Sundrop Jewelry Blog

Sundrops has hit the Big Time!

Tawny — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:32:51 +0000

Well, I hope so, anyway.

Sundrop jewelry is now available on Amazon.com!

I’m excited to see what happens – I’ve heard different stories. Some sell tons through Amazon, some get 1 or 2 orders per month.

Cobalt 18" Triple Swirl Sundrop Necklace, recycled glass

At this point our jewelry certainly comes up when you do a search for “Sundrop Jewelry,” but is sprinkled around after page 2 for a “sundrop” search – after T-shirts and Sun Drop soda, leg warmers, glucose powder, some books and CDs, etc. You pretty much have to be searching for our jewelry specifically.

More optimistically, we’re on page 2 in a search for “recycled glass” in the Jewelry category, and page 4+ for an overall search of “recycled glass jewelry”. Don’t even ask about browsing the Jewelry category however; there are 106,771 items in Sterling Silver Earrings alone!

Our lower rank under wider searches is mostly because we’re brand new on Amazon – no one’s bought any of our jewelry, let alone clicked on and looked at any of the pages. As we get some eyeballs (and sales) we’ll hopefully move up above the leg warmers and glucose powder at least.

So, help us out!
Go do a search for ‘Sundrop Jewelry’ or browse our selection (it’s pretty big!). Even buy something (gasp!) if you prefer paying through Amazon rather than using the PayPal option on our own webstore.

Remember, orders placed before December 20th should still arrive in time for Christmas!

Thanks everybody!

New Jewelry Styles in Time for the Holidays!

Tawny — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0000

Rainforest Cascade Earrings

High Tide Kite Necklace

Check out our new jewelry styles!
Introducing a number of new, more elaborate jewelry styles – just in time for the Holidays!

We’ve added three lovely new styles of earrings and two matching necklaces, all available in a wide array of vibrant colors.

Cascade Earrings: A 2-3″ tumbling cascade of glass droplets flow from one color to the next. Available in three color combinations: Rainforest, Fall Colors, and Sunset

Kite Earrings and Kite Necklace: A stylized frame of recycled silver spotlights attention on the glowing glass. Available in twelve colors.

Pear Earrings and Pear Necklace: Nestled within concentric pear and oval shapes of recycled silver, the vibrant glass Sundrops really pop. Available in twelve colors.

Garnet Pear Earrings Stumped for Holiday Gifts?
Sundrop Jewelry makes a great gift – or a treat for yourself during this hectic season! Stop by our webstore and take a gander.

Green Hosting

Tawny — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:02:40 +0000

Are We Green?
I am ashamed to admit that until recently I had not given any consideration to the energy used by our website. In all our research into reducing our ecological footprint, I hadn’t even thought to look into it!

However, that changed when I received an email recently in response to our blog posts researching the impact of our jewelry:

“Have you looked into the environmental impact of your website? I have been looking at mine and was shocked to find out how much energy servers use. I have come across some hosting companies in the US that are 100% solar powered which is impressive.”

How could we have missed that one?!

Not Solar-Powered, but Carbon-Neutral
Lucky us, it turns out that Dreamhost, the company who hosts our website, webstore, and blog has already gone carbon-neutral. In fact, it’s been that way since April 30th, 2007!

Although it isn’t currently feasible for Dreamhost to directly power its servers and other energy use with solar or wind, they have worked to reduce energy use and increase efficiency of their computer servers and around the office. In addition, they fully offset all the company’s energy use (including that used to power SundropJewelry.com) by purchasing Renewable Energy Credits. Renewable Energy Credits are certified by a third party to ensure that they are legitimate.

Yes, We Are
So yes, our website is carbon neutral, although purely by chance. Our special thanks to Dreamhost for catching what we let slip through the cracks.

We’re all over the map!

Tawny — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:42:55 +0000

More stores now carrying Sundrop Jewelry!

California

Magpie in Manhatten Beach, CA
The JPL Store in Pasadena, CA

Colorado

Fort Collins Museum & Discovery Science Center in Fort Collins, CO

Florida

Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, FL

Illinois

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, IL

Ohio

Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Cleveland, OH

Texas

McDonald Observatory in Ft. Davis, TX

Online

Digs.com

Go check them out if you live nearby!

