The R&T Extra! November 2007
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The R&T Extra! November 2007 |
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Subscribe/unsubscribe to this e-mail newsletter In this issue: |
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Things Are Happening: Checks by Phone, Better Business Bureau & Holiday Closures
Mark your calendars, and stock up on supplies ahead of time! You can place an order through our online store even when we're closed. Just remember that orders placed during a holiday will not be processed right away, since no staff will be on hand. See our November Free Project for holiday components and a great napkin-ring design! |
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Earn Real Money Selling Jewelry in a Make-Believe World
Second Life (SL) is a 3-D virtual community, a game, an economy and more. It's an ongoing creation of its nine million participants. "Lindens" are people represented in an onscreen world by personalized, animated avatars. They buy land, build on it, conduct business, socialize and generally do a lot of what you do in your "first life," as our flesh-and-blood existence is called. Regardless of computer savvy (or lack thereof), SL can be a great place for jewelry makers. It can spur new ways to design your jewelry, and it can add another venue to craft-show and boutique outlets you're already using. For getting out the word on your SL creations, there are SL shopping catalogs, where "avatar accessories" is the largest single category (within which "jewelry" is the best seller). There are even SL fashion blogs and online jewelry expos. Why is jewelry so huge in a make-believe world? Fashion is mandatory in SL because users are obliged to personalize the free, generic avatar they use to represent themselves in the game. People consequently try hard to clothe their avatars in unique, cool ways. So, jewelry makers are in a good position to join SL and start handing out "landmarks," a sort of virtual business card. In fact, judging by a search of the site, "jewelry maker" is one of the biggest occupations in SL.
Here's the catch: the jewelry we're talking about is virtual. It only exists on the computer screen. So, to make it, you either need minimal skills for manipulating "primitives" and "microprims" (the building blocks of SL), or you can hire an SL software coder to turn your 3-D designs into, well, virtual reality. A coder can also help you with more complicated jobs, like building the virtual store of your dreams. If you're biased towards actual 3-D jewelry (and let's face it, most of us are), you can still use this virtual reality to boost your first-life, actual jewelry! How? Use your SL store front to promote and sell your first-life (actual) creations as well as your virtual jewelry. Dell Computers has an SL presence. Why not you? |
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Metal Man Makes It to the Metal Clay World Conference
It's been a particularly nice autumn in the Inland Northwest, but wow have I been busy! Seems like it was just a couple of weeks ago I was in Las Vegas at the 2007 Metal Clay World Conference (MCWC). In attendance was a broad mix of metal-clay artists from all over the world, including Japan, Australia, Canada, England, South Africa, Mexico, South America and India. It was great to finally meet a number of the artists and writers I have been aware of for years only through their public works. There's a lot going on in the world of metal clay! The Keynote speaker, Charles Lewton-Brain, gave a number of excellent presentations specifically oriented to art professionalism. Charles is the head of the Jewelry/Metals Program at the Alberta College of Art and Design and co-founder of The Ganoksin Project. The trade-show presence this year was smaller than I expected. Nevertheless, representatives from Aida Chemical Industries gave interesting presentations on electron-microscope imaging and other metal-clay tests they've been working on in Japan. I expect the trade presence to grow as positive reports of the 2007 conference spread. Companies that did attend were helpful and well supplied — they were a good component to the overall show. The location, facilities and food were excellent, full stop. Having the conference, entertainment, restaurants and more right there in the hotel was a real plus. In this regard, the one potential downside was that the hotel was far south of the much-ballyhooed Las Vegas "Strip." For me, this was not a problem — I'm not really a Vegas fan. But, this conference will get me back there for sure! To view photos, details and downloads from the conference, check out Art Clay World's "Looking Back at the 2007 Metal Clay World Conference". |
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Charmed: The Answer to October's Trivia Question The modern food product that was inspired by charm bracelets is Lucky Charms breakfast cereal, first made in the 1960s and still produced by General Mills. Top o' the mornin' to ye! |
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November's Free Jewelry Project
To view this Designer Tip Sheet (a PDF file), you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download Adobe Acrobat for free here. Then, simply print the quick-loading or high resolution version of "Charming Holiday" today! Please note that the charms used in this Designer Tip Sheet are limited to stock on hand, so get supplies while you can! We have a wide selection of additional limited stock holiday charms, for making variations on the design. Plus, don't forget to browse all our harvest bounty and winter seasonal components for the rest of your Thanksgiving, Christmas and winter component needs. |
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R&T's String of Events: November 2007 Calendar
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Thanks! Russ, Kim and the whole Rings & Things crewP.O. Box 450 Spokane, WA 99210-0450 USA Phone (509) 252-2900 Fax 509 838 2602 Order toll free 1 (800) 366-2156 Web site: http://www.rings-things.com You can subscribe/unsubscribe to our free newsletter and/or our e-mail sale flyers in seconds! If you've moved, please help us get our next catalog supplement to you. Just fill out this form: www.rings-things.com/addressform.htm. Newsletter Home |
We now accept checks over the phone. If you pay by check, you no longer need to wait for your check to reach us through the mail before your goods are shipped. Now, you can simply provide our sales representatives with a few details, and our accounting department will process the transaction. This means we can ship your goods right away! So, next time you 
Finally, don't forget that with the holiday season comes holiday closures. Note the following exceptions to our normal operating hours, so our employees can celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year:
If you're a "linden," you may already know how to make and sell jewelry without ever threading a bead or firing a torch. For the rest of us, that sentence won't remain gibberish for long. Allow us to introduce you to Second Life!
Participants in all occupations transact their SL business using a currency called "linden dollars" (L$), which are fully convertible to real, first-life US dollars. Before you get too excited, here's the approximate exchange rate: L$280 = US$1 (check the 
Our resident "Metal Man," Kurt Madison, has been especially busy this fall with teaching, creating and continuing to be Rings & Things' metals expert! Luckily for us, he was able to squeeze in a review of the Metal Clay World Conference he attended at the end of August. Without further ado, here it is for you:
Between road shows, classes, purchasing trips and more, there's typically a lot going on at Rings & Things! Here's what's happening this month: