New at Bumbershoot Supplies: Cheery Cherry Brand Vintage Japanese Beads

Here at Bumbershoot Supplies, we've been 'oohing and ahhing' over a new shipment of gorgeous vintage Cherry Brand beads. With bright cherry reds, vintage turquoise and creamy pastels the bead colors look like they've been picked while standing in front of a candy counter. (Please don't try to lick them though!) Cherry Brand beads were handcrafted in Osaka during the late 1940s -- you can read more about their history in our blog post here.

In addition to regular round beads we also have 'baroque' beads. Unevenly formed with lots of interesting texture to the surface, these beads will truly enhance any design. 

We're drawing out the last days of summer with these bright beads. Guaranteed to brighten anyone's day! 

Shop our Cherry Brand Collection at Bumbershoot Supplies.

Learning to Fish: New Rhinestone Settings, Free Earring Kit and Tutorial from Bumbershoot Supplies

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

~Chinese Proverb

At Bumbershoot Supplies, we're about learning to fish.

With this in mind, we recently had manufactured for us several types of beautiful 2-stone pronged settings. These new antiqued brass settings will allow you to create your own beautiful dangles, drops, and charms, personalized to meet your needs. Together with our vintage rhinestones, and this tutorial on setting rhinestones in pronged settings, you are good to go!

With a 20ss pointed back rhinestone for the top and any number of shapes and sizes for the second stone, depending on the setting you choose, you will be able to create a customized look for your designs. Think of the shiny, sparkling possibilities!

And if you are a newsletter subscriber, you're going to get a chance to take these settings for a test drive for free.

Here's a sneak peek at the free bonus for newsletter subcribers this August. From August 1-31, all components to make these peridot teardrop vintage rhinestone earrings will be sent to newsletter subscribers, with a paid purchase. In order to receive this free earring kit, you have to be a newsletter subscriber and provide the coupon code with your purchase. Sign up for our newsletter here. By the way, signing up for the newsletter gets you a free shipping coupon code too, and yes, you can always combine coupon codes at Bumbershoot Designs and/or Bumbershoot Supplies. So you can have the earring kit and the free shipping in the same order.

Happy fishing!

New Antiqued Brass Head Pins and Jump Ring Findings at Bumbershoot Supplies

Newly available at Bumbershoot Supplies, jump rings and headpins to match our line of antiqued brass settings, drops, connectors and other findings. Eye pins are being plated as I write this.

Yee haw!

It would seem like it should be a simple task to locate these findings, but I have been working for months to identify the right source to be the perfect complement to our line of high quality antiqued brass findings, so Jim and I are really excited about these new additions. 

Here is what we now have available for your designs (and mine):

Jump rings in 4mm, 6mm and 8mm in standard wire thicknesses.  We’re working on thicker ones and perhaps even some in twisted wire, sound good?

Head pins and (any day now) eye pins in standard thickness of 21 gauge, 2 inches long.  We plan to add thinner 24 gauge soon.

All in the highest quality yellow brass, plated in a rich golden honey antiqued brass shade to match all our other antiqued brass.

Plus, sealed with a jewelry grade non toxic lacquer for gloss and durability.

No lead, no nickel, and for you folks in the European Union, no cadmium either.

Quality shows! 

These beautiful findings are American-made by a family company in business since the 1940s.  They are plated by another American company, in business since the 1950s.  Both companies are such a pleasure to work with, the search for the right fit was worth it!

It’s the small things in life.

Next on our list, American-made chain!

Vintage Miriam Haskell Filigrees, Stampings and More at Bumbershoot Supplies

We are very excited to have recently purchased a large lot of vintage Miriam Haskell stampings, filigree and other metal components. We will be adding this stock to Bumbershoot Supplies and Bumbershoot Supplies on Etsy over the coming days.

This blog post is a sneak preview of some of the fabulous vintage metals to come.

We have filigrees…

Stampings…

Charms and more.

Some items are in raw brass. 

Others are finished with that plated finish that Haskell made famous, Russian gold plate. To learn more about Russian gold plate, see my blog post here.

There are even a few items in silver.

