October

2015

Fall/Winter 2015-2016 Color Forecast for DIY Jewelry Inspiration

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Earth tones, washed-out pastels and dashes of bright color

Here in Chicago, cooler air is rolling in, which can only mean one thing – autumn is upon us! The changing of seasons is a great time to be newly inspired. This fall and winter, colors are a mixture of neutral, earthy tones with subtle pastels and the occasional pops of color.

Experiment with these palettes and your designs will follow the same trends as Pantone’s Fashion color forecast and runway designers featured on Fashionisers.com! This is a great chance to check out color combinations that you’ve never tried before.

TIP: Print out the palettes below, cut out the swatches and play around with mixing and matching on your own. Or, check out our post featuring 6 sample projects using the Fall/Winter color forecast.

Purchase jump rings on their individual metal pages listed below, or all at once on our Ring Picker page!

Enameled Copper Jump Rings

Anodized Aluminum Jump Rings

Anodized Niobium Jump Rings

Silicone Rubber Rings

Beads and Glass Rings

Be sure to check out our blog post with specific ideas on how to use these palettes in Blue Buddha chainmaille designs!

September

27

2015

October Birthstone Inspiration (Opal) for DIY Jewelry Projects

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Create birthstone-inspired chainmaille jewelry for October

Our featured October birthstone-inspired kit is a variation on one of our beginner chainmaille patterns, Flowers. Purchase all-in-one, limited-edition kits on our seasonal page.

If you’d like to customize a different color scheme, check out the supplies list below to create a necklace and matching earrings. Purchase jump rings from our aluminum jump rings page.

* qty 7 – 14mm White Opal Glass Rings
* qty 24 – P16 ALUM – 16 SWG (1.6 mm) 5/16″ (7.9 mm) for Flowers (Möbius) units* qty 16 – N16 ALUM – 16 SWG (1.6 mm) 7/32″ (7.1 mm) to connect flowers to glass rings
* qty 10 – D18 ALUM – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) for earwire, and to connect the end N16s to the chain
* qty 2 – H18 ALUM – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 3/16″ (4.8 mm) for clasp
* 1 lobster claw
* 2 earwire + rubber ear backs
* cable chain

Opal Color Inspiration

Many opal stones come with hints of iridescent seafoam, pinks, and even more colors depending on the stone’s origin.

Click an image to purchase:

	Aquamarine Swarovski® crystal bead
	silver grey Miyuki® seed beads
	white enameled copper jump rings
	silver lining anodized niobium jump rings
	Crystal Satin Swarovski® crystal bead
	seafoam Miyuki® seed beads
	seafoam glass donut rings – Czech glass rings in 9.4 mm or 14 mm outer diameter
	rose anodized niobium jump rings
	Vitrail light Swarovski® crystal cosmic ring

September

23

2015

Celebrating 80,000 orders!

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Thank You For Helping Us Reach 80,000 orders!

We just received our 80,000th order! Woo-hoo!

We’re giving the lucky customer who placed this order an $80 gift card. But we want to share the love with everyone … since really, you ALL helped us get here! So, for the next 80 hours*, take 8% off your entire order with coupon code 80000.

Plus, everyone who uses the coupon code will automatically be entered to win an $80 gift certificate! (Only one entry per person will be counted in our drawing.)

From humble beginnings in the spare bedroom of my home, to a small studio space, to a MUCH larger warehouse, Blue Buddha has been helping people create beautiful jewelry for many years. (OK, technically, our crew has fulfilled more than 80,000 orders, but we’re just counting from when we switched over from hand-written and copy-paste MS Word/Excel receipts, over to our database in 2009. We’re also not counting orders from our store in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, as the shop has a different sales system than our online ordering one does. Technicalities, schmecknicalities. ;-P

We want to thank you, all of you amazing customers, for making this happen. We are happy that there are so many of you who love making chainmaille, and who are inspired by our products. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We look forward to the next 80,000 orders!

*Offer valid through Saturday, September 26, 8:34 pm (CT). Cannot be combined with other coupon codes; however, you CAN stack it on top of our normal mix ‘n’ match discount, meaning you can save up to 28% on base metal rings and 13% on kits & instructions purchased together!

September

8

2015

9 Simple Chainmaille Projects Using Spikes

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Combine Aluminum Jump Rings and Acrylic Spikes To Make Beautiful Jewelry

These 32 mm silver-color spikes will make your chainmaille jewelry look sharp! Add spikes to existing jewelry patterns to jazz—er, punk— them up. Add a single spike to an earwire for fast & edgy earrings (see final project below). Spikes measure 32 mm long x 5 mm wide. Hole can accommodate up to a 16 SWG ring (1.6 mm). The spikes are super lightweight, too!

