows vigor, overall well-being and fortitude, and its soft strength has been compared to feminine nature and beauty. The SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS spring and summer line up is rich in female and natural motifs, from designer-edition “Fantastic Flowers” by Andrée Putman, to warm ceramics, ever-renewing fern and aromatic lavender. Renew your creative spirit with these enticing colors, fusion concepts and shapes.
For more fashion trends, see Pantone’s spring 2011 color forecast.

​

Crystal Colors for Spring & Summer 2011
Fern green crystal beads, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Fern Green Provence lavender crystal beads, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Provence Lavender

Fusion Concepts
These durable and scratch-resistant ceramic components combine the beauty of glazed pottery with a fun, unique craquelure effect plus the precision facets and consistent hole sizes you expect from Swarovski.
Faceted ceramic beads, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Ceramic Faceted Rounds Ceramic cosmic rings, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Ceramic Cosmic Rings

Trendsetting Crystal Shapes
Designer edition ginkgo crystal pendants, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Ginkgo Pendants (#6900) Designer edition zinnia crystal pendants, a spring/summer 2001 trend by Swarovski. Zinnia Pendants (#6901 & #6902)
Designer edition lotus crystal pendants, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Lotus Pendants (#6908) Cosmic square crystal rings, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Cosmic Square Rings (#4437)
Wing crystal beads #5590, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Wing Beads (#5590) Wing crystal pendants #6690, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Wing Pendants (#6690)
Artemis crystal beads, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Artemis Beads (#5540) Double-hole square crystal beads, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Double-Hole Square Beads (#5180)
Baroque crystal pearls, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Baroque Crystal Pearls (#5840) Xilion-cut heart crystal pendants, a spring/summer 2011 trend by Swarovski. Xilion Heart Pendants (#6228)

Bridal basics: DIY shoe clips

October 26, 2010

A perennial that we see a lot of every springtime: bridal shoe clips.

Shoe clips are easy to make “DIY”. Take these:

Shoe clip findings

Design, decorate, and voilà: finished shoe clips!

"Posies" shoe clip design

“Posies” shoe clip design: click for full details

Are you planning ahead for spring’s crop of brides? Have you used shoe clip findings? Do you have innovative uses for these?

A Victorian Romance: cameos & velvet ribbon

June 15, 2010

Like haiku poetry, cameos are miniature works of art…but you can wear these.

“And full on the bauble-crest alway–
A cameo image keen and fine…”*

WWVD? What would a Victorian do?

  • Velvet ribbon is the period-perfect stringing material for showing off a cameo pendant.
  • With the availability of ring blanks, you can set a cameo in one to wear on a finger.
  • These cameos make a delightful centerpiece when attached to a leather cuff bracelet.

“A pleasant picture, purely set,
Its mood all fair, though grave.
The virtue of an amulet
To my remembrance gave.”**


What’s your inspiration for using cameos? Comment below & share it!

* From “The Cameo Bracelet” by James R. Randall, circa 1860

** From “A Cameo” by Irène Hardy, 1892

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!

Skulls sell

March 10, 2010

Not an op-ed piece. A tip from actual jewelry sellers!

Skulls sell!

Antonio's gemstone skull necklace

The magic words: “Can I buy that from you?”

Skull beads, that is.

I work with Antonio. We were at R&T’s bead show the other day, and Antonio pointed out a strand of big gemstone skulls.

“I made a necklace with those, and people were walking up to me in Seattle asking to buy it off my neck.“

So Antonio bought another strand at the bead show! 🙂

Skull beads are a “thing” right now. If you dig ’em, or your customers do, then you’ve got to check out lampwork glass sugar skulls (etc.) —

!Calaveras!

!Calaveras!

–and new Viva Mexicana skull charms.

Also available in silver tone

Also available in silver tone

There’s time to order these and make fun styles before Cinco de Mayo. Wrap your cranium around that 🙂

Alice in Jewelryland

March 5, 2010

With “that” movie coming out today, we’ve seen quite a lot of craft activity on an Alice in Wonderland theme. Here’s a visual suggestion…

alice_in_wonderland

We put together a quick list of R&T items that fit an Alice in Wonderland theme. Pictured above:

And that’s just for starters. Search in our online store for “rabbit”, “watch”, “teapot”, “key”, “playing card” and more, for endless design inspirations! (Extra bonus — the cup & saucer charm might help you sell to the tea-party folks.)

What’s your Alice jewelry inspiration? Let us know in a comment below!