Rings & Things Behind The Scenes Video Tour

00:00:04 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and we are out in Spokane, on the road

00:00:08 –> 00:00:14 trip of course, and we are at Rings and Things, and I am here with Saundra, and she’s gonna

00:00:14 –> 00:00:15 show us around a bit.

00:00:15 –> 00:00:18 (S) Hi, so I’m the sales manager here at Rings and Things, and you’re in the showroom

00:00:18 –> 00:00:24 right now, and we have all kinds of gemstones, and some glass beads, some crystals, some

00:00:24 –> 00:00:26 tools, all kinds of fun things.

00:00:26 –> 00:00:30 We’re just celebrating our 40th anniversary this summer, and we’ve had a really good

00:00:30 –> 00:00:35 time opening up our warehouse to our customers, we just had an event a few weeks ago, and

00:00:35 –> 00:00:39 taught some classes, had some demos, and just generally had a lot of fun.

00:00:39 –> 00:00:43 (C) What is sort of the range of what you have here, just so that everyone could know…

00:00:43 –> 00:00:49 (S) We’ve moved into…so we have traditional you know, gemstones and wire, lots of metal,

00:00:49 –> 00:00:52 glass beads, but we’ve also been moving heavily into tools and techniques, so we’re

00:00:52 –> 00:00:55 offering a lot…a lot of tools.

00:00:55 –> 00:00:59 We’re moving into soldering, metal etching, metal stamping, dapping, doming, piercing…I

00:00:59 –> 00:01:04 mean it just goes and goes, image transfer, resin, so that’s kind of been where we’ve

00:01:04 –> 00:01:05 been moving to most recently.

00:01:05 –> 00:01:07 (C) Yeah I know, it’s very addictive isn’t it?

00:01:07 –> 00:01:08 (S) Yeah, it totally is.

00:01:08 –> 00:01:12 (C) I know I’ve bought…I have most of the stuff in here, not quite the amount.

00:01:12 –> 00:01:16 So we should go on to some of the other areas of your warehouse, okay?

00:01:16 –> 00:01:22 We are with Loreigh, and she is in, ‘the cage’ she’s calling it, so tell us about

00:01:22 –> 00:01:23 the cage.

00:01:23 –> 00:01:30 (L) The cage, we keep Sterling Silver components in here and beads, and we have all our Swarovski

00:01:30 –> 00:01:31 crystals.

00:01:31 –> 00:01:33 (C) It’s the worst word isn’t it?

00:01:33 –> 00:01:39 (L) Yeah, Swarovski crystals are in here as well, and we carry thousands of Bicones of

00:01:39 –> 00:01:45 Swarovski, and also pendants, and all the unusual things they have to offer.

00:01:45 –> 00:01:51 Oh, and I should say, in here, we have two people that primarily… this is their job,

00:01:51 –> 00:01:53 to deal with the crystals and the Sterling.

00:01:53 –> 00:01:58 So when orders are pulled throughout the day, they bring the order to these two gals, who

00:01:58 –> 00:02:02 are not here at the moment, and they do the pulling, so they know where everything is,

00:02:02 –> 00:02:07 they’re quick and they’re fast, so…and they also keep everything very accurate.

00:02:07 –> 00:02:12 Because obviously, inventory is critical, especially with small, little items like crystal

00:02:12 –> 00:02:13 beads and Sterling.

00:02:13 –> 00:02:18 (C) Well, everything I’ve ordered ever from you guys has come exactly right, and nice

00:02:18 –> 00:02:19 and fast.

00:02:19 –> 00:02:20 (L) Excellent, that’s great.

00:02:20 –> 00:02:24 (C) So that’s perfect, that’s what you want when you order stuff, you want it to

00:02:24 –> 00:02:25 be right.

00:02:25 –> 00:02:26 (L) Absolutely, well good, I’m glad that’s worked.

00:02:26 –> 00:02:29 (C) Oh, you could always throw in an extra handful…**Laughing** (L) But I have a job

00:02:29 –> 00:02:31 still, and I have to keep it that way.

00:02:31 –> 00:02:34 (C) Alright, I guess we better go to the next room.

