Trying to find the best finding shop!

Indian Jewelry Supply and Tripps have always been good for me. Fire Mountain is well known as is Rio Grande, but I have not used them.

Joe - get hold of Fire Mountain. They will send you catalogs.

Also - all through the Rock & Gem magazines AND Jewelry Arts & Lapidary Journal magazines, they have ads for just about any business you could think of relating to jewelry. Maybe you'll find something there!

I get a little cranky when I spend too much time worrying about who's got what at the cheapest price...but that's just me. Some love the thrill of the hunt!

Think I told someone about this site a couple of days ago and I thought it was Tonya who told me but: www.creditcardcastle.com/index.shtml looks like they have a wide selection, they are Eloxite corp. I spent about $60.00 there last Friday, so don't know how fast they ship yet. But seemed to have most everything I wanted.

Spike/ the other mark

gr for gross(sp)? That is all I could think of.

For the less expensive stuff I like Kingsley- North www.kingsleynorth.com or Eloxite corp. www.eloxite.com

Gr is "Per Gross" so, they'll sell you their 3/8 gold colored locket loops at $15.10 per 144 or $1.40 per doz.

Vance, no I wasn't at the auction. I wish I had been! Sometimes you find the greatest stuff. My dad and step mom visited during Christmas week and when I gave her a necklace made of Mexican Crazy lace she just ooohed and ahhed about it. She then remembered that her uncle used to make jewelry from rock and gems etc. When she got home she gathered up most of what he left her in the way of rock and about 2 weeks later I got a nice box of slabs that he had cut, plus a few large blocks of stone and glass that he had been working on. So, now I have a few more slabs to cut up into tumbling stuff. I'll take slabs and cut diamond shapes and triangles etc to tumble. Always great to see how well they keep their shape while tumbling. That's why I'm looking for good findings to make pendants and things with. Always looking for interesting bellcaps and folding bails etc.

I've been to A.C. and was slightly disappointed. The customer service was poor at best. My daughter, a teacher at Startown elem., has dealt with them trying to get supplies for her classroom and was met like a second class citizen. Very disappointed. On the other hand we have had great dealings with the folks at Michael's and now that the Hobby Lobby has gotten up to speed we're doing a little more with them. Since they are new we've been asking for certain supplies or asking for more of the costlier wires.
As for the kids and how they treat their "jewelry". I've found that showing them first the stones I've polished, from start to finish usually does the trick. They actually get it into their heads, with some persuasion, to go out and find a stone they like, either from the playground or their own neighborhood, and then bring it to my daughter or to me, and I'll polish it up for them. Then put it together with the cheaper findings you get with the kits, either a key ring or necklace, and it's amazing how differently they treat them! Since they themselves did the finding of the rock, I think, brings them a little closer to the fact that it is important to treat them better. One child, for some unknown reason, kept smelling his stone! Said it smelled like "cotton candy"! But, as far as I know, they all still have their pendants and key rings...INTACT!!
Now my daughter has started their section on geology and it's going easier with that little bit of exposure to my tumbling stones.

Also, as to chains. I know it's better to buy the chains in 5 foot sections to get better prices there at Firemountain, but I'm just getting into the "creating" part of jewelry making and buying the lengths of chain then cutting them down into smaller lengths like the 18" and 22" etc. then adding the clasps etc to the chains then doing the little bit of soldering to do a "pro" job to them. My question is what is the concensus here about soldering irons? I know how to use the "hot" irons but they now have the "cold" irons that heat up only when in contact with the solder and the metal-then they cool down immediately. Some people I've talked to who build and repair their own electronics love the newer "cold" irons but then again some of the...let's say...."older" folks like the "hot" irons that stay hot all the time. Question is: how do you feel about it? I know I've got to get a lot better at putting together my pieces and that will include soldering my jump rings so they don't come open and let my pieces fall apart like my son's key ring as he drove back to school down in Florida. Thank goodness the stone and jump ring stayed together and fell at his feet. So, let me hear it gang!