EOD….Wedding Bands…..no relation.

I don’t know if any of you people out there know Jason, but all I can say is if you do, don’t let him punch you.  Ever.

 

Because if you do, not only will you probably ruin a perfectly awesome skull ring, but it will likely result in severe facial lacerations.

This EOD skull ring was designed based on the client’s tattoo.  It was difficult for a number of reasons, primarily the fact that it is not a symmetrical ring.  If you set it down, it will list to the side.  The skull side has more mass.  So how do we pull this off?

 

The skull has a flame theme along the side and the side with the bomb has a bunch of feathers.

 

The rear is texted with “EOD” and the client’s initials.

 

We’ve got bolts and bones forming a loose X, but this doesn’t make it a symmetrical piece.  The trick is, it has to look good ON THE FINGER, not sitting on a table.  Plus, it has to be at least a little comfortable to wear, so the shank has to have balance.

 

The result is a badass skull ring with a lot of mass.  Not gonna be something you can wear to bed.  Adding all this detail – there’s aways a chance you’ll lose the raw energy of a hand-carved piece.  I think this ring keeps it.  IT’s still just rough enough to keep that hand-carved Voodoo style that you’d expect, but all the information is in there and it’s readable.

Added to this, I’ve just finished Ron’s wedding bands.

 

And a good thing, too, because the wedding is coming up fast.  These are exactly the kind of bands I like working on.  Listen…it takes a lot for me to look at a band and think, “Damn, that’s as cool as a sculptural ring like a skull ring or a signet.”  In this case, I think we’ve pulled it off.

 

First of all, they’re thick.  Yes.  This is the trick with bands.  Nobody hires a sculptor to carve custom wedding bands with the intent of ending up with something thin, brittle, and looking like it was made out of a piece of gold or silver wire that was bent around into a circle and soldered shut.  These babies are CARVED out of a block of wax as a single piece.  No solder.  It’s a sculpture, just as much as any skull ring would be.

 

I’ve kept the heart and cross theme from the couple’s engagement set.  I’ve even let the cross element draw its contours into the top of the band so you can always tell where the heart is.  After all, this couple knows they’ve found each other, right?  We shouldn’t be SEARCHING for the heart.

 

Along the band I’ve carved some scrollwork set into a channel.

 

That’s a unique look, right?  Hand carved engagement ring, hand carved wedding band…both designed per client’s specs and made to fit together.  It’s a LOT of silver, so I don’t know how comfortable it will be to wear BOTH of these rings all the time day and night, but it’s definitely workable for regular wear.

 

Definitely a cool project.

Stay tuned for more.  I’ve got some charms, a few new custom projects, and FINALLY that Zippo lighter coming up soon.

 

Bands and tentacles

Think I’ve finished Ron and Michelle’s waxes for the wedding band set.  This was another one of those projects that is hard to part with now that they’re done.  I really dig how the scroll work turned out.

 

These are big, thick, satisfying bands with comfort shaping in the inside.  I was able to work in the heart and cross imagery from the previous pair of custom pieces that I had designed for them.

So now I have to just clean and polish these waxes up and get ready for casting.  We’re on a clock BIG TIME on these two.  Can’t miss the wedding.  Why more people don’t do full custom wedding bands is beyond me.  I’ve made a bunch of them and to me, a wedding ring is the BEST opportunity to splurge.  Screw the stupid cake.  That thing is toast before the night is over and you probably won’t remember eating it anyway.  The rings will last your entire life and likely be passed down to family after you’re gone.  With that said, why go for standard bands?

These are going to be sterling silver, which means the won’t hold up as well as gold, but that’s cool.  In fact, my own wedding ring is silver.  I actually like that it ages WITH the client.  It’ll get dinged and dented as you go along.  After 50 years, you’ve got yourself a vintage ring with authentic aging.  It’s like a piece of bone.  Totally awesome.

But meanwhile I’ve got other projects in the fire.  I’m working on a very, very cool custom piece for Michael D.  This was originally going to be built on the frame of a Big Voodoo to save costs, but like an idiot I scrapped that idea to go for an absolute full-custom piece.

It’s not a skull ring.  It’s more of a HP Lovecraft creature wearing a gas mask.

 

So congrats, Michael, your idea was too fucking cool and now I’m doing a full custom ring from raw wax.

 

 

This is going to take a lot longer, but it will be worth the extra time.  Plus, my client gets a full custom piece for about 70% of the cost.

Stay tuned for more action on America’s number one skull ring network.

Go Denver.

Strike the Bands.

Oh man, we’re on fast forward to get a few bands ready for a wedding in February.   I love making bands.  This is a zen thing.  You slice off a bit of wax like a piece of christmas cookie dough and start filing away.  It takes a LONG time but this is how I like to do them.

Yeah, some guys make bands from strips of silver.  They hammer them into a circle and solder them shut.  Not me.  My stuff (bands included) is cast as one piece.  So we’re going to sculpt these f’ers out solid.

 

The wax is sized up to the clients’ finger size, taking into account a bit of shrinkage when we cast in sterling or gold.  I’ll comfort fit the inside as well so it fits right.  Then we start to file away the outer wall of the wax to set the thickness of the bands.

 

Don’t get me started.  Too many bands are made like you’re not supposed to notice you’re wearing a ring.  Bullshit.  Even a band like this is a sculpture and it should have some physical substance.  I make ’em thick and heavy, just like the rest of my stuff.  Way it is.

Next up I’ll set up a channel.  This will house our carving and help protect it from everyday dings and dents.

 

 

Plus, I just dig the channel look.  It creates more planes for the light to catch on what might otherwise be a very smooth surface.

So there we are: done.  Sort of.  At least we’re done with the base.  Now it’s decision time.  See, Ron and his lady Michelle want these rings to go with some other pieces I’ve made them.

