Boing Boing » jewelry

Chest-burster pendant

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 May 2013 02:59:55 +0000

Etsy maker CthulhuWakeUp made this stonking chestburster necklace pendant, and granted an interview to the Girl Gone Geek blog about his art:

Practicing digital sculpture in my own time, I came up with the Cthulhu pendant and I really wanted to do something with it. I put it up in kickstarter and raised money to make 150 of them. I was thrilled not only that I was able to share my personal work but to make some money along the way too. After that I decided to work towards making a side business of it. Unfortunately, I can’t work as fast as I would like to towards that goal but I’m getting there!

Etsy Crush of the Week & Giveaway: Cthulhu Wake Up (via Neatorama)

Leather bracelet from Bob Basset

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 08 May 2013 23:00:59 +0000

The Ukraine's Bob Basset is best known for its leather steampunk/fetish masks, but now the leatherworking group has turned its hand to wrist decorations. They call this a "men's bracelet," but I don't see anything gender-specific in its design.

Steampunk Mens Bracelet

Caddis fly larvae coaxed into building cocoons out of precious metals and gems

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:48:57 +0000

Update: Be sure to check out our first post about this from 2007!

This 2007 profile of Hubert Duprat's work with caddis fly larvae is a tiny, entomological miracle. The larvae build their cocoons with whatever material is at hand; Duprat forces them to build with gold and precious gems, making spectacular bio-organic jewelry.

Duprat, who was born in 1957, began working with caddis fly larvae in the early 1980s. An avid naturalist since childhood, he was aware of the caddis fly in its role as a favored bait for trout fishermen, but his idea for the project depicted here began, he has said, after observing prospectors panning for gold in the Ariège river in southwestern France. After collecting the larvae from their normal environments, he relocates them to his studio where he gently removes their own natural cases and then places them in aquaria that he fills with alternative materials from which they can begin to recreate their protective sheaths. He began with only gold spangles but has since also added the kinds of semi-precious and precious stones (including turquoise, opals, lapis lazuli and coral, as well as pearls, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds) seen here. The insects do not always incorporate all the available materials into their case designs, and certain larvae, Duprat notes, seem to have better facility with some materials than with others. Additionally, cases built by one insect and then discarded when it evolves into its fly state are sometimes recovered by other larvae, who may repurpose it by adding to or altering its size and form.

Artist Project / Trichopterae (via Neil Gaiman)

(Photos: Jean-Luc Fournier)

Perler bead Haunted Mansion wallpaper/pixel-art necklace

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:06:18 +0000

Etsy seller MigotoChou created a lovely perler bead necklace-charm that depicts an 8-bit pixel-art version of the iconic Disney Haunted Mansion wallpaper motif. $25.

Disney World Haunted Mansion Wallpaper Inspired Beaded Necklace Walt Disney World Disneyland (via A Swinging Wake)

The real (?) "One Ring" Of The Hobbit

David Pescovitz — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:01:37 +0000

This cursed Roman ring may have inspired the One Ring of JRR Tolkien. It's now on display at The Vyne in Basingstoke, England. The Guardian has more on this artifact and the strange story surrounding its theft and subsequent curse.

Pug rings

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:41:45 +0000

Hannah sez, "I've just recently finished working on a series of pugs in costumes They all turned out to resemble somebody. One looks just like the Queen, one like Hercule Poirot and one very much like a geek with classic, horn-rimmed glasses. In fact, he turned out to look very much like an editor of Boing Boing... Not very flattering but who doesn't want to know how they would look like as a pug?"

Pugs Rings (Thanks, Hannah!)

RIP, John Paul Miller, a genius goldsmith and creator of many lovely gold crustaceans

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 01:24:24 +0000

David sez, "A quiet genius, jeweler John Paul Miller, recently passed away and a memorial service was held this past weekend in Cleveland. His jewelery is beautifully detailed and I thought the Boing Boing audience would enjoy his take [Google Image Search] on crustaceans and insects."

Yet the relative paucity of attention given to Miller during his lifetime should not belie the intrinsic importance of his spectacular achievements as a designer and maker of gold jewelry.
Decorative arts curator Stephen Harrison of the Cleveland museum, who organized the smallish but extremely important show in 2010, compared Miller to Rene Lalique and Louis Comfort Tiffany, two giants of late-19th-century decorative art in France and America, respectively.

Goldsmith John Paul Miller, a national treasure, will go down in history as one of Cleveland's greatest artists [Steven Litt/The Plain Dealer]

(Thanks, David!)

Star Wars jewelry

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 02:10:35 +0000

Etsy seller Rockets and Rainbows makes clever jewelry out of Star Wars and My Little Pony toys, including the Snow Speeder ring shown here. But you can't buy that one, because I just bought it as a surprise for my wife. Don't tell her, OK?

RocketsandRainbows (via The Mary Sue)

Adjustable wrench wedding-ring

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:33:28 +0000

Etsy seller BandScapes offers this lovely, makerish wedding-ring featuring a sterling silver adjustable wrench, clutching a sapphire:

The jaws are pinching a .06ct medium-blue natural sapphire. Overall, the profile is low to be comfortable, not too wide and not heavy, but sturdy. A ring that can be worn continuously as any wedding band would be.

