Customers, meet our costumers!

November 21, 2008

Before it’s too late and the Thanksgiving/Christmas seasons totally swamp us, we wanted to share some pictures from Rings & Things’ Halloween costume contest. We think you’ll agree, our coworkers are not only talented jewelry makers (and sellers), but pretty great costume designers too!

Let’s start with the top vote-getters. Here’s the first prize winner and Elf Warrior Princess:

Second place was this marketing-department “Product Pimp”–you’ll have to squint through the glitter:

Third prize was the revenge of “Mr.” Poindexter (with some help from Daisy Mae):

And if you can spare another moment, here are a couple more popular costumes. We liked this little girl from the “Village of the Damned”, although she kind of scared us…

In case the horror got out of hand, we had a knight in shining armor:

We’re still taking bets on who would win a matchup between this he-man and Princess Adora’s alter ego (you know, the Princess of Power?). She was present but not pictured here…

The moral of this story is, you can’t run a business with customers only…you need costumers too!

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.

R&T goes to Great Lengths to bring you cool designs

November 11, 2008

The December 2008 issue of Simply Beads magazine
has hit the news stands, and Rings & Things’s designs are featured in it! Check out our latest inspirations for neckwear in a two-page R&T-sponsored
design spread called “Great Lengths“.
The four featured designs in the article are these:

  • “The Asphalt Jungle” (yes, you’ve seen that before–it’s also been in our Fall 2008 supplement)

Our Great Lengths web page, and the individual Designer Tip Sheets for these projects, all link directly to the products in our online store that each uses. So it just takes a click to go from admiring to ordering…and on to creating!

Aside from the Great Lengths article, Rings & Things is credited as the source of parts in another 4 projects in the same issue:

To see Rings & Things featured in other issues, you can visit our site’s Simply Beads page.

Even more media sightings of R&T can be found in our “Saw us in a Publication?” page. It’s a great way to track down exactly which Rings & Things stock those published designers are using, so you can re-create that look!

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!

4 November birthstones

November 4, 2008

“4 November birthstones”? Mistake, or silly pun on today’s date?

Neither! Here’s how there can be 4 different birthstones for November…meaning four times as much market for your jewelry creations this month!

STONE 1: The original source of today’s usual birthstone list is the “Foundation Stones” of the book of Revelations, in the New Testament. According to that ancient list, November’s birthstone is
topaz. The modern list agrees, and the traditional list of “zodiac stones” also has topaz for Sagittarius (November 23-December 21).

STONE 2: But! The modern birthstone list, established in 1952, contains an alternate November stone,
citrine.

STONE 3: Notice how Sagittarius doesn’t cover the whole calendar month? Another sign occupies the beginning of the month, which is why the other November zodiac birthstone is beryl — the stone of
Scorpio.

STONE 4: There’s also a traditional list of stones associated with the 12 apostles in early Christianity, where Matthew is associated with November. His stone is
amethyst, which is also the stone of November’s guardian angel Adnachiel (in ancient rabbinical writings). This gives us our fourth birthstone for this month.

All of this great information, plus the stones for the other 11 months and much more, is in Bruce G. Knuth’s superb book ”
Jeweler’s Resource: A Reference of Gems, Metals, Formulas and Terminology for Jewelers”. Thanks for this Rings & Things staff favorite, Bruce!

Got to have even more options? Check out Rings & Things’ selection of
birthstone-related products!

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!

I Am Product Reviewer (And So Can You)!

October 24, 2008

(With apologies to Stephen Colbert, LOL.)

If you have ever bought stuff from Rings & Things — I want you to do this to become Internet-famous:

You can rate every product we sell:

  • From 1 to 5 stars
  • With a title that shows your true feelings
  • Share details about how you like to use the product

We show your review as you intended it–whether it’s one star or five.

Here’s a quick example of a review as it displays in our online store:

“A very nice pendant”Jenny Schumaker on Monday, July 07, 2008 6:25:55 PM
Comments: I bought this and I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do with it, but decided to use copper metal and findings and make it into a pendulum. It’s a nice size and very earthy. I would buy it againin fact I might need to if this piece sells!
Rating:

Your name will be all over the internet, showing what a jewelry expert you are. So send your fellow bead-shop-a-holics in the right direction. Review stuff now!

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