Batshit.

You have to get your configuration down.

Only certain equally unstable people will understand what I’m talking about (and perhaps those tolerant few who are currently shacking up with those people) but I can promise you that the configuration is a thing.  The wife watches me stand in front of a small black cabinet and strategize about how I’m going to handle a neck,  two wrists and ten fingers worth of jewelry.  Sometimes I’m going to a club in downtown ATL, sometimes I’m going to Costco for deodorant and dip.   Either way, the pieces of jewelry I’m going to wear and how I’m going to wear them is a decision point that I dread every day.  Why would a grown-ass-man worry about something like this?  Well…if you’re asking that question, congratulations, you’re not batshit crazy and you probably have your priorities in order.

Not me, jack.  I care deeply about this stuff and I know a few of you out there are the same.  Why?  Because I’ve made bracelet and ring combos for so many of you.  To be honest, the torque is one of my most popular pieces now and I’ve done a mess of recent projects that have featured awesome torque and ring combinations.

I really think the torque is a great companion piece for the rings because it is the ultimate supporting character.  It isn’t overly flashy or jingle-jangly.  It just sits there – the strong silent type – ready to kick ass and take names if people look closely enough or when they hear it CLANG against the bar top like a cathedral bell when you’re a few shots in.  It’s like having Gary Oldman on your hand.  Then, you’ve got the lead characters – the highly-detailed sculptural rings that get all of the attention (at first.)

Like this series I did for some clients who wanted a torque to roll with a pair of custom Leonids rings.

What a config, right?  You can see the blue and black next to each other over that solid-ass torque just flashing around some juke joint.  Now this gets into wearing sculptural rings side-by-side, which is its own topic of debate since they will inevitably wear on each other.  But I know plenty of people who don’t care, consider it a natural part of wearing custom jewelry, and rock a ring/pinky combo or a middle/ring combo like this.

I’ve done 4 or 5 King Skull and torque combos for people and this is still one of my favorite ways to do a full right hand.

Honestly I just like the contrast.  I dig the simplicity of the torque and the detail of the skull ring together. Also, there’s something about the bulbous shape of the forehead and how it goes with that ball-end on the torque.  It just fits.

Maybe not as literally as this epic Mystery Cave and custom torque combo.  This is from an earlier post, I know, but I’ve had a bunch of questions about it.  See, I can carve into the ends of the torque because they’re not soldered on.  The rings and bracelets are all cast as one piece, so the silver can take a lot of hacking.

To counter the problem of wearing rings side by side, I usually recommend rolling with a pair of rings that provide for a naked finger between them to prevent them rubbing up against each other.  Here, we have a pinky ring (my classic Little Voodoo) and a full size King Skull designed for the middle finger.  That way, the ring finger remains naked and works as a sort of buffer.   This is how I wear stuff.  I tend to go ring/index or middle/pinky.

Then it’s matching all of this stuff to the crap I’m already wearing.  Let’s not forget – most of us have to wear clothes to leave the house.  I realized, as I was thinking about this the other day, that I actually design shit around the clothes we put on in daily life.  For example, the gentleman ring was put together for a suit.  No question.  Can’t you see this peaking out of a nice wool single breast in a meeting somewhere?

But then there’s my T-shirt and tattoo sleeves getup.  Big, chunky, and stoney-eyed with two torques and jade beads to back up the pair of jade stones in the eyes.

Yeah, I could go on and on.  Today’s the fourth, though, so I have meat to grill.  You all stay safe out there and hit me up if you’re interested in getting something made this summer.  I’ve got new tikis on the way soon.

Tiki and Torques

 

I love this combo.  Tiki ring and a torque bracelet.  This man knows his gear.  As much as I’ve been a chain guy and I still love my Gotham wrist chain, I’m now a big fan of this torque.  They’ve been popular as well.  Wasn’t sure if you guys would wear ’em because nobody in the US was making a decent one in this style, but my question has been answered.

 

Since we’re talking torques, I thought I’d give some advice about getting these to fit on your wrists correctly.  DONT open them too wide.  THey don’t need to be opened up that much to slide on.  You want it to be extremely tight coming on and off.

So the way NOT to put this bracelet on is like this:

I know the wrist looks like the skinniest part of your arm, but it’s also the most solid.  It’s full of bones, cartilage, and scar tissue.  BUT if you slide the torque UP your forearm a few inches (where it LOOKS a lot thicker) it will actually slide on easier. See below.

 

Now you got that bad boy on and it’s still tight and right.  I’ve been knocking these out for clients and a few have been paired with rings.