New (and not so new) stores carrying Sundrops

Tawny — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:00:54 +0000

Well, it has been a long, long time since I have done a post about new stores here, but not because we haven’t been moving into more and more stores all summer! I’ve just been busy actually making Sundrops while the sunny summer is here. So here are all the recent and not-so-recent additions to the list of stores carrying Sundrop Jewelry:

Arizona

Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ

California

Drive-Thru Tree in Leggett, CA
The Blue Moon in Garberville, CA
Asilomar Park Store in Pacific Grove, CA
Alpaca Petes in South Lake Tahoe, CA
Ixchel Ecoluxe in Carmel, CA
Tangerine Gifts and Accessories in Sunnyvale, CA
Glen Ellen Market in Glen Ellen, CA
Soap in Carpenteria, CA
Urban Bazaar in San Francisco, CA
LeBlanc Gallery in Monterey, CA

Washington

Tacoma Nature Center in Tacoma, WA

Go check them out if you live nearby!

Sundrops interview on Celebrate Green blog

Tawny — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:23:22 +0000

Steffany making Sundrops

Lynn at the Celebrate Green blog just posted a great “Three Question Interview” with us!

From the interview:

“It isn’t often that you run into someone who has either invented or brought to light, a very different process for making something. That’s why we were excited when we first read about Sundrop Jewelry. This company offers gorgeous earrings, necklaces and wine glass charms, made from recycled glass. Maybe not so unusual.

But they do it by the melting old bottles and stained glass using a giant lens that focuses heat from the sun’s rays. Now that’s unique!”

Go check out our answers to the following questions:

1. As you explain on your website,“I melt glass into Sundrops in my NE Minneapolis backyard, using a three foot tall magnifying glass (technically a fresnel lens) to focus sunlight, which can produce a ‘hot spot’reaching 3,000 degrees!” How did you get the idea to do such a thing?

2. Why is it important to you to use recycled materials in your work?

3. In what other ways do you incorporate sustainability in your business?

Last chance for Sundrops at 60% off!

Tawny — Tue, 31 May 2011 13:17:09 +0000

For only 2 1/2 more hours, until noon EST, Jasmere.com will be offering vouchers to our webstore at 60% off. Hurry, it’s your last chance!

Soon: offering 24″ necklace chains!

Tawny — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:16:23 +0000

By now I’ve gotten a few emails requesting longer necklace chains, so I wanted to let everyone know we’ll be adding a 24″ chain option to our webstore as soon as we can.

I’ll try to add the option immediately, but they’ll be available to purchase by next week at the latest.

Welcome, Jasmere customers!

Tawny — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:00:59 +0000

Hello, Sundrop Jewelry lovers!
We are so excited about our Jasmere feature day. For 24 hours, ending Thursday at noon Eastern, you can buy $40 vouchers to our store for only $20 – what a deal!

Our Three-Sundrop Necklace
with ‘High Tide’ glass Sundrops Where’s the jewelry?
Head on over to our webstore to see all of our beautiful glass and sterling silver jewelry. Catching the sparkle of sunshine, they are perfect for graduation gifts, birthdays and early holiday shopping. And, of course, a treat for yourself!

Sunshine in a drop of glass??
If you’re intrigued by our catchphrase take a look at How Sundrop Jewelry is Made, The Science of The Lens: The 3000Â° power of a giant fresnel lens, or Melting Glass with Sunshine: Methods and Techniques.

Don’t forget to ‘like’ us on Facebook for a chance to win free jewelry!

Walking the environmental walk
Sundrop Jewelry uses recycled glass, silver, and paper, and uses concentrated sunshine to melt glass. Our studio is wind-powered.

Here at Sundrop Jewelry we pride ourselves not only on our unique handmade jewelry, but also on our environmental and social consciousness. We are transparently analyzing every aspect of our operation for its impact, and all of our jewelry is handmade in the USA by people making a good, livable wage.

Environmental Impact Summary

Tawny — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:25:09 +0000

Our information on the environmental impact of Sundrop Jewelry is getting a bit lengthy, so I thought I’d put together a summary of our current position.

Sundrop Jewelry uses recycled
glass, silver, and paper. Sundrop Jewelry is handmade with the following recycled materials:

Glass: Certain colors are made from recycled liquor bottles, while other Sundrop colors are made from stained art glass.
Sterling Silver: All sterling silver wire we use is 100% recycled. We have not yet been able to find a source for recycled silver ear wires or recycled necklace chains.
Paper: Jewelry cards are printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink, our shipping boxes contain significant recycled content, and our office paper is 100% recycled.

Energy Sources used by Sundrop Jewelry LLC

Solar:
Utilizing a three-foot magnifying glass we use direct, concentrated sunshine to melt glass to make our Sundrops.

Wind:
Our jewelry studio is wind-powered, via Xcel Energy’s Windsource program.