Rings & Things

How can jewelry keep your fingers warm?  Here’s a hint: we’re not talking about rings or bracelets.

As the cold weather weather comes back, one way to warm up those digits is to keep on crafting.  Another way is to create something that people can use with mittens on.  The best of both worlds is yours with zipper pulls!

You see this kind of jewelry “outer wear” less often than necklaces and other next-to-the-skin baubles.  So you may be wondering, “What’s a zipper pull?”  Just as the name implies, this is a decorative accent that you clip onto your coat zipper, or zippers.  The attachment is via a simple swivel clip or lobster clasp, decorated with any kind of charms and beads that strike your fancy.

These pulls add just enough of a handle for gloved or mittened hands to grab onto a zipper.  This lets you snug up without freezing your fingers!

Rings & Things offers several fun free designs to get you zipping along.  The one above is our “Spritely Seeker” zipper pull idea.  Below, check out our “Skeletor” zipper pull design:

Another design that you may find “fasten-ating” (sorry!) is our “Crock” zipper pull.  It’s seen here from a distance to give you an idea how zipper accessories can really blend in with clothing:

Keep in mind that these and all zipper pulls also double very nicely as trendy keychain charms, so you’ve got a couple of angles for marketing your productions throughout the seasons.

These and many more great design ideas are always available for your free use in our Design Gallery.  Zip on over and get those ideas, and fingers, in motion!

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 18×13mm, which is about 3/4″ x 1/2″.  The larger connector is 28×22mm, 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 30×22mm (about 1 1/4″ x 7/8″).  The other is a 30×30mm 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.  (For more information on this gemstone, read in our popular Gemstone Beads Index.)  The 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.

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:

• “Great Lengths” Crystal & Leather Necklace

• “Great Lengths”  Mocca Rose Necklace

• “Great Lengths”  Briolette & Chain Choker & Bracelet

• “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:

• Scarf Pin (page 62) - by Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio
  (uses our #30-650-1 and #30-650-2 bend-it-yourself safety pins)
• Eyeglass Holder (page 65) - by Jennifer Heynan, courtesy of Jangles
  (uses our #30-842-2 and #30-842-3 black rubber eye glass holders)
• Pixie Dust Ornament (page 69) - by Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio
  (uses our #30-187 glass vial,
  #05-301-04-01  4mm Swarovski crystal bicones,
  #41-659  2×2mm gold filled crimp tubes,
  #46-700-23  ColourCraft wire)
• Hair Sticks (page 82) - Jennifer Heynan, courtesy of Jangles
  (uses our #27-574-3  4mm silver plate bead,
  #38-024-1 white metal hat pin)

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!

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”?  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!

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!

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

And glittering faceted rounds:

Faceted round beads of Turquoise Magnesite

As well as wheel-like rondelles:

Rondelle beads of Turquoise Magnesite

And smooth oval nuggets:

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!

(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:

• Click into our online store
• Find one of your favorite products, let’s say this French Hook ear wire
• Scroll down to “Product Reviews” and write your review!

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!

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

Our Fall Supplement announces the new, R&T-exclusive plated tube-top bails as “now available online” (page F-2). 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:

• 41-792-01-AC (small, antiqued-copper plated)
• 41-792-01-AS (small, antiqued-silver plated)
• 41-792-02-AC (large, antiqued-copper plated)
• 41-792-02-AS (large, antiqued-silver plated)

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!