 

 

If you’ve ordered one from me in the past few weeks, you should be getting it soon.  I’d love to get some snapshots of my f’king Torque Army out there.

Speaking of Torque Army, I’ve knocked out a special one for a warrior overseas in Iraq.  He’s got some custom stylized skulls on the end of his.

 

Tour isn’t up for a while, but I’m going to ship it to friends/family so he’ll have this bad boy waiting for him when he gets back state-side.

 

Torque ’em over

Oh yes it did.  The silver men’s torque is now LIVE on http://www.mtmaloney.com

I’ve already sold a few pre-orders, but I’m happy to say we’re official and in business.  Get me those holiday orders asap so I can get you delivery before I skip town back to the big ‘Loon in Hong Kong.   Got a little film piece I’m making out there.  Gonna wear my own torque over there and get ‘er done right.

Whether you call it a torque, a torq, a torc, or…..just a silver cuff, this is THE king of ’em all and it’s made right here in the USA.  Maybe I’ll do a more ornate twisted wire version later, but like I said, Yurman already kinda perfected that and you could just buy it from him, right?

Torc and beans.

I am so sick of this shit.

I didn’t ask for much.  I just wanted a solid sterling silver men’s torc bracelet.  It’s a great modern look.  If you don’t know what a torc is, its not your fault.  It’s also called ‘torque’  and the most common incarnation today is worn around the wrist.  Back in the day, though, the Celtic people would wear giant versions around their necks.   Badass.

David Yurman did a great one – made traditionally with woven cables of metal (which is where it gets its name)

Awesome, right?  Well as often happens with awesome work – there are about 10,000 hacks out there right now doing the exact same thing that Yurman did.  They all have twisted wire, but now sport cheesy gemstones at the caps and are made of shitty metals instead of silver or gold in an effort to sell jewelry to people who don’t want to pay for jewelry.

All due respect to Yurman’s design, I wanted something solid.  Something kind of like this:

….but maybe a bit thicker and heavier.  I have an average sized wrist and I thought a 7mm wide band in sterling couldn’t be too much to ask.

Wrong.

Nobody….I mean NOBODY makes one of these in the US.  I spent time on every freakin’ shopping site I could find.  I even got a freakin’ ETSY account, okay?  Nobody makes this.

Sure there are a couple dozen good makers in the UK, but I didn’t wan to get killed on the currency change and shipping.  I also found thousands of examples of sterling silver plated versions of cheaper metal….you know….just in case I want it to rust off of my hand in a few years, or better yet, snap like it’s made of fucking plastic when I’m trying to get it on my wrist.

Get it on my wrist?  That’s right.   Because almost every single one of these is about 2 freakin’ inches in diameter.  None of them would fit a grown man who doesn’t want the circulation cut off in his hand from the spandex-tight fit of these shitty dime-store trinket versions I found all over Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy.

SWEET!  This one has magnets in it!  In case I was failed by my public education and I think this jewelry will make me healthier.  I’m telling you, these were all over the place.  I also found some sculptural  stuff that was pretty cool, but it wasn’t what I wanted.

I found actual quality sterling silver torcs on Etsy, but these dudes were making them 3mm in diameter.  WAY to thin.  I even had a maker respond to my question about band diameter with “they’re 2.5mm thick.  Perfect weight for a bangle.”

“Are you shitting me?” was my response.

“No, they’re already real heavy.”

I’m telling you, this interest in lightweight and inexpensive product has fucking ruined men’s jewelry in the United States.  You know what else is inexpensive and lightweight?  Paper.  Why don’t you wear a fucking paper bracelet and a yarn ring to match.  Or a ring pop so you have something to eat.

I know the grass is always greener, but the UK gals and guys are doing it right.  You can find good, solid sterling pieces over there with clean, classic designs.  Not just torques (torcs, or torqs) but solid bangles and linked chains.

You know, I encountered the same thing when I first started looking at skull rings.

All the best makers of realistic non-death metal rings were in the UK and New Zealand.  So I hooked up with Dana Ruth and learned how to make jewelry and just fucking made my own.  Enough people liked it that I started making them for other people.  Enough people wanted them that I opened up my custom studio.  Turns out, I wasn’t the only person looking for a ring like that.

 

 

 

 

So the question now becomes, am I the only person who wants a solid, badass, men’s torc made in the USA and sized to fit an adult in sterling or gold?  The balls on either side need to be at least 14mm and the band should be 7mm at the thinnest.

We’ll see.  I’m going to make mine.  Then, I’m coming back for you.