Archive for May, 2010

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Drilled river rocks!

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Drilled river rock rocks!

Our latest special find is drilled river rock beads. (Riverstone. Beach rock. River rock. Beach stone…)

We noticed what enthusiastic reactions this stone was getting…because it makes really cute, teeny little beads:

…and we loved the feel of donut beads with organically irregular, water-smoothed edges:

…plus the fact that drilled river rock taps into a fashion tip going back to the Stone Age:

…you can’t go wrong with petite tip-drilled pendants!

I made a necklace with these and showed it off at our bead shows, to nice reactions…

Go with the flow, check out beautiful riverstone beads made in the USA (by Mother Nature).  They’re a limited-stock find!

Extra bonus: enjoy R&T’s Bead Shapes Glossary page, where you’ll learn the difference between tip-drilled and corner-drilled, nibblets and tiles, rings and donuts.

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Posted in About Rings & Things, beads, New products | 8 Comments »

Jewelry blanks?

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

I got into a conversation the other day about “jewelry blanks”…

This is a really versatile (read “vague”) word, when you think about it.

@gingerkittyd tweeted me that her this is what her customers call finger ring findings:

.

Which are also called ring blanks.  Which confusingly also means these ring-shaped blanks for metal stamping:

Her customers also use the name “jewelry blanks” for bezel cups (which are also called pendant blanks):

(And I hesitate to tell you this, but these also sometimes get called “empty cups or empty pendants”!)

Not one to clarify needlessly, @JulieRorden tweeted, “Jewelry blanks? You mean that dark period of time when the caffeine high has worn off & the new supplies are on backorder? ;) ”

What are “jewelry blanks” to you?  If you don’t totally draw a blank about that, leave a comment to let us know!  We’ll probably come up with 10 more definitions :)

Posted in Community, Findings, Fun | 2 Comments »

Love the look of lace?

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Keep your design in place, with bezel lace.

Style things up with our “setting ribbon”.

Make your own lace-edge bezel–it’s an easy way to wrap your rivolis, set your cabochons and fancify found objects!

You simply bend the cute heart, diamond, or half-circle loops/tabs over both the front and back of the object you want the bezel to hold.

(It’s easy to wire or solder the ends together.)

5 lace bezel setting hints from the awesome R&T shop:

1.  Wrap bezel lace around object so that the end loops overlap (or lie flush if soldering).  Cut to size.

2.  Use your fingers or a mandrel to press loops against both the front and the back of the object.

3.  Burnish until the lace lies smoothly against the object on all sides.

4.  Secure the overlapping loops with wire (or solder ends).

5.  When soldering the bezel lace in place around the object, use a soldering iron. A torch will crack glass, crystal or stone objects.

Try it, you’ll like making your own custom settings!

Posted in Featured bead/finding, Findings, New products | 3 Comments »

What they’re saying about R&T bead shows

Monday, May 24th, 2010

A real-time report on R&T bead shows.  BeadTour blurbs from bead lovers like you!

Photo courtesy of Armored Hearts Maille

From our Louisville, KY bead show, @_chelseaj tweeted an evocative stream of updates:

● Rummaging around at the Louisville @rings_things show! It’s like heaven in here.

● @rings_things Found tons of great beads today – thanks!!!

● Bag stuffed full of new beads and ELO on the radio… Yes! Life’s good.

Photo courtesy of Armored Hearts Maille

Frann of Armored Hearts Maille blogged about a fun trip to the Grand Rapids bead show:

“When we entered we were greeting by a very friendly young guy…he was patient with the three of us Bead Show Virgins and sent us on our way.

It was all a shiny, sparkly heaven…I loved how each type of item was separated, so you knew that if you were at findings table you’d find every type of finding possible. No meandering around in a maze like confusion. Cori kept me on track…she was quick to point out some styles and colors we had been discussing for the last week in anticipation for this event.

The set up was wonderful, there was room enough for most people to wind in and around the tables…the selection of merchandise was vast.”

And Anita Ghaemi updated on Facebook with this about our Chicago bead show:

“…my spirits are over the top…I rushed in headed for the beads”!

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Posted in About Rings & Things, bead shows, Community, Events, Fun | No Comments »

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