Gentlemen and the Leonids

It’s so great to finally see the Gentleman in all of its glory.

I wanted to make a city ring.  Something you could wear on a pinky or ring finger in the board room that JUST walked that line between safe and dangerous.  (Isn’t that what a pinky ring is all about?)  Of course, they’re really big enough to go on ANY finger.

I’m working my way through the first order of 5 right now and they’re just about ready to go online.  Once I get a few more variations done, I’ll ask my web wizard to throw them up for sale.  I have all kinds of stones for these.

The ring is well-balanced and solid, not hollow backed.

And yes, it still features a small pair of skulls for those who want to look.   I have so many projects that I’m behind on but this thing just HAD to finally see the light of day.  It’s been a long time in the making.

Also, check out the Leonids with the red stone.  Client-provided that and it looks great.   I wish I had a better shot of it.  Oh well.

In my hands I hold the ashes……

It’s taken me months of design, carving, redesign, recarving, and redesigning yet again, but I’ve finally finished what I consider to be the ultimate square gemstone ring.  The Leonids master cast is finally finished and set with kingman turquoise straight outta the mouth of the mine.

I’ve talked about the design in the previous post, so I’ll just get straight in to how proud I am of the final product.

She’s going to be for sale in January, though I have sold a few pre-orders that will be shipping in the next three or four weeks.  Running at $495 a pop, she’s sporting a full 28mm in height and features two hand-carved skulls on either side of the shank.  We can knock a tooth out or two if you want them to look banged up or we can round out the eyes for more of a sugar skull look.  Room on the foreheads of each for initials or whatever else you want.

 

On the back of the shank, I’ve put in a single eye and a bone crossbar.  Kind of morbid?  Maybe, but this bad motherfucker is the sculptural embodiment of some of the themes of Blood Meridian (probably my favorite novel)  and I wanted it to be as elegant as it is brutal.

Like I said before, I’m getting the stones direct from the mine, so turnaround time is a little slower than usual.  I’ve sold 6 of my first batch of stones in pre-order and I’ll probably sell the next group just as quickly before these finally go up on the site in January.  Color and inflection of the stones will vary and I’d caution you guys to be careful with these.  They’re tough as hell, but turquoise is a more delicate stone and if punching things is a regular part of your routine, I might suggest ordering a Jupiter from me instead so you don’t crack and screw up these gorgeous baby-blues.  Or at least take it off first.

The Full Right Hand

I’ve always considered the core configuration for any true connoisseur of big, badass jewelry to be the ‘full right hand.’  That’s a big, solid ring and a big, solid bracelet.  Drop that big skull ring on your middle or ring finger and then strap on a torque or a gotham bracelet.  It’s classic and if I could only sell custom skull rings alongside custom bracelets, I would.

I’ve just finished up a cool pair.

This is a custom’d – out King Skull with japanese style carving throughout the shank and a kamon on the forehead.  Natural jade eyes finish this one off and the client requested a gunmetal finish, which could not look more wicked.  The torque took the finish too and it looks like a piece of iron.

I’ve had a few standard projects on the bench and some other custom jobs, but I’ve been trying to squeeze in a little R&R as well.   My friend Maddie came out to visit all the way from New Zealand and she introduced me to Jade Absinthe 1901.

I’ve had absinthe before – kind of a regular thing for me during the Fall, but this 1901 is next-level stuff.  I’m tossing out my old, crappy brands and diving head first into the Jade line.  I’m kinda pissed at her for introducing me to this because this shit is expensive.  Means I have to get that Leonids line out and to market a little sooner than I was thinking.

So yes, the Leonids are just about ready and, unfortunately, the first run is almost completely sold out.  I’m going to have to get in touch with the mine and get some more stones, but yeah, I’ve presold nearly the entire first batch.  More on those beauties soon.

Fear the Reaper

Sometimes it’s a perfect storm.  I’ve talked about this before, but when a client can come to me with a rough idea with specific goals and a target aesthetic and THEN has the trust to just let me do my thing, magic can happen.  Ladies and gentleman, check out the black death.