00:02:34 –> 00:02:35 (L) Off we go.

00:02:35 –> 00:02:42 (C) I am here with Polly Nobbs LaRue, and she is the daughter of Russ Nobbs, who is

00:02:42 –> 00:02:47 the original owner and starter of this whole thing, and I guess she was a tiny little girl,

00:02:47 –> 00:02:50 tell us about being a little girl here, growing up around Rings and Things.

00:02:50 –> 00:02:54 (P) Well, Rings and Things started when I was four, so…

00:02:54 –> 00:03:00 (C) Her goal was… her parents’ goal was for her not to eat the beads, and not to stick

00:03:00 –> 00:03:04 them in ears and other places where they weren’t supposed to go…and then, looks like you’ve

00:03:04 –> 00:03:10 made it, you survived…she survived… now she makes it, and she’s… you said the

00:03:10 –> 00:03:11 system’s manager?

00:03:11 –> 00:03:12 (P) Yeah.

00:03:12 –> 00:03:17 (C) Okay, so that’s what she does…much more important, and so, you’ve got these

00:03:17 –> 00:03:20 really cool things on the wall, tell us about them.

00:03:20 –> 00:03:25 (P) These are beaded Yoruba belts from the Ebo and Abato tribes in Africa.

00:03:25 –> 00:03:28 (C) Your dad just loves African bead work, is that why they’re all here?

00:03:28 –> 00:03:34 (P) African bead work and art is just so many… so many cool beads, and beaded items, from

00:03:34 –> 00:03:35 all over the continent.

00:03:35 –> 00:03:40 (C) And there’s some really great African art in here, there’s like masks and swords

00:03:40 –> 00:03:43 and all kinds of things, very, very cool.

00:03:43 –> 00:03:46 So is there some more places that you would like to show us around?

00:03:46 –> 00:03:49 (P) Oh, there are, I’m just not sure where to next.

00:03:49 –> 00:03:52 (C) Okay, we’ll have to figure that out.

00:03:52 –> 00:03:59 (Employee) Alternative forms of commuting is very recommended here at Rings and things,

00:03:59 –> 00:04:04 we even have an in house bike that people can borrow if they wanna run errands on their

00:04:04 –> 00:04:05 lunch.

00:04:05 –> 00:04:07 (C) I think that’s very cool, that’s very cool.

00:04:07 –> 00:04:12 (Employee) Well it is a good thing, and then we’re part of this trip commute calendar,

00:04:12 –> 00:04:19 where each month, if employees put in how they’ve come to work, by carpooling, or

00:04:19 –> 00:04:23 by bicycle or by walking, they’re eligible for prizes, and that’s a city’s…

00:04:23 –> 00:04:25 (C) Do they get some more Swarovski’s?

00:04:25 –> 00:04:28 (Employee) Well, it’s a city-wide program, so there are various prizes they can get.

00:04:28 –> 00:04:30 (C) Oh, okay, so all in Spokane here?

00:04:30 –> 00:04:31 Oh cool, that’s very cool.

00:04:31 –> 00:04:34 (Employee) Yeah, so that works out well.

00:04:34 –> 00:04:41 After stock is received, it comes into this area, we call it weighing because some of

00:04:41 –> 00:04:48 the product has to be weighed out, to make sure that we have the exact amount for each.

00:04:48 –> 00:04:51 And here’s Tony with the nice…that’s right.

00:04:51 –> 00:04:55 (C) So you’ll know pretty much what the count is by the weight of it?

00:04:55 –> 00:05:00 (Employee) You can set the scale, you put a sample in and then it will count how many

00:05:00 –> 00:05:06 you actually have, so it’s a very accurate way to do that.This is Kim Crosby, he has

00:05:06 –> 00:05:14 worked at Rings and Things for 35+ years, our general manager, and so, Kim is the…

00:05:14 –> 00:05:18 in charge of all the road show activities, which, there’s a lot of coordination with

00:05:18 –> 00:05:22 80+ shows a year.

00:05:22 –> 00:05:27 This is called the booth room, it’s the staging area for the shows where they get

00:05:27 –> 00:05:34 all the product together, and the… how many thousands of pounds get loaded into our truck?

