Adventures of B3!

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Even though many folks around us here in Chicago are in full, post-holiday hibernation mode, we’re not letting the weather scare us away from venturing out to get our weave on with you folks.  Check out what we’ve been up to the past couple weeks!


At the end of January, B3’s Kat Wisniewski had the great pleasure of teaching a workshop at the Chicago Craft Social. This event, which features crafts of all kinds, happens a couple times a year here in Chicago and the event on January 22nd was, in Kat’s words, “insanely busy for us.”  Insanely busy also means hugely successful as people clamored to make the Japanese Cross Earrings from CHAINED for the entire 3 hours of the event.

Kat actually said some people waited for almost 2 hours just to be able to sit at her little 5 foot table (a tight fit for the 6 crafters we were able to squeeze around it at a time!)  While Kat was rightfully exhausted at the end of the event, she was thrilled that everyone was so excited about the project and that she was able to introduce B3’s unique take on the art of chainmaille to so many folks.  (More pictures to come from this event – stay tuned!)

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On the same day in another part of the state, Rebeca had a super-successful book-signing at A Beadtiful Thing in Aurora, IL. Lot’s of folks came out to have their book signed by Rebeca (seen right with ABT store owner, Karen), enjoy refreshments, and shop for CHAINED kits.  Preceding the signing, Rebeca piloted a new advanced project tutorial for her Beaded Fire Wyrm design (shown left).  Students (shown below) were challenged by the project but left with smiles on their faces as they learned to create this beautiful weave.  Rebeca will use her experience teaching the project to perfect the tutorial which will be released by B3 in the coming months.




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Not long after this very busy B3 day, Rebeca was boarding a plane to LA to attend the Craft & Hobby Association’s Winter Conference and Trade Show where B3 was honored as an Innovative Retailer. Rebeca spent a couple days checking out the conference and trade show and even ran into some folks from home.  Lindsay Obermeyer, a fellow Chicago Craft Mafia member, had booth in the artist’s Licensing and Design section and B3 designer & teacher and founder of Kali Butterfly, Vanessa Walilko was there as the winner of the CHA Fashion Fever contest this summer.



B3 was considered along with 4 other retailers for the top honor of 2011’s Most Innovative Retailer at last night’s Moonlight Mixer event and while we didn’t win, Rebeca still had a great time rubbing elbows with some “celebs” at the event *grin*.

Now Rebeca is off to Arizona to teach a few classes and have another book-signing before she heads back here to snowy Chicago.  How did she manage to plan to be somewhere sunny while we’re bracing for what could be the worst blizzard in Chicago’s history?  Let’s just chalk it up to chainmailler’s intuition.

Want to take Rebeca’s classes in Arizona?  Registration is still open.  Sign up today!

Meet Rebeca Mojica at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show | Feb 2-5

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CALLING ALL ARIZONANS & ANYONE ATTENDING THE GEM & MINERAL SHOW!

Rebeca will be heading your way February 2-5 and you have 4 great chances to meet and learn from her.


She will start the week at the Create Your Style Show on February 2nd.  Create Your Style highlights jewelry artists of all kinds who integrate SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS into their work for added sparkle and allure.   Rebeca will be teaching her Crystal Ring Byzantine bracelet project which was featured on the cover of Wirework 2010. This beginning level project uses SWAROVSKI cosmic rings to elevate the well-known byzantine weave to a new level.


From there, Rebeca will head to A Beaucoup Congé Beads in Tucson to teach two more classes.  She will be teaching her beginning level Coiled Crystals project as well as her intermediate level Zig-Zag Lancelot project.  Visit the Tucson class page for additional details and to register.  Spots are limited so sign-up today!


Finally, Rebeca will finish her visit to Arizona with a CHAINED book-signing also at A Beaucoup Congé Beads.  Join her on Saturday, February 5th from 2:30-4:30pm for your chance to buy the book, meet the author, and enjoy refreshments.  As an added bonus, the first 30 guests will receive a free Arizona Designer Craftsmen tote bag!

We sincerely hope all you Arizonan weavers can come out and say hello at one or more of these events.  It’s so rare we get to meet folks face to face (although we are hoping to expand our travels in the coming years) and it’s always a blast when we get our weave on with you!  For more information and to register for any of the classes mentioned above, please visit the Tucson class page.

B3 Recognized as an Innovative Retailer!

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We are very proud to announce that Blue Buddha Boutique will be recognized alongside four other outstanding retailers at the upcoming CHA Winter Conference & Trade Show in Los Angeles, CA as an Innovative Retailer. This year, the Craft & Hobby Association asked retailers to describe their innovations in the realm of customer service.  Being that we pride ourselves on excellent customer service, we felt strongly that we would fit the bill.  Lo and behold – we did!  Our innovations in the area of customer service range from our chainmaille expertise, to Rebeca’s book, to our always evolving customer management system which we use to make sure we recognize you all as individuals – making notes when you take a class, write a review on our page on facebook, or share a fun anecdote with us.  We may not be able to meet every one of you in person, but we still think you deserve to feel like you’re walking into your favorite neighborhood supplier every time we have the pleasure of interacting with you.

Rebeca is on her way to Tucson, AZ for a CHAINED book-signing as well as a handful of classes but will first make a stop at the Craft & Hobby Association conference, where one of the five retailers will be awarded with “The Most Innovative CHA Retailer Award” of 2011.  We are strong believers in intentions, and we know that with all of your positive energy, you will help us achieve this honor. Keep your pliers crossed for us!

