Closed July 24 for Employee Appreciation Day

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Blue Buddha will be closed on Tuesday, July 24 for our first ever Employee Appreciation Day!

One of my philosophies as a business owner is that is is important to not only take care of customers, but also employees— actually, especially employees! When I backpacked and hitchhiked around western Europe a dozen years ago, I was impressed with the generous attitude toward holidays. I vowed to incorporate this culture in my business, should I ever own one. OK, so truth be told, Blue Buddha is a long way from offering 6-week vacations and 52-weeks of maternity leave. *cough* But I do like to make sure our team has time to rest and recover, and that they can spend holidays with loved ones. Everyone even gets a paid day off for their birthday. :-)

The B3 Team (well, almost the whole team!) Counterclockwise from top right: Rebeca, Jason, Lisa, Jenna, Jen, Nadja, Aimee, Erik, Emily, Dan, Max & Samm.

 

Our other team members: Artie (left, celebrating B3’s 9th Birthday with our jump rings) and Matt (right, serving his guests as his Titanic recreation dinner.)

Kat doesn’t like having her picture taken so our mascot Zed will stand in for her (he loves the camera *wink*.)

 

 

I know that closing store doors is not typical in the retail world, and especially in the Internet world (somehow having a website gives many people the impression that we are here 24/7 working to fill orders nonstop!). But we’re not a typical business, and I’m proud of that. People really matter to me, and if employees wind up getting burned out or frustrated, that’s going to be a lose/lose situation all around.

We’ve never officially taken a day to fully acknowledge how much the employees mean to the success of Blue Buddha. So we created our first Employee Appreciation Day next week, Tuesday July 24. This means that we won’t be answering phones, shipping orders nor checking email from close of work Monday evening through Wednesday the 25th when we re-open. Some of us are heading up to Six Flags to ride some crazy roller coasters, while others are simply taking a day to rest solo or with loved ones.

I’m lucky enough to have great experiences on a daily basis with the folks at B3. I’m sure you’ve had some great moments with them too, or with the company as a whole. Feel free to share your favorite anecdotes, or send kudos to the team (I know they’d appreciate it) in the comments field below.

Thanks for supporting us as we take a day to celebrate us! We’ll be back to business as usual on Wednesday the 25th!

“Maillers’ Choice” kit is now available + Enjoy a Bonus Discount!

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This month’s “Maillers’ Choice” kits are now available on our sale page. We will offer these kits today only from noon to midnight CT – get yours before they’re gone!

For July, we’ve created a limited edition kit for one of Rebeca’s popular Elfweave Variations – Elf Wave.  This is the easiest variation offered in this follow up to Elfweave Braid so it’s a great way to take a dip into experimenting with weave varations.

JUST FOR “MAILLERS’ CHOICE” we have created a special PDF that bundles together “Elfweave Braid” and “Elfweave Variations” in one big awesome package.  You can purchase this PDF right on the same page as the kit. 

As a bonus, enjoy 5% off both when you buy the kit and the special PDF bundle instructions together in one order.  SHOP THE SALE NOW!

 

Already have “Elfweave Braid”?  No problem!  The “Elfweave Variations” only PDF is also available on the page and you’ll still receive the extra 5% off!

Ask an Artist: How do you approach making maille clothing?

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Our customer service gal, Aimee recently came to us with a great suggestion for the next post in our “Ask an Artist” series.  She mentioned that she often has conversations with customers who want to create clothing pieces out of maille but really aren’t sure where to begin.  Taking one look at some of the incredible work by B3 Ambassadors Omni Mee and Kat Wisniewski and we didn’t have to think twice about who to pose your questions to on this subject.

Omni Mee | B3 Ambassador & Designer

The first chainmaille project I did was shirt I made for myself, although it was more in the spirit of armor than clothing.  From that project I did learn a lot of things about chainmaille, what tools and materials to use, and that home depot is not the best place in the world for chainmaille supplies.  But the thing I learned the most is that I love making chainmaille.

It was not until I went to my first Bead&Button Show that I was inspired to make “Bronze and Blue”, my first entry for Bead Dreams.  I was thrilled when “Bronze and Blue” took second place in Wirework category for Bead Dreams 2011, but not as thrilled as when “Violet Vestment” won in Wirework category for Bead Dreams 2012!

I like to think that every time I make something, I learn something new –  from the smallest project to large projects like clothing.   With “Bronze and Blue” I learned that good planning and clear design makes construction a lot easier, and with “Violet Vestment” I learned some nifty tricks on how to keep items symmetrical.

Kat Wisniewski | B3 Ambassador & Designer

I decided to make a rubber chainmaille bikini, when I wanted to be a contributor for a goth magazine published by Gothic Art Chicago.  I had never made any clothing item, so I decided to step up to the challenge and make the bikini to be worn by models and published- in just a few short months.

After it was featured in the publication, the “Subtle Bruise rubber chainmaille bikini” became a finalist in the wirework category at the 2011 Bead Dreams competition.  Since then, I have made a large belt, a diagonal harness multi-stand necklace body piece, and a capelet and mask set.  I’m currently working on creating chainmaille body harnesses and clothing accessories to be used as costumes for a new work created in part through Audible Odyssey, an organization that supports tap dance here in Chicago.



 

We’ll be accepting questions starting today and ending Friday, July 20th.  Your questions will be passed along to Omni and Kat and their responses will be posted right here on our blog in early August.  You can submit your questions to us by posting them in the comments below, writing them on our wall on Facebook or emailing them to us at [email protected].  We can’t wait to see what you have to ask (and to hear their advice on the subject!)

New Discounts: Bundle Kits + Instructions and Save!

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Launching our new shopping cart a couple months ago allowed us to begin offering automatic discounts on many of our products, taken right in your cart (finally!)  We’ve heard from many of you how much you’re enjoying our new “Mix ‘n’ Match” discount (read more about this discount structure here on our Discounts Page.)  We also heard from you that you’d like to be able to save some money when you buy kits & instructions together.

 

Ask and you shall receive!  Now, when you order instructions (hardcopy or PDF) and one or more kits for the project together in the same order, you will automatically receive 5% off the kits and the instructions.  We are also working on introducing more discounts like the one we have for our freshly launched Miyuki seed beads (by 5 or more packs and receive a discount on all of them.) 

 

Have an idea for a discount that would save you money (within reason of course *wink*)?  Email it to us at [email protected].  We can’t promise we’ll be able to institute your idea, but we often get great suggestions from customers that we hadn’t thought of so email away!

 

Our community, then & now. TAKE THE SURVEY!

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I little more than two years ago, we surveyed as many chainmaillers, peers and customers as we could to get a picture of our little community.  We wanted to know more about how many of you maille as a hobby vs. use it to make a significant portion of your income as well as why you LOVE to chainmaille and how you determine which supplier best supports your addiction *wink*.

We’ve seen firsthand how much our community has grown and changed over the last two years, so we thought it might be cool to issue the same exact survey and compare the results to the 2010 version.  To participate in this little mailling census of sorts, follow the link below and take our survey (it isn’t too long – we estimate it won’t take you more than 10 minutes to complete.)

The survey will be available through July 25th at which point we will check out the results and share them with you right here on our blog at the end of the month.


Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts with us – we can’t wait to see the results!