Archive for October, 2009

10 tips to top designs

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

You might be expecting a top-10 list of craft tips.  This is a 10-in-1…

Subscribe to the “feed” from the Design Gallery.  You’ll have 10 new design ideas at a time delivered to your desktop.

Home delivery!
Home delivery!

How?  Click the orange RSS link, the iGoogle link, or the MyYahoo! link.  You’ll get a constantly updated list of our 10 latest jewelry projects.

Just like that!  We’ve had plenty of people say that they turn to us first when they have a new project idea.  Let us return the favor with some jewelry inspirations.

Enjoy!

The Spokane keychain experiment

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Strung on #61-723-49-02 Beadalon, this keychain held up in daily use for over 2 years!

Rita's keys

How burly is your Beadalon?

This is a nice testament to the durability of the stringing materials you can buy here. :)   Thanks to Rita who works here, for pointing out that you can learn from broken jewelry too!

FYI, the big cool bead is #28-900-01-01 (George O’Grady borosilicate glass).  It’s been restrung on #40-099-28-3 beading chain, finished off with a #41-151-99-20-3 crimp tube at one end and #41-256-02-3 crimps at the other end.  The crimp at the end of the tassel is covered with a crimp cover from the #48-289-00-3 set.  The clip itself isn’t ours, but is similar to our new #30-610-01-1 teardrop clip.

By the way, here's "Mark 2" :)

By the way, here's "Mark 2" :)

Dare to share — have a jewelry failure that we can learn from?  Spill it in a comment here!

Featured bead: Christmas lampwork

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Rings & Things has added a bunch of Christmas lampwork beads this year…so that’s the featured bead this week.

Snowman earrings feature holiday lampwork!

For jolly happy souls!

Add goofy grins to the festivities with the snowman-head beads above — or with the fun snowmen, Xmas trees and Santa beads below!

Making spirits bright...and helping mittened fingers zip jackets!

Making spirits bright...and helping mittened fingers zip jackets!

(There’s also a really fun bubble wand in our Design Gallery, featuring these same three beads.)

Besides these designs, check out such festive baubles as lampwork Christmas stockings

Stocking stuff!

Stocking stuff!

…and many more!

Have holiday plans involing beads?  Share the inspiration here!

Rings & Things is a “Bicycle Friendly Business”

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Thanks for the recognition!

My other car is a *real* bike!

My other car is a *real* bike!

The League of American Bicyclists recently announced 45 new Bicycle-Friendly Business (BFB) award winners, including Rings & Things. This was the third time BFB winners have been announced since the program’s inception in 2008, when the League announced the first 13 designees; it puts us in the ranks of businesses like Rodale Publishing, REI stores, and the World Bank.

BFB businesses make bicycle-friendliness a core element in the workplace, and use innovative tools to promote bicycling as an easy and fun option for transportation and recreation.

The BFB program recognizes socially responsible businesses that promote healthy, happy, and green workplaces, and provides a road map to become even more bike-friendly in the years to come.

BFB winners provide amenities such as secure bike parking and shower facilities, and motivations such as incentives to commute by bike and bike to Work Week promotions. When bicycling is infused in a company’s culture, great things happen: reduced health care costs; more productive employees; improved worker and customer satisfaction; smaller carbon footprint; and increased corporate social responsibility. It’s also fun to bike :)

Applying as a BFB is easy and free. Applicants receive technical assistance from the League staff as well as tools to evaluate and assess their bicycle friendliness through the application process.  Rings & Things encourages other businesses to make a difference by supporting employee bicycling.