Archive for May, 2009

Featured bead: Swarovski 5328 “Xilion” bicone

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

The Featured Bead this time is actually a whole series of beads — one that you probably need to know about!

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Coming soon: new #5328 Xilion cut bicone beads from CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements!   You may ask, “Dave, why exactly is this important?”  The reason is that this bead is replacing one of the most popular beads in the world, the #5301 faceted bicone.

The #5301s from CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements are being phased out by Swarovski, and replaced with Xilion cut #5328 bicones.   Swarovski plans to start shipping #5328s in June, and have a full transition before the end of the year.  This new cut is unique to Swarovski (preventing unauthorized imitations), and provides a new, higher degree of brilliant shine.  Here is one more view, in “line art” provided by the manufacturer:

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So if you’re a fan of #5301s, now is the time to stock up.  They’ll be collector’s items soon!  The most popular colors and sizes of #5301 bicone beads are available at low factory-pack prices when you buy in large quantities.  For information on coatings and finishes, see our free online glossary of crystal coatings & effects.

May giveaway:
* You enter by leaving comments this month
* At the end of May, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*
So read the blog regularly, to enter a lot & to see if you won!

“As seen in” — thankful Friday

Friday, May 8th, 2009

We like to end the week on an up note, by thanking people who are good to us.

This week, the BeadStyle blog discussed a favorite find of emerald slices at a past Rings & Things show.

This week, the BeadStyle blog discussed a favorite find of emerald slice beads at a past Rings & Things show.

And AsetMekti was kind enough to suggest people visit our BeadTour bead shows.  Fab Fibers shared the excitement of preparing for our trunk show to come to town, and some bead finds when we showed up.  The Lampwork Art blog was nice enough to publicize our Louisville, KY show.

The Little Bead Shop showed off the awesome competition winners' creations in our 2009 "Your Designs Rock!" contest.

The Little Bead Shop showed off the awesome competition winners' creations in our 2009 "Your Designs Rock!" contest.

Meanwhile, Dawno generously steered her readers to our contests, even though the more entries, the lower her chances of winning are!

CraftGossip.com gave some handy tips on Finding Jewelry Artists Through Twitter, using us as an example.  (Okay, this was back in April, but we just became aware of it!)

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Wendy at Craft Dinner recommended stone cold stone lovers to check out our popular Gemstone Beads Index.  Another recommendation of the “Gem Index” appeared at Winged Heart Studio.

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In an excellent tutorial on how to dabble in mixed media with porcelain blanks, The Rabbit Muse kindly gave a shout-out to us as a good supplier for bails to hang them on.

In other design news, Margot Potter recommend Melanie’s (of Earthenwood Studio) designs using our lava-rock beads.

Thanks so much to all of you in the blogs and on Twitter for your nice words about Rings & Things.  We appreciate you!

May giveaway:
* You enter by leaving comments this month
* At the end of May, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*
So read the blog regularly, to enter a lot & to see if you won!

Strand enhancers enhance your business

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Looking at the new Wedding / Bridal / Prom section that we’re building in our Design Gallery, I learned a technique…

Strand enhancers can grow your business.  For a second, I thought this might mean “necklace extenders“, which are amazingly useful findings themselves.

But no, strand enhancers are yet a different way of offering extra value to your jewelry customers.  They instantly make any necklace into a “Y” necklace, as @wendytgibson put it on Twitter.  See one detached, and one in action, in this “Always a Bridesmaid” necklace design:

The "Always a Bridesmaid" design from Rings & Things

The "Always a Bridesmaid" design from Rings & Things

For this necklace, designer Cindy made the “pearl enhancer” with a #39-541-11 9x15mm oval no-trigger lobster clasp, in sterling silver.  Have a custom wedding order?  You can make clip-on strand enhancers with colors that match the bridesmaids’ dresses!

You can take this idea to craft fairs and jewelry shops too!  Offer necklace-buying customers a matching strand enhancer for a little sales bump.  They let the customer multi-purpose her necklace, choosing the style she wants.  And they’re easy to make — so you could even offer to “build to order”.  As @CreationsWHeart (also on Twitter) pointed out, “I can see how you could come up w/ a ton of designs whether it’s on a chain or beaded necklace! How fun!”

PS: A little extra design trick is to use seed beads in a pearl necklace like the one seen here.  They’re easy, affordable spacers and they take far less time than knotting the cord!

Want to suggest more necklace design tricks and tips?  Share them in a comment below.  You’ll be entered in our drawing!

May giveaway:
* You enter by leaving comments this month
* At the end of May, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*
So read the blog regularly, to enter a lot & to see if you won!

A jumble of June birth gems

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

We took a look ahead to find out the what June’s birthstones are.  There’s a jumble of gems to work with!

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Pearl is one of the most widely recognized June stones.  It’s nice that recent years have brought countless new styles and shapes of affordable freshwater pearls, including the ones you see here.  Have fun picking out a pearl that fits the personality of your June baby (or client!).

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Agate is the other commonly used birthstone for June.  It’s also the birthstone for Gemini, May 21 through June 20.  Are you aware of the huge variety of agate beads available?  This is another great browsing opportunity.

For a more unique touch, we’ve also found these stones used for June:

  • Emerald (also the Spring gemstone, and Cancer’s birthstone, June 21 to July 22) — a popular color of glass beads
  • Ruby (which is the Summer gemstone too, i.e. June 21 onwards) — there are lots of ruby-colored glass beads as well!
  • Moonstone (also famous for going so great with a basic black dress!)
  • Alexandrite — remember you can use glass beads in this color too
  • Beryl (St. Thomas)

You can learn about the physical & metaphysical properties of gemstones like these in the new edition of our popular Gemstone Beads Index!

Have you seen other great birthday-jewelry ideas for June?  Post them here in the Comments!

May giveaway:
* You enter by leaving comments this month
* At the end of May, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*
So read the blog regularly, to enter a lot & to see if you won!