All aluminum rings listed below can be purchased via Ringpicker or on Blue Buddha’s aluminum jump rings page.

Purchase spikes today, and make several of these easy projects in one afternoon! Click on any picture for a bigger image you can use as a project diagram to re-create these pieces. If you come up with your own variations, feel free to post them to the Blue Buddha Boutique page on Facebook!

	Simple Spike Earring KK16 x 2 – 16 SWG (1.6 mm) 5/8″ (15.9 mm) D18 x 4 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) copper metal seed beads x 12 spikes x 10 surgical steel earwire x 2
	Feather Mesh Spike Earrings T14 x 2 – 14 SWG (2.0 mm) 3/8″ (9.5 mm) F18 x 72 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 5/32″ (4.0 mm) spikes x 2 surgical steel earwire x 2 requires knowledge of European-4-in-1 (mesh)
	Triple Spike Earrings X12 x 2 – 12 SWG (2.6 mm) 7/16″ (11.1 mm) F18 x 24 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 5/32″ (4.0 mm) D18 x 8 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) <–used to attach earwire, and one for each spike spikes x 6 surgical steel earwire x 2 Spot the mistake in this photo? We missed a ring. Whoops!
	Spiked Box Pendant J18 x 21 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 7/32″ (5.1 mm) F18 x 1 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) <–used to attach spike spike x 1 pre-made base metal cable chainrequires knowledge of Box Weave
	Tapered Loop Pendant with Spike CC14 x 1 – 14 SWG (2.0 mm) 1.2″ (12.7 mm) T16 x 1 – 16 SWG (1.6 mm) 7/32″ (5.1 mm) J18 x 1 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 7/32″ (5.1 mm) F18 x 4 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) D18 x 3 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) spike x 1 large base metal pendant bail pre-made base metal cable chain
	Spiked Lily Necklace L16 x 20 – 16 SWG (1.6 mm) 1/4″ (6.4 mm) F18 x 7 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) spikes x 5 pre-made base metal cable chainrequires knowledge of European-4-in-1 (mesh)
	Spiked Möbiused Rosettes Necklace L18 x 72 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/4″ (6.4 mm) F18 x 11 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) P16 x 2 – 16 SWG (1.6 mm) 5/16″ (7.9 mm) spikes x 5 pre-made base metal cable chain requires knowledge of European-4-in-1 (mesh) and Mobiused Rosettes Spot the mistake in this photo? We missed a ring here, too. Whoops!
	Spike Hoop Earrings QQQQ12 (aka 1.5″ 12ga) x 2 – 12 SWG (2.6 mm) F18 x 4 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 5/32″ (4.0 mm) <–per earring, 1 used to attach spike and 1 to hook onto the D18 on the earwire H18 x 4 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 3/16″ (4.8 mm) D18 x 2 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) spikes x 2 surgical steel earwire x 2
	Basic Spike Earrings NOTE: If you vend at craft shows, these are PERFECT fast projects to sell at a very accessible price point, or to encourage sales by offering them as “freebies” with purchases above a certain dollar amount. F18 x 1 – 18 SWG (1.2 mm) 1/8″ (3.2 mm) spikes x 2 surgical steel earwire x 2

September

1

2015

Chainmaille Weave Ideas: T14 – 14 SWG (2.0 mm) 3/8″ (9.5 mm)

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If you’re wondering what chainmaille projects to tackle with those size T14 – 14ga 3/8″ (9.5 mm) rings, check out the post below for weave ideas as well as where to get instructions for each one.

Weaves Idea: T14 – 14 SWG 3/8″ (9.5mm)

Wire Gauge = 14ga SWG (0.08″ / 2.0 mm)
Inner Diameter = 3/8″ (9.5 mm)

Hint: Use our Ring Picker tool to quickly see every metal and color we have available and in stock for this size!

Ring counts below show rings per inch (rpi) as well as how many rings for 7.5″ of material (a bracelet, not including clasp) and for an 18″ necklace.

Wiggle Weave (Möbiused 2-in-2)
T14 = 6 rpi (45 bracelet, 108 necklace)

Oval Weave (Persian Dragonscale)
T14 = 18 rpi (135 bracelet, 324 necklace)

Möbiused Rosettes
T14 = 14 rpi (105 bracelet, 252 necklace)

mobiused rosettes in purple and turquoise

European 4-in-1 (Mesh)
T14 = 8 rpi (60 bracelet, 144 necklace) for a 3-row strip
approx 9 rings per square inch (if doing a wider piece)

Japanese 12-in-2 (Lace)
T14 = 14 rpi (105 bracelet, 252 necklace)
with
I16 = 27 rpi (203 bracelet, 486 necklace *
* note that this necklace does not curve well so you may wish to create a choker instead)