Two Rings & Things artisans are featured in an art show celebrating the 70th anniversary of “The Wizard of Oz”. Appropriately held at the stalwart Tinman Gallery in Spokane, this OzVitational exhibit showcases artists’ unique takes on the legacy of Dorothy and friends.
Sondra Barrington, our Sales manager by day, mixed found objects with quality vintage-feel findings for a steampunk bracelet titled “Flying Monkeys”. Like a wearable video clip (from the scariest part of the film!), this piece sports stills from the classic movie transferred onto copper stamping blanks.
“one-of-a-kind pendants — ruby slippers, a yellow brick road, the heart so sought after by Tinman himself — hang[ing] from inside their gray weathered box. A knothole in the wood becomes the “O” for Oz and the wood itself is said to be from Dorothy’s Kansas farmhouse…if you let yourself drift to where childlike wonder lives, you can almost believe.”
The exterior of Kurt & Margot's "OZ BOX"
Many other gifted artists are in the show, too. So if you’re in Spokane any time this month, head to the Garland District for a visual treat!
How do these connect Melissa Lee and Rings & Things' Noryan?
(Ring ring.) Hi! Where are you? Could you pick me up a bead bowl on the way home?
CellChic's husband made this great bead bowl - lucky CellChic!
By the way, a new blog just got started up by our friend J&M designs. Give her a visit!
And KaneoheGirl at the HipGirlClips forum divulged her secret weapon in the war against split rings. You need one too…
We’re always delighted to publicly thank people who talk nice about us. Spotted an example of this? Leave a comment to make sure we find out & acknowledge it!
DON’T MISS OUR June-July giveaway:
* in our online store, find a fave product & review it there, then…
* …leave a comment about it at the contest article in our blog
* On August 3, five winners will receive coveted Rings & Things gift certificates!
* Enter often & see if you win!
Thanks to public TV’s Beads, Baubles and Jewels for this metal-jewelry segment. Rings & Things is a very proud sponsor of the program!
If you’ve spotted our “stuff” on TV somewhere else, let us know in a comment!
DON’T MISS OUR June-July giveaway:
* in our online store, find a fave product & review it there, then…
* …leave a comment about it at the contest article in our blog
* On August 3, five winners will receive coveted Rings & Things gift certificates!
* Enter often & see if you win!
Rings & Things has sponsored a category in the Bead&Button show’s Bead Dreams competition each year since 2006. We want to share the good news about this year’s winners:
Congratulations to 3 Bead Dreams winners who get hefty Rings & Things prizes! Bead Dreams is Bead & Button’s “juried competition of exceptional bead artistry from around the world.” We sponsored the Objects & Accessories category, which was brand-new this year! Bead Dreams defines it as “a non-jewelry item or accessory, including, but not limited to, purses, shoes, sculpture, or wall hangings in any bead-related media.”
Here are the winners and their creations:
1st Place (Prize: $300 Rings & Things gift certificate)
Satoko Toyoda's "Sparkling Treasure Chest"
2nd Place (Prize: $200 Rings & Things gift certificate)
Heidi Kummli's "Fortune Teller"
3rd Place (Prize: $100 Rings & Things gift certificate)
Melissa Grakowsky's "Ceremonial Headdress"
Do you suppose their creations will be featured in an upcoming Bead Dreams calendar?
Bead Dreams calendar featuring 2008 winners
Enjoy a shopping spree on us, winners! We’re looking forward to seeing more great entries in next year’s competition
DON’T MISS OUR June-July giveaway:
* in our online store, find a fave product & review it there, then…
* …leave a comment about it at the contest article in our blog
* On August 3, five winners will receive coveted Rings & Things gift certificates!
* Enter often & see if you win!
You may have seen Rings & Things on TV. Does this look familiar?
Artisan and author Mary Hettmansperger shows how to make metal charms, using cold connections…
Thanks to public TV’s Beads, Baubles and Jewels for this “Metal Charms” segment. Rings & Things is a proud sponsor of the program!
If you’ve spotted our “stuff” on TV somewhere else, let us know in a comment!
DON’T MISS OUR June-July giveaway:
* in our online store, find a fave product & review it there, then…
* …leave a comment about it at the contest article in our blog
* On August 3, five winners will receive coveted Rings & Things gift certificates!
* Enter often & see if you win!
Thanks to a number of kind people who talked about Rings & Things in the last week…
Bead Origami has already made some splendid beaded beads she shows in her blog, that use amethyst just bought at our trunk show.
In other tour-related blogging, KJ at the Silver Parrot tantalized us with a promise to show off her discoveries at our latest bead show. AJ at Erthefae managed a mini-vacation to our BeadTour show and to the Bead Museum in Arizona…lucky! SoftFlex Girl Sara also managed to visit us at the Phoenix show, and blogged about it.
Heather at Humblebeads paired some Rings & Things brown lava beads with some cool, lustrous-toned beads and a striking handmade wing pendant in her Earth Angel necklace.
A discussion over at Etsy about “what free gift do you include in your sent-out orders?” mentioned our candy in a positive light. The conversation generated a huge amount of response, by the way, and is really worth reading to get your marketing gears turning.
Thanks so much to everyone who found us worth talking about this week!
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!
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!)
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.
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!
…we’re able to share this cool alternative-commuting story.
When our town was socked by a record blizzard this last December, Rings & Things people took it in stride. A modified, snowshoe-y stride. When other business were closed, we were tromping through the snowdrifts to bring you beads. Watch a local TV station’s story about our whitish-green commuting!
(Thanks to KXLY-TV in Spokane for permission to use this footage. PS: some of it was picked up by ABC national news that evening!)
April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!
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:
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)
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!
- RT @flowersbyfarha - Just started my 'Suppliers' Twitter list w/@Rings_Things for helpfulness & linking to interesting info, pretty beads! 22 hrs ago
