1:

Penguin Santa brings beads & things...

2:

...like these, to customize the stockings...

3:

...and stuff...

4:

...while all through the house...

5:

...not a creature is stirring, except these stirring crystal fish!

Happy holiday bead shopping, everyone!

“OK, this is a totally dumb question, but when you have solid wood circles that are in the chain, there’s no way to ‘open’ the wood chain in order to adjust the number of links you want, is there, short of breaking one of the links?”

If you can cut wood chain, you can make this!

Our response:

“Hi, your question is definitely NOT dumb — in fact several people in our warehouse have asked the same thing!

The short answer is: just like with soldered chain, you’ll need to cut through a link to shorten the chain or use small sections. You’ll have to sacrifice cut links, unless you saw through them carefully.

One of our purchasers says, ‘I have a the link we broke in order to shorten the chain. It broke on the glue line and could maybe be glued back together. These are not solid links — at least not all of them (every other one?). The chain would be sooooo expensive if solid! So, the glued ones have a barely visible line.’

Co-owner Russ adds: ‘So far, most people using these styles of chain use the whole length. You could use a fine jeweler’s saw and cut open a link. It should be possible to glue the link together with wood glue however it might snap as you try to compress the cut ends together.  It would be safer to glue it together with a thin slice of veneer into the gap created by the saw kerf. We’ve not tried this yet, and I’m not going to recommend it, but it should be possible. In other words, you are on your own if you try it. ”

I hope this helps! 

Let us know if you find a method that works well for you!

"Beautiful. Very visually dynamic."

…to recognize that these are hot stuff right now.

Speaking of Twilight charms, check these out by the light of the New Moon…

"I can't bring myself to regret the decisions that brought me to Forks."

...or $75, or $50...

…with Rings & Things gift certificates.

The holidays are coming.

Drop hints to your loved ones now

We can all expect to see small increases in the price of CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements over the next few months.

Still pennies per crystal bead!

Why?

• The value of the Dollar against the Euro continues to worsen.
• Materials costs continue to rise.
• For nearly a year, Swarovski held the currency surcharge at the same level, despite the fall of the Dollar.  But in late October Swarovski announced they are increasing the surcharge, thus making Crystallized Elements by Swarovski cost more for all US distributors and retailers.

The effects of the surcharge increase, plus an expected across-the-board price increase from Swarovski in early 2010, will ripple through the jewelry and bead markets as new goods arrive or as vendors implement across-the-board price changes.

Rest assured, Rings & Things plans to keep bringing you genuine Swarovski crystals at the best prices possible!

Bright stuff coming down!

These crystal pendants are the classic Swarovski #6704 style, perennially popular for the way they gently glisten.

Make your list now, and check it twice!  You have enough time to stock up some great styles for Christmas and Hanukkah shoppers.

Like real snowflakes, these come in many forms.  Sizes are 20mm, 25mm, 30mm and 35mm — in other words, from nearly an inch to an inch-and-a-half.  Choose from “pure” crystal, crystal AB (aurora borealis coating), and crystal/moonlight (also coated).

Crystal snowflakes fit for a princess

PS: You can also get new snowflake beads in raku, as well as other styles.  Merry browsing!

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"

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

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!

(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!

…and many more!

Have holiday plans involing beads?  Share the inspiration here!

Introducing “Search by Color” for crystal beads in our CRYSTALLIZED™ -
Swarovski Elements section!  Thanks to Melissa for a ton of hard work to make this happen.  (Maybe I should say a gross of hard work…uh…)

Now you’re just a click away from seeing every single crystal bead color that we have, laid out in an attractive table.  As you can see, similar colors are grouped together — which makes it easy to build on a color theme, or find a substitute for a color you can’t get.

Let us know how you use “searching by color” in your crystal shopping…

The telling of the beads

Reddish-brown rudraksha or rudraksh beads are the seed of the fruit of the rudraksha tree, from India.  (This tree, genus Elaeocarpus, also grows in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, some Pacific Islands and Australia.)

Numbers are often mentioned in connection with these beads.  Rudraksha beads commonly have 5 mukhs or mukhis (faces of the bead), but you’ll find various numbers of faces on them.  There are 108 beads per strand traditionally in a Hindu mala or prayer garland.  Malas are used like rosaries in meditative prayer, as well as in traditional Indian medicine.

Go ahead, stare 'em in the face

Rudraksha beads show a great deal of versatility.  Because they’re a natural material, they work extremely well with your more organic designs.  Because they’re exotic here in North America, they lend a funky, ethnic flair to jewelry.  And because of their texture, rudrakshas can pair up in interesting ways with the more unusual beads, like lava, wood or nut beads.

Ever handled rudraksh beads?  How would you describe them in 25 words or less?  Leave a comment!