Thanks as always for inspiring us to be innovative.

What’s new on the B3 site

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As many of you know, we are in the sometimes slow, but always steady, process of improving our website. What Rebeca started years ago as just a simple point of contact for local folks has turned into a major portal for customers all over the world, and we are the first to admit that our beloved website has turned into a bit of a Frankenstein. That said, we are working hard behind the scenes to transform our website into our dream of the ideal virtual storefront. While this dream is within our view, it is still a bit off in the distance.


We have been tackling portions of this redesign, starting last year with our FAQ page. We realized that while our website contained tons of useful information, it wasn’t always apparent how to uncover it. Our answer was to create as comprehensive an FAQ page as we could which would cover common questions about how to get started with your chainmaille project, how our jump rings are measured, how to order from us and more. You can find the FAQ page by click the link in our main menu at the top of every page. If you have a question that is not answered in the FAQ, you can always feel free to email us at [email protected] or even ask us on our page on facebook.  We’re still working on the FAQ, but it is so much better than the meager 2-question FAQ from 2009!

Another recently completed addition to our website is our Ring Picker tool. The ultimate goal for our website is to create an intuitive shopping experience that addresses the needs of every chainmailler—whether they are just starting out or are a professional who has a list of exactly what they need for a project. The Ring Picker is the first tool we have developed in the spirit of this goal and is a quick and convenient way to add any in-stock rings to your cart from one page. Know what size you need for a project? Simply click the size to see what metals and/or colors are available in that size. It’s a great page to bookmark for one-stop shopping with B3. You can find our Ring Picker page by clicking on Supplies in the main menu and then selecting Ring Picker from the blue sub-menu that appears near the top of the page.  We’ll be adding more info and stats to this page in the year to come.

Over the next several months you may notice other changes and tweaks to our website. We are currently working on redesigning our homepage as well as our main menu for easier navigation. Click on the thumbnail at the left to see a sneak peak of what the design looks like right now (note it’s just an image right now so you can’t click on anything and play) – certainly still subject to many a change (yes, we’re perfectionists around here – surprised?)

Many of the changes we are making to our website, however, are behind the scenes. In the last year, we have spent hundreds of hours creating a better inventory system and customer database to make your shopping experience as amazing as it deserves to be. We will continue to work on these back-end elements to perfect our systems with the ultimate goal of creating a better customer experience. This experience will  include the option to log in and see past orders to make buying the same product that you loved before a snap as well as interacting on an all new B3 forum.

Our dream website is well on its way to becoming a reality.  In the meantime, if you have a great idea for our website, feel free to send it our way by emailing us at [email protected] and stay tuned as we will likely be developing a survey to find out what you love and don’t love on our current site and what you hope for on our new one!

Our focus for 2011 is people

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I am buried in blueprints and city ordinance paperwork (ugh) right now, but I wanted to take a moment to personally wish you a Happy New Year! (Yes, I know it’s a little late….)

I’ve been very touched by all the personal emails I’ve received in the past few weeks from customers letting me know how much they like my book, or just in general, how much they like Blue Buddha.  I am always amazed when someone takes the time to praise us by email; I know I myself am rarely impressed enough with a business to put compliments in written words.  So thank you one and all!

A recent blog post commented on how incredible it is that the business has grown so much in the past few years.  Four years ago, it was just myself plus Vanessa helping out with weaving.  Now Blue Buddha has 11 employees, and Vanessa has started her own jewelry business.

Because we’ve grown so quickly, processes and procedures often become obsolete in mere months.  We are constantly revising how we do things as the business evolves.  One thing that we want to keep the same, though, is our commitment to putting people first–both customers and employees.

About a month ago, I was offered the chance to participate in a program that would help propel my business to an entirely new level.  At first, I was extremely excited about this chance, but the more and more I thought about it, the more I realized I did not want to do it.  I find it interesting how so many businesses, especially larger corporations, are obsessed with growth and chasing a bigger number.  I don’t believe in growth just for growth’s sake, nor do I think growth by every single company across the board is sustainable.  Sure, there’s a certain “number” I’d like to grow my company to, but I don’t feel the need to reach that number in a year. My attitude may be unconventional in the businessworld, but you know what?  Our business is unconventional! Over the past few years I’ve learned to trust what my inner voice says.  This coming year, by purposely not focusing on madly galloping toward a huge sales number, I look forward to having the time and mental energy to focus on that inner voice, and lay out a solid plan to make Blue Buddha a better company inside and out.  The growth will happen naturally.

Though Blue Buddha does a lot of things right, we still have lots of things that we could improve. Our focus for 2011 will be improving as many of those things as we can: enhancing our website; reducing errors in orders; creating more kits for easy customer shopping; continuing to increase the percentage of our findings and raw materials that are 100% Made-in-the-USA; plus a lot of behind-the-scenes streamlining. We’re also moving to a much larger space which will allow us to have regular retail hours.  All in all, we’re looking to ensure that we are serving our customers in better ways, supporting American manufacturers, creating local jobs, and continuing to develop an outstanding work environment.  Yep, it’s all about the people in 2011.

I think you’ll be excited to watch our company continue to evolve.  We’re planning a few surveys this year to ensure that we evolve in ways that best meet your needs, but remember that you can always send us feedback at any time.

And trust us, you won’t believe where we’re at this time next year! :-)

Rebeca Mojica
Owner, Blue Buddha