Jewelry Supplies Where to get the goods
Introduction

We recently got into the jewelry business, starting with the iCufflinks and soon the iNecklace! This is pretty exciting because I've only really done electronics design so jewelry is a completely new expertise!

However, we needed to quickly get up to speed with where to get supplies, parts, tools, etc for jewelry. Like McMaster-Carr or Digikey but for shiny things.

Luckily our friend Becky suggested checking out Rio Grande. We actually remember looking through their catalogs many years ago - these guys have been around for decades and they have pretty much everything!

For example...

Need a sterling silver chain for your neckace? They've got 600 different chains! You can do some basic drill-down searches to find preciely what you want, and they always have nice big photos!

What about packaging? Like boxes for your cufflinks? There's 8 options!

You should really go scour the catalog, its tons of fun - beads, findings, metals, tools, gems, its a great 'window shopping' experience

Solar powered!

The neatest thing is that because they are in in New Mexico, the sunniest state in the US, they set up a solar grid that doubles as a car park shade (I can't imagine the pain of trying to get into your car after 8 hours in the NM summer sun. They get 1 MWatt and it helps to run their facility!

April 27, 2012 11:17