This is a heavily modified Jupiter Skull ring with fully customed features around the eyes, jaw, and forehead as well as a reaper carved around the back of the shank and two rubies set in the eyes.

 

With rings like this, I need help setting those stones and my friends over in north ATL KILLED it with an amazing laser job. The stones are open from the back so light can pass through and the result is just awesome.  Here are some detail shots of the reaper.

Over time, this gunmetal finish will wear away to a high polish, leaving the recesses black.  But I also industrialized the finish a bit so it looks more raw and rough.  It’ll NEVER be a pretty ring and that’s what the client wanted.  She ain’t pretty, she’s fierce.  Heavy, solid, cast as one piece and everything (in my opinion) that a custom skull ring was meant to be.

I know I’ve done my job when it hurts to send her off into the world.  Sounds like I’m bragging, but it isn’t me.  It’s the client who had the concept and let the ring develop through collaboration.  Just like getting a tattoo.

The Gentleman

It’s about time for a new product.

I’ve been wanting to do something with some stones for quite a while.  Yeah, I set stones in the eyes of skull rings on a pretty regular basis, but rings like that are all about the shape of the skull.

I’ve also done a number of full custom pieces that turn the tables on a classic gemstone ring and create a ring around a specific client-selected stone or a stone I’ve gone hunting for.  These weren’t a regular part of the line, but instead they were full custom jobs created from scratch.  Naturally work like this ain’t cheap.

But what about offering something like this as part of the line?  A great, classic men’s ring with a massive gemstone.  Something badass, but also very colorful and elegant.  Something you’d wear when playfully tying a chick to a railroad track or trying to fry James Bond’s nuts with a laser – yeah, kind of a supervillain ring.

I’m aware there are other gemstone rings on the market.  So let’s address that with an absolutely shocking, mind-blowing, totally surprising fact: most of them suck.  Yes, just like the classic men’s torque I put out last year, I was and am unable to find an affordable but well-made American gemstone ring.  They are all hollow-backed, shitty trinkets with tiny-ass stones that look almost embarrassed to be sticking out of the top of the ring.   There are also a metric shit-ton of them that look like they were made in some crappy community-ed jewelry class.  You know the kind I’m talking about.

A thin band of sterling silver sloppily soldered on one end with a thin, uneven bezel.  This crooked-ass flying saucer-looking thing is then just soldered right on top of the shitty band for one of the shittiest-looking crafty ass pieces of shit you can freakin’ wear.   It’s a triumph of absolutely no creative engagement with the shape of the stone and the laziest way to incorporate the mounting with the band.

Luckily there are a small handful of makers out there trying to get people to wear good product and I’m throwing down with a new gemstone ring I’m calling The Gentleman.  It’s heavy, solid-backed, comes in sterling or gold, and can be fitted with a variety of 30x22mm oval gemstones from black onyx to tigers eye to mother of pearl.

This is the Lex Luthor ring.  The Al Swearengen ring.  The Louis Cypher ring.   The ring you can wear into a board room that says “I’m a serious professional” but also “I might have dug a hole or two.”

I wanted to make something for the modern gentleman.  Wear it with the suit and engraved Rolex or rock it next to a skull ring with a big, raw, chunky silver biker bracelet and your tattoo sleeves.   Drop it on a ring finger if you don’t want to scare people, or drop it on your pinky if you do.

That’s gunmetal patina.  Yeah.  Oh, and of course, if you look on the back of the shank, there are a pair of skulls on either side.

The Gentleman will be available this Fall on http://www.mtmaloney.com and is going to roll at $495 for sterling with shipping included, at least for a little while.  Email me at matt@mtmaloney.com if you have any questions in the meantime.

And you know what?  I’m not done.  I’ve got another stone ring coming right behind this one that’s a bit more cowboy.  Stay tuned.