I had an idea last week for a way to incorporate our Weave Gallery information into the rings pages as well as the Shop by Weave pages so that it's much easier and more intuitive to use. It's not even close to finished yet but I thought you might like a sneak peek at the 4 weaves I've worked over so far.

Byzantine

Double Spiral 4-in-1

Jens Pind's

Spiral 6-in-1

In the Shop by Weave section, the pages that contain kits or kitpacks display without check boxes (because the kits have options that must be selected on their details pages) but if you click any of the pages that display rings alone, the checkboxes will appear so you can add multiple items to your cart at once. That's the fastest way to shop if you're choosing whole troy ounces. (Click any ring size to visit the details page if you need smaller quantities.)

Let me know what you think, ok? Happy weekend. :)

We've now added platinum sterling rings in all sizes and shapes. Platinum sterling is everything palladium sterling is, but more so; a little harder, a little more liquid looking in the way it reflects light. It's very, very nice. *s*

We've just added palladium sterling rings in all sizes and shapes and they're ready to order without waiting for a quote first. Yay! I don't have all the photos yet -- those are traditional sterling photos showing the ring shapes but you can see the actual metals on the metals page and when you click Rings in the main menu -- but I don't know that it matters much anyway since I can't seem to photograph the difference. I think I can describe it so you can picture it, though.

Palladium sterling looks like traditional sterling except that the reflections are brighter and the shadows are darker. If you ever broke a thermometer and played with the mercury as a kid (amazing we're still alive, isn't it?), the way the rings reflect light will remind you a bit of the way mercury looks when it moves. It has an elegant look I think you'll really like. I'm in love with it, myself. ~dreamy smile~

FYI: We lowered all our silver prices a week ago but the market's climbing again and I don't know how long we'll get to keep them where they are so plan accordingly. :)

I've just reworked the navigation on the site. (See the menu at right.) I don't have all the photos loaded yet but I think it's much more intuitive now, even with just the text labels. Let me know what you think.

It's a free download which is also available in the Notebook Project format. I think it's fairly self explanatory if you click the thumbnail and read the table of contents. And as you'll see when you get there, more guides are on the way. I hope you like it. *s*

The Apprentice Guide to Maille Construction & Jewelry Design

I just wanted to let you know that we're all caught up and back on our normal 1-2 business days shipping schedule. Whoohoo! We had a great time over the holidays (watched a lot of movies, played a lot of Guitar Hero *snort*) and now we're refreshed and full of good ideas. I think I'm going to surprise you with the first one tomorrow. It's just a little thing, but I think you'll like it. See ya then. :)

Urban Maille is closed for the holidays now but we're leaving the free shipping options (see the next post down for details) turned on in case you're planning a post holiday gift for yourself. Your credit card won't be charged until your order is shipped but ordering sooner means a better place in the queue when we return on January 7th.

If you need a gift for someone else, notice the Gift Certificate link at the top of the page. Those will be delivered same day throughout the holiday season.

We know how lucky we are to get to do something we love so much that we're enthusiastically planning next year while still cleaning up this year's Christmas party... and we never forget who makes that possible. Thank you so much for another wonderful year and best wishes of the season from all of us at Urban Maille.

Aislyn, Gary, Valerie, Mindi and Bill

It's less than 24 hours til the deadline for placing orders guaranteed to ship before we're closed for Christmas. Since we won't be back until January 7th (!) now's the time to think beyond Christmas to what you're going to need for that whole 3 week period. If you're off work between Christmas and New Year's, will you want to spend some of that time making jewelry or even learning something new? Is there something in our Project Gallery you've been wanting to try?

What about Florentine Scrolling? If you want to learn the technique so you can use it to make jewelry, there's no better time than now to order the kit because the project I designed to teach the technique isn't going to be quite as useful to you next month as it is right now. And it is a really useful and beautiful technique for embellishing chain, ever so much faster and easier than making wrapped loops.

We have several free shipping offers in effect until the deadline so be sure and take advantage of one of those for your last order of the year. (See the next post down for details.)

We always come back from Christmas to sad little notes from people who forgot to order what they needed before we closed. I'm doing what I can to keep that from happening but it will anyway. Not to you, though... right? :)

This is something I've wanted to do for y-e-a-r-s but never had time. One might argue I didn't have time this year, either, given that it's being released only a week and a half before we close for Christmas but I don't care, I'm just so happy to finally have it ready for you.

The Florentine Ornament Drape is nothing short of jewelry for your tree. It's also the second installment of my embellishment book. (The first installment is available with the Earring Designer RingSet.) So you make this gorgeous ornament and then you have mad Florentine Scrolling skills and you're going to *love* what you can do with those. (There are some idea photos on the ornament page, you'll see.) Considering that two of our most often asked questions are, "When can we see more of your embellishment book?" and, "When will the next Notebook Project instructions be available?", I know that some people are definitely going to be happy to see this kit.

In addition to the new kit, we have a little stocking gift for you. Free shipping is back on! Same rules as before:

Free USPS Priority Mail for orders over $250.

Free UPS Ground for orders over $350.

Free UPS 2nd Day Air for orders over $1000.

The free shipping offer lasts until our pre-Christmas order deadline, which is 8am Wednesday, December 16th. That's a week from tomorrow! (I'm pointing this out in case the season has flown by for you like it has for me. I still can't believe it's almost Christmas!)