00:05:34 –> 00:05:41 (K) About ten thousand pounds (Employee) This is the truck bay, and you can see there’s

00:05:41 –> 00:05:47 more staging going on in here for road shows, we also, when we have a special event in the

00:05:47 –> 00:05:54 summer time, we load this room up with tables full of stock, a lot of it is clearance stock,

00:05:54 –> 00:05:58 so people come in… this place is just decked out with beads.

00:05:58 –> 00:06:04 And this art on the wall is by one of our purchasers, Narayan, and he created that mural

00:06:04 –> 00:06:08 to represent Chevron beads, if you know what those trade beads are.

00:06:08 –> 00:06:10 (C) Yeah, we copy them in polymer.

00:06:10 –> 00:06:14 (Employee) Right, exactly, so that’s what that mural is all about.

00:06:14 –> 00:06:19 (C) Alright (Employee) Okay, here we are in the shipping department, (C) Oh, see how fast

00:06:19 –> 00:06:20 they’re going?

00:06:20 –> 00:06:27 (Employee) Orders are pulled and put on a table here, and then shippers, Tony and Keith,

00:06:27 –> 00:06:31 start handling them as they get closer to them, and also, Skyler, who is the shipping

00:06:31 –> 00:06:41 manager, is over there hiding, but Skyler is Polly’s brother, and also involved as

00:06:41 –> 00:06:42 a purchaser as well.

00:06:42 –> 00:06:50 (2nd Employee) So these are from our early days, our original retail store, we made and

00:06:50 –> 00:06:55 sold these beaded earrings to gift shops, in mostly the North Western quadrant of the

00:06:55 –> 00:06:58 country, gift shops around Yellowstone Park.

00:06:58 –> 00:07:00 (C) So when would that be… like what year?

00:07:00 –> 00:07:07 (2nd Employee) Around 1970-75, I guess maybe 72-75, and a bunch of these filigrees are

00:07:07 –> 00:07:08 still available.

00:07:08 –> 00:07:12 (C) Well that whole style has come back, like I’m looking at that and that could easily

00:07:12 –> 00:07:14 have just been created now.

00:07:14 –> 00:07:20 (2nd Employee) Definitely, so, we don’t have necessarily the same wooden beads from

00:07:20 –> 00:07:27 the Philippines or these fancy little flowered beads from the Czech Republic.

00:07:27 –> 00:07:30 (C) Are they like Millefiori beads or something?

00:07:30 –> 00:07:33 (2nd Employee) They aren’t really, a lot of these little flower beads have a flower

00:07:33 –> 00:07:38 decal that was very durable, but they’re just not available anymore and that’s kinda

00:07:38 –> 00:07:40 sad, ‘cause they were some of my favorite beads.

00:07:40 –> 00:07:48 (C) Yeah, they’re great, they have a real chandelier look to them, and they’re just…

00:07:48 –> 00:07:49 shoulder sweepers.

00:07:49 –> 00:07:50 (2nd Employee) Definitely.

00:07:50 –> 00:07:54 And that was one of the signs from the original…it wasn’t, they didn’t call them malls yet

00:07:54 –> 00:08:00 back then, from our original location in Second City in the mid ‘70s, just letting people

00:08:00 –> 00:08:02 know that there were a bunch of stores on the second floor.

00:08:02 –> 00:08:06 (C) Cool, very cool, oh, and I see awards all over the place.

00:08:06 –> 00:08:11 (2nd Employee) These are mostly, I think all of these are related to Commu- trip reduction

00:08:11 –> 00:08:20 awards over the years… from 2006 ‘Outstanding Efforts to Promote Smart Moves’, smart options.

00:08:20 –> 00:08:22 (C) Oh, that whole bicycle thing that you were talking about.

00:08:22 –> 00:08:28 (2nd Employee) Whether it’s bicycle or carpooling or taking the bus or walking, just…just

00:08:28 –> 00:08:31 some alternate methods to remove congestion and pollution.

00:08:31 –> 00:08:35 (C) That’s a wonderful thing for a company to support.

00:08:35 –> 00:08:38 Alright, where are we going next?

