Vote for Rita Hutchinson

It’s voting season, so why not vote for the design: “Mystical Trios: Magical Butterfly Necklace”, by Rita Hutchinson?

Thanks a GR!

(Bead-supplier talk, for “thanks a million”!)

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.

When monkeys fly out of film onto charms!

• 37-189-9 gunmetal jump ring
• 40-377-9 gunmetal disk & loop
• 44-780-07 rectangle copper stamping blank
• 44-780-21 round copper stamping blank
• 37-145-00 assorted jump rings
• 86-910 image transfer solution (a really amazing product!)
• 86-343 Win-Ox
• 46-700-11 copper wire
• 37-422-7 copper head pins
• 49-993-06-AS zig zag edge beads *
• 69-299 metal stamping kit

Kurt (Metalman) Madison is our Art Clay Silver certified expert.  He and partner Margot Casstevens created a collaborative print/sculpture/jewelry piece that the Inlander newspaper called

“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!

Craftsforum in the UK provided a fortuitous followup to our recent blog post about peridot.

We also noticed AlsoMrsB's star-connector jewelry...

Erin of Tesori Trovati took a road trip alone–with Russ “Troll” Bead.  Some awesome photos resulted…

You'll never guess what Russ Troll is standing on!

Meanwhile, back at the bookshelf…

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!

Artisan and author Mary Hettmansperger shows how to do metal stitching…

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!

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

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!

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.

Heather also posted a nice-looking “Luna Flor” (Moon Flower) bracelet design at the Art Bead Scene blog.  Dawno at Dawno’s Beaded Badge Lanyards devoted one day’s post to interviewing me.  I’m humbled…  She also wrote up an informative review of Rings & Things’ black rattail cord!

Tish over at JustATish wrote up a nice project using some of our hammered-oval gunmetal chain for a necklace and matching earrings!

Margot Potter put up a fun design of her own, the Peekaboo mixed-media necklace, at her Impatient Crafter blog.

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!

]]> http://www.rings-things.com/blog/2009/05/22/thank-you-friday/feed/ 3 http://www.rings-things.com/blog/2009/05/08/as-seen-in-thankful-friday/ http://www.rings-things.com/blog/2009/05/08/as-seen-in-thankful-friday/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 19:50:37 +0000 Dave Robertson http://www.rings-things.com/blog/?p=1485 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 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.

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!)

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.

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!

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!)

• “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!