Posts Tagged ‘margot potter’

Thank-you Friday

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Thanks to a number of kind people who talked about Rings & Things in the last week…

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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 showAJ 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.

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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!

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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!

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!

“As seen in” — thankful Friday

Friday, May 8th, 2009

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 slices at a past Rings & Things show.

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.

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!)

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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.

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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!

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!

More uses for choker forms

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

In the spirit of multipurposing that our “grow your business” project often mentions, we’d like to report on some great uses people have recently invented for Rings & Things’ chokers.

We’ve been seeing some brilliant applications of wire-wrapping to our choker forms.  A number of ideas involve wrapping part or all of the form itself.  This turquoisey design is from Tish:

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Another take by Tish on the wrapped-choker idea:

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Dawno combined an inspiration from abstract artist Piet Mondrian with choker wrapping:

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Melanie at Earthenwood Studios found our choker blank provided a good structure to express her ongoing steampunk inspiration:

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At her “A Bead A Day” blog, Lisa wrapped the entire choker form and added a pendant and coordinating bead accents:

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In a similar vein, Tish went for a softer feel, designing a loosely ribbon-wrapped choker:

justatish_img_8742 (Tish provides a full, excellent tutorial on making this one!)

How about wrapping wire on some other element of your design?  Dawno beaded the choker form itself, but wrapped the great dangles in this design:

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And Lisa made a stunning wire-wrapped focal piece in this choker design:

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Another wire-wrapping idea for a focal is this stunning bit of sculpture by Dawno:

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Somewhat more minimal wire work is involved in the hammered tendrils dangling from this “Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright” choker by Margot Potter, a.k.a. The Impatient Crafter:

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What’s your inpiration for using choker forms?  Share a comment–or even a picture!

March news: New monthly lottery, right here on the Rings & Things blog.  Here’s how it works:
* You enter by leaving comments. Comment on any March post(s).
* At the end of March, I’ll randomly draw 2 winners of surprise goodie packs! …So read the blog regularly to see if you won!