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Now through Sunday, Jan. 30:

5-day sale!

10%-15% off a lot of stuff 🙂

An appreciation of the hard work that a bead-show truck driver does:

COLORADO: Had an exciting day yesterday! Had a fire in the cab!
The sound system amp under the driver’s seat caught fire. Cab filled up quickly with smoke. Lynn managed to pull over to shoulder even though he could barely see and smother it (barely any flames — just lots of smoke and heat).

TAMPA: While the boys were loading in a downpour there was a lightning strike that hit the parking lot about 20 feet away — very loud!

FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:

(our truck driver even finds time to write poetry to us)

Well,
Here’s to the folks in the warehouse,
for quickly preparing my load.
They don’t make me wait, to load up my freight,
so I can get back on the road.

And,
Here’s to the crew at the weigh station,
for watching, and waving me through.
We talk bad about ’em, but can’t do without ’em.
They’ve got a job to do too.

And,
Here’s to the waitress, back there at the truck stop,
who smiles and calls everyone “Hun”.
Her name tag sez “Thelma” or “Noreen” or “Velma”.
She’s worked there since ’71.

Yeah,
Here’s to the people I’ve met on the road,
and all the great people I’ve known.
But most of all, here’s to the ones that I left,
Here’s to the folks back at home.

And here’s thanks to our truck driver for safely escorting 5 tons of beads across the country…several times a year!

PS: credit should go to trucker poet J. T. Huffaker 🙂

Be informed: Last year, lead in kids’ jewelry became a big issue. Now, news reports indicate that some imported children’s jewelry is contaminated with cadmium. Here’s a briefing:

Starting in January, reports began emerging that cadmium, a known carcinogen, was detected in imported kids’ jewelry. (See this report. as well as
one of the earliest reports that showed up on the web.)

This is surprising. Especially since lead-tainted imported goods have gotten so much attention, the materials of choice for white metal castings are zinc and tin. Both antimony and tin are used for pewter. (For example, Tierracast in the US uses the foodsafe alloy of antimony and tin known as “Britannia Metal.”)

Cadmium seems a truly odd choice in casting jewelry components. Granted, it isn’t lead, a material that’s become pretty unacceptable in the US market. At the time of the emerging cadmium reports, Rings & Things already had an existing request in with Chinese suppliers for cast items to be made without lead or nickel content, using zinc instead.

But a comparison of prices of all these metals shows why cadmium is such a strange choice to include in low-priced cast components. It’s 10 times the price of zinc or lead.

(We hear rumors of sterling-silver produced with cadmium, with the resulting material being below the standards for sterling. That adulteration makes sense. Sterling silver is expensive enough to make cadmium an attractive addition, but ‘white metal’ / base metal castings would actually be made more expensive by added cadmium.)

Recent market prices for the above-mentioned metals (in US dollars):

Lead $1.17 a pound
Zinc $1.18 / lb
Tin $8.10 / lb
Cadmium $12.00 / lb

Rings & Things has had a variety of items tested for cadmium. It appears there are extremely tiny (trace) amounts. In three-fourths of the items, these amounts are in fact below the testing limit of less than 16 ppm (which is 0.0016%); one-fourth tested slightly higher, at 19 ppm (0.0019%.)

In summary, we advise keeping posted on any further media stories about possible cadmium content in imported jewelry parts. R&T has done some testing, and found no cadmium danger in our items.

Finally, we remind our customers, as we do in regard to lead content, that our products are not intended for use in children’s jewelry.

“Thank you so much for carrying these REAL French barrettes — I really had to scour the internet to find them/you. The difference in quality is very noticeable. You have a new customer!”

— Lisa Twombly,
Twombly Designs

Real French barrettes!

Oui, Rings & Things brings you superior-quality genuine French barrette backs. Take care of your customers with these nickel-free findings. Each is made from a single piece of durable, hypo-allergenic metal.

And, just to make sure you have alternatives you’ll be happy to create with: Try our lower-priced, French-style barrette findings. They’re softer, and the spring in them can be removed and easily re-attached. That’s why this style is preferred by barrette makers when creating styles that involve wrapping the backs.

A garden on a French barrette

It’s a win-win!