With the prices of precious metals going completely through the roof, it's no wonder that more of us are turning to non-precious metal components. The most popular choice is brass, and especially brass that's been antiqued or darkened.

Theoretically, there's no real difference between "antiqued" and "darkened" brass. After all, the point of darkening is to give metal an aged look. But when it comes to shopping for components, these labels can hint at different things.

"Antiqued" is used most often when design details are accented by black, or near-black, darkening. These pieces are typically sealed to preserve their coloring. Here's an example (although this charm is actually plated base metal, not solid brass):

Notice the very-dark details, and the yellow/gold tone of the unaccented areas.

"Darkened" brass is sometimes used to describe a lighter and more-even darkening. You see this with Vintaj components, which also have a softer, less shiny finish than most "antiqued" components (Vintaj pieces are solid brass):

A note about solid brass components: They can be compromised if exposed to prolonged moisture. I've had some filigree pieces develop green verdigris, which has an interesting look but is also potentially toxic. (It should be coated with sealant to keep it from rubbing against skin.)

So where to find these antiqued and darkened brass components? Here are some online resources:

Vintaj - This is Vintaj's own site. They sell only bulk/wholesale here, but offer tutorials and design ideas to everyone.

Fusion Beads - Carries Vintaj components with no minimum order requirement.

Etsy - Great for finding destashes, small lots, and hard-to-find brass (and plated) beads and components.

Beadaholique - Also carries Vintaj with no minimum order requirement.

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This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com and Artbeads.com.

Here's an interesting new take on artistic pearl jewelry, invented by Chi Huynh of San Dimas, California: The Galatea Mercy Pearl, a cultured pearl with a gemstone bead at its center.

What are cultured pearls?

Cultured pearls are grown in mollusks that live in either saltwater  or freshwater. Cultured saltwater pearls are made by placing spherical irritants -- typically pieces of shell -- into the tissues of sea oysters. This process results in pearls that are very round and have a beautiful translucent glow, called luster.

Read more about the different types of pearls used in jewelry making.

How is the Galatea Mercy Pearl different?

In these patented pearls, real gemstone beads are used as the irritants that encourage nacre to form within mollusks. The artist carves down through the nacre to reveal the gemstone within.

In the photo above, what looks like a blue layer is actually a round turquoise bead. This example also features an embedded diamond, another of Galatea's specialties.

According to Galatea, this is the first time in history that cultured pearls have been successfully grown with gemstone centers:

In 2005, Huynh began setting up a pearl farm in his native Viet Nam to harvest the Mercy Pearl in the country’s coastal waters. The oysters are first enucleated with perfectly round gemstone beads such as turquoise, amethyst, garnet, citrine and opal and left to grow for almost a year to obtain its luxurious nacre or exterior coating.

So far, it looks like Galatea Mercy Pearls are primarily being used in settings. We'll have to wait and see whether they turn up in any luxurious strung designs.

Related Beadjewelry.net posts:

• Pearl terms and shapes
• How to knot between beads (e.g., pearls)
• Book review: Create Jewelry ~ Pearls

If you'd like to participate in the 2010 Your Designs Rock Contest, now's the time to start planning your entry. This popular event is sponsored by Rings & Things, a big supplier of beads and jewelry making components. But entries aren't limited to jewelry designs -- you're free to submit a wall hanging, sculpture, item of decor, or just about anything else you can think of, as long as a majority of its components were purchased from Rings & Things.

About ordering from Rings & Things

Rings & Things is a wholesale supplier in the sense that it has a total minimum order requirement of $25, and charges a $4 processing fee on orders between $25 and $50. However, anyone can shop there. You can order through their Web site, by phone, by regular mail, or by fax. You can also purchase their catalog, or request one for free with your first $50 order.

Contest prizes

This year's Grand Prize is $750 in Rings & Things credit. There will also be a First Prize of $150 credit in each of five categories, and Honorable Mentions will each receive $75 credits. As an added perk, some winning entries may be featured in future issues of the Rings & Things catalog and promotions, with credit given to the artist -- which means potential exposure to an audience of about one million people.

Entry categories

Here they are:

• Glass and crystal
• Mostly metal
• Found objects and miscellaneous
• Gemstones
• Metal clay

Deadlines and more helpful info

Entries will be accepted between January 1, 2010, and
February 28, 2010 (<---That's your deadline).

All the info you need to participate is available on the Rings & Things website. Here are the most helpful links:

Main contest description page

Contest guidelines

FAQs

Previous winners

Have fun with this one, and good luck!

A jewelry company has introduced a strung-bead dog leash that it says is strong enough to serve as, well, a dog leash.

It's a difficult concept for us beaders to grasp, but the makers of FabuLeash claim to have invented a patent-pending technology that makes it work.

Most FabuLeashes are made with acrylic beads, but there's also a limited "Haute Collection FabuLeash, made with Crystallized by Swarovski elements."

Oh my.

The leashes are supposedly strong enough to handle 50 pounds of pull force -- much less than any of my dogs exerts, but I don't think my dogs are the target market for dainty jeweled leashes. ;) There's no word yet on how thick the stringing material is, or what it's made of.

If the creator of FabuLeash really has invented a bead stringing material strong enough to be a dog leash, I wonder if they realize its market potential in the jewelry making field?

Would you consider using it, and what would you use it for?

To learn more about the standard varieties of stringing material available to jewelry makers, see Chapter 3 of TYV Jewelry Making & Beading or Chapter 2 of Beading Quick Tips.

If you sell on Etsy, you may be aware that the site has had some challenges when it comes to search engine ranking. Controversy erupted earlier in the year when changes to shop code temporarily caused shops to violate some important search engine rules.

Photo credit: MisterBisson on Flickr

Those mistakes were corrected, and Etsy took the additional step of hiring a search engine optimization (SEO) firm to review its overall search engine strategy.

One of the issues identified by the firm relates to how Etsy creates links to your shop. Until this week, shop URLs were configured as "302 redirects," which search engines interpret as temporary, rather than permanent, pages. 

That was a problem because it kept search engines from recognizing all of your shop's inbound links -- the sites that link to your shop. And that number affects your search engine ranking, called PageRank on Google.

The correction should, over time, give your shop's ranking a better chance of improvement. Of course, you still need quality inbound links to your shop. But be careful -- links from sites that the search engines define as "link farms" can actually lower your ranking.

When you do provide your link to other sites, be sure to use the new URL format of http://www.etsy.com/shop/username.

If you have questions about the change, check out Etsy's FAQs here.