00:08:38 –> 00:08:45 (2nd Employee) So this is our marketing department, you can see, it looks very office-y, and we

00:08:45 –> 00:08:47 have lots of fun things around here.

00:08:47 –> 00:08:52 (C) I wouldn’t say it looks very office-y, it has office stuff in it, but this is a fun

00:08:52 –> 00:08:53 office.

00:08:53 –> 00:08:54 (Employee) It is a fun office.

00:08:54 –> 00:08:58 (C) You’ll have to check out the Gumby wall at the back, who’s the Gumby fan?

00:08:58 –> 00:09:04 (2nd Employee) This is Nguyan’s desk, and yeah, you do need to check out the Gumby wall.

00:09:04 –> 00:09:10 This is our sales area, we usually… we try to put out new items on this table so that

00:09:10 –> 00:09:15 we can all get familiar with them and be able to describe them accurately over the phone.

00:09:15 –> 00:09:20 We also put together some mosaics for our anniversary event postcards the last two years.

00:09:20 –> 00:09:24 (C) Oh, so this would be like the front of the card there, that’s really neat.

00:09:24 –> 00:09:25 (2nd Employee) This one’s from this year.

00:09:25 –> 00:09:32 (C) Oh, that is an awesome idea, that’s really great, that’s a great way to showcase

00:09:32 –> 00:09:38 everything, and you’ve got some… all sorts of findings and beautiful crystals… (2nd

00:09:38 –> 00:09:42 Employee) This one, someone cutout with the jewelry saw, the state of Washington, we put

00:09:42 –> 00:09:43 a little heart about where Spokane would be.

00:09:43 –> 00:09:44 (C) Oh, that makes sense.

00:09:44 –> 00:09:49 (2nd Employee) Here’s our little Russ bead, fondly known as the Russ troll.

00:09:49 –> 00:09:57 (C) That is awesome, that is awesome… (3rd Employee) He’s MIA in this one (C) Oh, he’s

00:09:57 –> 00:09:58 not in there?

00:09:58 –> 00:09:59 Oh, no, there he is…

00:09:59 –> 00:10:00 (Employees) There he is…he’s upside down.

00:10:00 –> 00:10:01 Here we go… he’s in that one.

00:10:01 –> 00:10:03 (C) Oh, that’s…I got it.

00:10:03 –> 00:10:07 (2nd Employee) This one, we coated him with art clay silver.

00:10:07 –> 00:10:08 (C) Oh, really?

00:10:08 –> 00:10:09 Like…what, the paste?

00:10:09 –> 00:10:14 (2nd Employee) Yeah, the art… paste, I believe that first we had to burn off the existing

00:10:14 –> 00:10:16 paint, so he did get a little toasty.

00:10:16 –> 00:10:18 (C) Did you put him…

00:10:18 –> 00:10:22 what did you do, burn him off with like a torch or…? (2nd Employee) I believe a torch,

00:10:22 –> 00:10:26 a little butane micro torch, ‘cause you can…you can generally fire art clay silver

00:10:26 –> 00:10:28 with a butane micro torch as well, at least the smaller pieces.

00:10:28 –> 00:10:31 (C) Oh, cool.

00:10:31 –> 00:10:33 So now we kinda have an idea of what Russ looks like.

00:10:33 –> 00:10:35 (2nd Employee) Yes, he’s a little taller though.

00:10:35 –> 00:10:40 **Laughing** (Employee) And he has beads on all the time.

00:10:40 –> 00:10:42 (C) All the time?

00:10:42 –> 00:10:43 Oh how cool.

00:10:43 –> 00:10:44 Alright…

00:10:44 –> 00:10:49 (Employee) So this is mostly snacks that have been eaten here in the sales team, and they…

00:10:49 –> 00:10:54 for the most part, they are things that cannot be recycled in our traditional recycling,

00:10:54 –> 00:10:56 so we’ve made them into a wall of art.

00:10:56 –> 00:10:58 (C) That’s really cool.

00:10:58 –> 00:11:02 (2nd Employee) So, this is our break room.