Anyway... that's it for me. Go see the new kit and have a fabulous week. *s*

If you like to do your design work in 20 and 20g rings, you have the Earring Designer. But what if you prefer to work with 16g or 18g rings? Well... now you can have the same freedom of design with the 16g Designer or the 18g Designer. There are no photos yet, but the packaging is the same as the Earring Designer. Have a look and see what you think. *s*

Sharone's Flowers

I have something new and exciting to announce today. One of our favorite customers, Virginia of The Alchemist's Star, has created a kit for her famous Sharone's Flowers using our sterling, copper and Argentium rings, as well as gold filled rings from Golden Maille. Isn't it beautiful? I've loved this design from the moment I first saw it and I'm thrilled that Virginia chose us to be her manufacturer. The timing couldn't have been better because we were already exploring (and loving!) the idea of private label manufacturing and Virginia was kind enough to work through our growing pains with us by being our first.

Visit The Alchemist's Star for all the details on the kit and more of Virginia's gorgeous photos.

If you're interested in producing kits for your own designs, please have a look at our Private Label information.

First Snow Day of the YearSilver was over $17 Friday but I decided to wait til Monday to change the prices and today (whoohoo!) it's back under so I don't have to raise them... not yet, anyway.

Today is our first snow day of the year. It's beautiful and the cold is making the dogs rowdy so we're having a good time. The tree in the center of the photo is an aspen. It's barely begun to turn, though it's standing in the snow. At 8500 ft, you just never know; we once had our first snow in August.

If there's any summer left where you are, enjoy it. :) Have a good week.

All is well with our email and we've answered all the notes that came flooding in when the server move was complete. I don't think we lost any email but if you've written and there's been no answer then I'm wrong about that so please resend your note.

Silver is over $17 an ozt now which is higher than our current prices can cover. If it doesn't drop between now and then, we'll have to raise our prices this weekend. If you're planning an order, you might want to think about placing it today or tomorrow so you can get the lower prices while they last. :)

We're being moved to a new email server and, as a result of some difficulty with the transition, we haven't yet received emails sent to us over the weekend. They're working on the problem but one never knows just how long these things will take so, if you have a time sensitive issue to discuss with us, you might want to call and leave a message instead of sending an email today. Our phone number is 303 838 7432. You'll need to leave a message and let us call you back (because we can't hear the phone over the shop noise) so if there's a best time to reach you, be sure to include that in your message.

Happily, orders don't rely on email to reach us so order processing is moving along, speedy as always. I'll post again when email is back to normal. Meanwhile, have a lovely day. *s*

I have two little notices to post today. First, we're taking a long Labor Day weekend to enjoy the last of the summer, so we'll be closed this Friday (September 4th) and Monday (September 6th). If you're planning some jewelry making over the holiday weekend, be sure to place your order by 8am Wednesday to guarantee it ships before we're closed.

Secondly, the funding for our free shipping offer is running low (see two posts down) so we're going to keep it through the end of the long weekend, then it'll be gone. If you're planning a larger order, place it before next Monday night, if possible, so you don't miss the free shipping.

To recap:

1) Place larger orders by next Monday night (September 6th) for free shipping.

2) Place orders by 8am Wednesday (September 2nd) if you want them on the way before the weekend.

Have a wonderful week. *s*

I answered an email today and it made me remember when I was first learning to make chain. I thought it might do that for you, too, so I'm sharing. Here's to more happy thoughts for Anna. *s*

Anna, it's been my experience that when someone isn't getting it easily, it's always for one of two reasons: 1) Because the brain is getting input from too many sources and can't focus (turn off the TV, sit by yourself in the quiet, etc.), or 2) because she's putting so much pressure on herself to be perfect that she chokes. The answer to that is lighten up and remember that each ring costs only a few cents and you can sell your scraps to the mill; that everyone makes marks at first and those marks give a piece character and serve to remind you how far you've come in later years; and that making chain is soothing and fun... if you let yourself relax and enjoy it. *hugs*

-- Aislyn

Our marketing budget has us on schedule to initiate a new magazine ad this month... but we decided to do something fun with that money instead. As a special thank you to those of our customers who forge ahead, refusing to participate in uncertain economic times, placing large orders and carrying on with business as usual, we now offer:

Free USPS Priority Mail for orders over $250.

Free UPS Ground for orders over $350.

Free UPS 2nd Day Air for orders over $1000.

We don't know how long the new ad money will last but the free shipping options will be there til it's gone. Enjoy! And thank you. *s*

Our payment gateway software is being updated and, while the update is going on, there might be some problems getting credit card orders to go through. If you have any problems, just choose phone order as your payment method and we'll call you to get the digits over the phone. Sorry for the inconvenience, hopefully it'll be finished soon. *s*

The last batch of catch up orders goes out tomorrow so orders placed now will ship in our normal 1-2 business days. Yay!

Hello! We're back from vacation refreshed, sunkissed and already hard at work filling all the orders that came in while we were closed. It'll take us most of the week to catch up so orders placed now will still be lagged by a day or two beyond our normal 1-2 business days shipping schedule but with all of us so well rested and energetic, it won't take long to catch up and get back on schedule.

I often post snow photos in the winter but we're having a particularly green summer this year, so much so that this photo doesn't look quite real. This is Zuzu standing at the fence and looking down at her dad, Nathan Jr.

I hope you're having a beautiful summer, too. *s*