 If you have been reading this blog or the Bumbershoot Designs and Supplies newsletters, you know authenticity and provenance of our supplies is important to us. How do we know this is Miriam Haskell stock?  Decades ago our supplier, who had a friend who worked at Miriam Haskell, was invited to purchase stock at the Miriam Haskell Company’s warehouse.  Fast forward to the present, and now our supplier was ready to pass it on.  So it’s a pretty short and direct journey from the Miriam Haskell warehouse to you! I hope you will enjoy watching as these new vintage treasures arrive at Bumbershoot Supplies. 

New Vintage Style Antiqued Brass at Bumbershoot Supplies: Connectors and Bead Caps and Drops, Oh My!

I’m delighted to announce we are expanding the antiqued brass findings we offer at Bumbershoot Supplies. Watch us over the next few months as we grow this line of components, and see the new items already in stock here at Bumbershoot Supplies.

I am excited about these antiqued brass findings for so many reasons, and especially because they are made in the USA. Why do I care about that? 

Well, there are 3 main reasons:

These brass pieces are made and plated by family-owned companies that have been around forever. They know their business. They use the same original tooling to make these findings as they have used for decades. The precision and attention to detail, it’s all there.  There is an authenticity to these findings that simply cannot be matched.  There’s a reason these businesses have been the center of the costume jewelry industry for so long.

Second, the quality of the yellow brass starting material is unsurpassed. Consistently using a high quality yellow brass yields a consistently beautiful antiqued brass product. Also important to me is that these findings are substantial. These are not the light weight brass findings that are now commonly available, these are thicker, weightier and quite durable over time. Side by side, the US-made wins, hands down. Whatever you choose to do with them, these findings will impart a luxurious look and feel to your designs.

Finally, we are confident that these findings are indeed nickel and lead free and are manufactured to the highest standards in that regard.  We have them specially coated with a non toxic jewelry grade lacquer, to impart shine and to protect the antiqued brass finish, so you can expect your designs to last.

I’m so happy with these new components, I’m practically jumping up and down! I am loving using them in my designs and I know you will too!

May Flowers at Bumbershoot Supplies. Petite Brass and Enamel Flowers Back in Stock

Great news! We are thrilled to be able to once again offer several versions of the beloved tiny brass and enamel flowers we have carried in the past.

Truly we did not think we would see these again, but our supplier has made the last of their stock available to us so we can once again provide them to you.

All you see here, back in stock at Bumbershoot Supplies and Bumbershoot Supplies on Etsy.

Have you been over to Bumbershoot Supplies for a visit lately?

We've been busy - more than 90 new and 32 restocked items in the last 2 weeks (we stopped counting...)!

Come on over and see all the new vintage lovelies!

Estate Sale Vintage Glass Cabochons From Bumbershoot Supplies

I have previously blogged about our recent estate sale purchase of vintage Venetian glass flowers, you can read that post here.  I am still working to photograph and list these flowers on Bumbershoot Supplies.

However, I wanted to let you know that we were also able to purchase many rare and unusual vintage glass cabochons and a few lovely vintage rhinestones from this same estate, and some of these are now listed at Bumbershoot Supplies.  Check ‘em out! Many of these lovely vintage glass cabochons and rhinestones are available in limited quantities.

We use natural light for photographing all our supplies and designs because we have found it best reflects the colors and character of the vintage materials we offer. And natural light is somewhat limited at this time of year in Seattle. For this reason and because and we did purchase quite a large lot of vintage glass from  this estate, we expect to be listing new items for several weeks. You can always visit the “new arrivals” section at Bumbershoot Supplies to see what is most recently available.  Or send me an email – maybe we have what you are looking for.

New at Bumbershoot Designs. Old Favorites Restocked: Vintage Boot Buttons, Vintage Rhinestones, Vintage Glass Cabochons

We have listed many more new vintage rhinestones and vintage cabochons at Bumbershoot Supplies over the last week.  I'll describe them more in our upcoming June 15 newsletter, and you can always see the new arrivals section at our website.  But today I thought I'd mention some of our popular items that I have been able to restock in small quantities, always an exciting event, since with vintage supplies, restocking is never a sure thing. In addition to the cabochons above, here are some more supplies that have been restocked this week...

I hope you enjoyed seeing these returning vintage treasures! Until next time, wishing you a happy and art-filled weekend!