00:11:02 –> 00:11:06 We do recycle just about everything that you possibly can, this fish up here… the bottle

00:11:06 –> 00:11:12 cap fish, was presented to Russ last year for 19 years of excellence in recycling.

00:11:12 –> 00:11:18 Because one of our local art shows, Art Fest, he’s been doing the recycling at it for

00:11:18 –> 00:11:24 well, now 20 years, but that was presented for 19 years, so we got a nice little award.

00:11:24 –> 00:11:28 (C) That’s very cool, now, Doug I don’t know if you can get a close up on there, but

00:11:28 –> 00:11:34 on the… what looks like a fishing lure up there, there’s a little tiny Russ bead which

00:11:34 –> 00:11:38 is another version of Russ, the mysterious Russ.

00:11:38 –> 00:11:42 (2nd Employee) This was what the bead normally looks like, ‘cause he’s got his blue jeans

00:11:42 –> 00:11:44 on and his suspenders.

00:11:44 –> 00:11:48 Normally, we don’t burn all the paint off of him or turn him Silver, that’s just for

00:11:48 –> 00:11:50 special occasions.

00:11:50 –> 00:11:55 (C) Someone… one of our customers, said that we needed a gnome for our trailer, for

00:11:55 –> 00:11:59 protection or something, he could be our new gnome; that would be perfect we’ll keep

00:11:59 –> 00:12:01 him in the trailer.

00:12:01 –> 00:12:08 Okay, we’ve come pretty much full circle and we’ve seen all of the different rooms.

00:12:08 –> 00:12:12 We’re now left where all the sparkly stuff…just tell us quickly about what you said about

00:12:12 –> 00:12:15 trying to take photographs of the sparkly crystals.

00:12:15 –> 00:12:20 (2nd Employee) Well, this… its formal name really is the sparkly glass, because it is

00:12:20 –> 00:12:25 so sparkly, every time we try to take an actual photo of it, we’re always disappointed cuz

00:12:25 –> 00:12:28 you just don’t get the sparkles in a static picture, so…

00:12:28 –> 00:12:36 (C) Yeah, it’s really, really beautiful, it’s got… it’s just really beautiful.

00:12:36 –> 00:12:40 And you guys have a really great collection of chains here as well.

00:12:40 –> 00:12:42 (2nd Employee) This one right here is my favorite…

00:12:42 –> 00:12:48 (C) Oh, that’s kind of a… (2nd Employee) This one here.

00:12:48 –> 00:12:52 (C) Oh nice, yeah I see why it’s your favorite.

00:12:52 –> 00:12:54 This one’s my favorite, and this one’s my favorite…

00:12:54 –> 00:12:57 (Employee) I like the Rollo…I don’t know where that one that is.

00:12:57 –> 00:13:01 (C) Ooh this one’s cool too, it almost has a… like a bike…well it’s so clunky,

00:13:01 –> 00:13:03 you can see that in man’s jewelry.

00:13:03 –> 00:13:05 (2nd Employee) It’s a little hard to use…

00:13:05 –> 00:13:07 (C) Man’s…Men’s. (2nd Employee) But it’s a very cool chain.

00:13:07 –> 00:13:12 (C) Yeah, oh I could use it, I’d have no problem; yeah it’s really beautiful.

00:13:12 –> 00:13:18 We have just seen absolutely everything, I think, almost absolutely everything, actually

00:13:18 –> 00:13:22 except for the Russ… the real Russ, but I hear we’re gonna get presented with my

00:13:22 –> 00:13:25 own little Russ bead.

00:13:25 –> 00:13:31 Yeah, look at…I need my glasses back here, he is just way, way too cute, and you got

00:13:31 –> 00:13:32 more?

00:13:32 –> 00:13:38 Oh, she’s got a whole bunch of them, okay, well we have our gnomes ready for our protection

00:13:38 –> 00:13:40 for…on our trip.

00:13:40 –> 00:13:46 And it’s been a really neat time here getting to know everybody at the Rings and Things

00:13:46 –> 00:13:52 warehouse and their showroom, and we’re really excited to share this with you guys,

00:13:52 –> 00:13:55 and I hope you enjoyed it, we will see you next time, bye for now.

00:13:55 –> 00:13:56 Bye.

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