Ron’s going to wear his ring everyday and Michelle will occasionally wear hers with this engagement ring I carved up for them pretty recently:

 

So now it’s decision time.

For Ron’s I think I got it covered:

 

For Michelle, there are two ways we can go:

 

 

Option 1 is a straight band, much like a miniature version of Ron’s    Option 2 has a ‘pinch’ in the band to make room for the heart and cross from the engagement ring.

Ron and Michelle – let me know which way we’re going as soon as humanly possible.  We’re really under a tight crunch here so the sooner you email me, the better.

Stay tuned!

 

 

Brown paper packages tied up with string…..

Whew.  Last of my Christmas orders are TOAST.   I’m the kind of guy who’d love getting a skull ring for Christmas, so it doesn’t seem weird to me.  What better gift can you give somebody?

For whatever reason I had a number of really interesting projects as well.  I got to work with cool people on some cool ideas.

 

This is a King Skull for David with some badass shank carving.  He had great ideas for placement of a peace sign and an anarchy symbol on either side.  He also designed this great minimal feature for the centerline of the forehead.

 

Can’t go wrong with the gunmetal finish either.  Just a great way to finish off a skull ring.  Gotta say, I’m a big fan of this and the brushed metal look.  High polish is always a great classic look (all my personal wear is hi-polish) but more and more I’m drawn towards these other finishes that let the sculptural planes of the ring show through.

Now we’ve got some cool sets coming up.  Mike ordered a custom Big Voodoo for himself and an awesome Little Voodoo / Pendant set for his lady.  He’s got a samurai theme going on with jade eyes and a Musashi forehead emblem.  She’s got a heart and cross motif with turquoise eyes.  I can’t talk much about what Mike does for a living, but let’s just say he lives up to the warrior theme.

 

I realized after the fact that I didn’t get any pictures of the back of his ring before I shipped it which is a shame.  I did a braided samurai sword pattern across the shank and it looks great.  These have already shipped out.  Hope they please.

I had another set underway for Ron.  The Wonder Twins thing, remember?  Well they turned out great.

 

That’s a jawless jupiter with a full sugar treatment and a full-custom companion band I made for the lady.

 

Awww.  Couples rings.  They can be the coolest freak’n thing in the world or they can be lame as hell.  This set falls into the former category.  I can tell how cool a couple is by the silver they want made and this is a cool couple.

 

 

A little hard to tell, but those are faceted black onyx in the eyes.  I had to set them super-deep so they wouldn’t chip.

Her ring?  Just as cool.

 

 

It might not look like it, but that’s still cast as entirely one piece.  No solder.  It has a raw energy that I really dig.  Not too delicate, not too sharp.  It’s still a hand-carved piece with substantial mass and a comfortable band.  I put some sugar carving and flowers around the shank.

So what’s next?  More on the Lucky 13 ring after the Holidays and a new ring for Jason that I’ll show you a sketch of….

 

Yeah, that’s gonna be fun.  Lock and load.  Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

Tangled Up in Blue….Wax…..

It must be Xmas time.   I’ve had so many orders come through and I’ve been hacking away at them as quickly as possible.  I’ve had a few killer custom orders- stuff I’ve been meaning to write about….but I just haven’t had time.

 

Like this one.  That’s for Mike.  A Samurai-themed Big Voodoo with big old jade eyes.   I’m doing this as part of 3-piece set for Mike and his lady.  I’ll definitely be posting more shots of these once I get them finished.

Meanwhile, I’ve got another badass his and hers set that I’ve been working on for Ron.  He’s got a jawless Jupiter Skull ring with a slick flame-job on either side and a heart and cross recessed into the forehead.

 

Badass as is, but even MORE badass when you see his wife’s piece.

It keys into the forehead of her man’s skull ring like the freakin’ wonder twins.  Hell yeah.

 

So that’s going to be awesome.  More shots of that when I’m done too.

On top of this, I’ve been working on a new diamond 13 ring for Heather.  You guys have seen these before.  It’s a great, classic ring style that’s been around for ages.  Looks like this normally:

 

Yeah…that’s a shitty one I found listed on Ebay.  Probably hollow-backed and tinny as hell.  Nice typeface fail.

So Heather asked me to step it up and do my take on a similar ring.  And that’s what I’ve been working on .This is going to be BIG and SOLID.  I’ve started with a raw block of wax and included some images from the process below.  I don’t offer a regular diamond 13 ring on my site yet, but maybe this will be a good launching point for a piece for the new line.

 

 

First thing is to measure out a portion of flat-topped wax tube and saw it, creating a three-foot high pile of blue wax dust that is now all over my studio.

 

Then I find the center line.  We can’t have a crooked diamond ring, can we?

 

Then we taper the sides.  I know I want it to be solid, but let’s at least make it remotely wearable by making the rear of the shank a bit more narrow.

 

Yeah.  Now it’s time to size it up to the right size.   Heather’s man is an 11.5.

 

Then we need a diamond shape on the top.  This is going to create 4 corners that we can mess with later.

 

Then I carry those corners on the side all the way around the shank.  This is the basis of my take on this ring.  That horizontal line of the diamond will wrap ALL the way around.

 

 

Now that isn’t a new concept, but our treatment of that contour is going to help establish where we can carve custom text into specific recessed areas of the ring.  It’s going to be like a piece of armor.  We don’t want to get too far away from the classic ring design.

 

This markered up version shows the areas that will be recessed.  I actually need to check with Heather on that and make sure she’s cool with that approach.  Hopefully we’re on the right track.

Stay tuned for more.  I’ve got some finished pieces rolling out soon that I’m going to want to feature.  I’m also finally getting around to yet another website update.  About time.  I love my whole white and gray thing, but it’s time to add some color.