WRENCH WEDDING BAND with Genuine Sapphire. A real wedding ring. (via Neatorama)

Amino acid necklace spells out "we are star-stuff"

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 04:01:37 +0000

Colette Taylor is a molecular biologist and crafter who makes some rather lovely pieces, including the amino-acid inspired necklace shown here (which I saw in person tonight), which reads "We are star-stuff."

There are certain phrases or ideas which sometimes need reminding. Just to keep us sane, to remind us what is important. This is We Are Star Stuff in Amino Acids. This is a big one for me, a reminder from Carl Sagan that we are all made of the same building blocks, and the same amazing pieces. Not only are we made of the same stuff, it is particles of the universe. This is a reminder of not just how insignificant an individual is, it’s a reminder that every individual is a beautiful and brilliant thing. It’s so awesome that a person, made of the same thing as everyone else, manages to carve out a unique and original existence. This is a reminder that being is pretty much the coolest thing ever, and should never be taken for granted.

The Efforts of a Scientist and Compulsive Crafter

D10 engagement ring

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 23:58:54 +0000

Dragonslorefury posted this wonderful D10 RPG-player's engagement ring to DeviantArt, along with these notes:

My engagement ring, designed by myself and a reality thanks to my amazing jeweller father. Yes that is a D10 (10 sided dice for those not used to the lingo XP), me and my partner are quite frequent roleplayers and I'm a huuuge geek and odd-ball. I wanted my ring to be one-of-a-kind and personal to me any my amazing finace so I eventually came up with this idea. If I want the dice can also be removed and replaced with a stone of my choice ^_^ Happy to be engaged to my amazing partner and to have my awesome engagement ring. <3

My Engagement Ring (via Geekologie)

Rings carved from billiard balls

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:05:58 +0000

Eleanor Salazar, a jewelry maker in Maine, fashions beautiful rings from old billiard balls, carving them to size and polishing them to a smooth finish.

These rings are carved from bona fide used billiard balls to fit your finger. I can make yours in sizes 5-10, and can carve it from whichever pool ball in the set strikes your fancy, from 1-15. Just be sure to contact me with your ring size when you order.

Rounded Numbered Rings (via Neatorama)

Cool ceramic jewelry for scientists, skeptics, and fossil lovers

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:04:19 +0000

A friend pointed me today toward the awesome work of Surly Amy (aka Amy Davis Roth), who makes really neat ceramic jewelry with science/skeptic themes. Some of her pieces are really simple and not super artsy—a pendant that says "This is what an atheist looks like", for instance. That's fine, but it's not the stuff I'm super excited about.

Instead, I really dig Roth's work that focuses on archaeology and paleontology—like a necklace printed with the silhouette of an archaeopteryx fossil on a crackled background that makes me think of broken stone; earrings decorated with ammonites; and a kick-ass bracelet that manages to make trilobites look just a little punk rock.

I also enjoyed reading Roth's bio on her Etsy page. It's long, but the two key takeaways are great:

1. I'm not as surly as I used to be.
2. Life is hard and it often sucks but sometimes, if you keep trying, things will get better!

Surly-Ramics wearable art

Cinderblock necklaces pendants made from poured concrete

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:30:12 +0000

Max Steiner's Cement Cinder Block Necklaces are actually cast from poured concrete and cured for a month before being sold. At 3/4" tall, they're the cutest construction materials with which you can adorn yourself.

Cement Cinder Block Necklace

Implanting a London Oyster card transponder in a ring

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:00:16 +0000

Dhani Sutanto removed the transponder from a Transport for London Oyster card (a RFID-based stored value card used to pay for rides on public transit) and implanted it in a ring, making a lovely bit of snitchy jewelry that gets him on the bus.

Oyster Ring (Thanks, Phoebe!)

Anti-cheating ring brands I'M MARRIED into the flesh of your finger

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 03:27:07 +0000

TheCheeky sells a $550 titanium wedding-band with I'M MARRIED etched on the inside in block serif caps. After wearing it for a sufficient time, your finger will bear the indelible mark of those words, advertising your marital status even if you slip the ring off.

With Arnold, Tiger and two timing IMF guy in mind, we have created this wedding ring for people intent on cheating. The negative engraving on the inside means that when you are in the ‘Club’ and an attractive woman…or man comes along to chat, slipping your wedding ring off is not an option. The mark left on your skin says…’I’m Married’

ANTI-CHEATING RING (via Neatorama)

Hex-nut-shaped ring is a six-sided die

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:00:32 +0000

Individual Icons's "Nut Dice Ring" is a ring shaped like a hex-nut, which functions as a six-sided dice, for those moments of indecision and romance.

This ring is a perfect piece of jewelry for people who say that they don't wear jewelry. It really does help with decisions (odds I stay home, evens I go out). As proper dice should, each pair of opposing sides adds up to seven. Comfort fit inside, available in standard sizes 6 through 10. Sterling silver. 1/4" (6mm) wide.

Nut Dice Ring (via Neatorama)

Astronomical fidget ring made from a meteorite

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:19:14 +0000

Jewelrydesignsformen.com's Nine Planets ring is made of gold and meteoric iron, set with gemstones representing all the planets of the solar system, including Pluto*. And it's a fidget ring, which is my favorite kind of ring, because holy crap, can I ever fidget.

The meteorite has been etched with nitric acid to reveal the characteristic patterns, or Widmanstatten figures, of iron meteorites, and set with 9 gemstones representing the planets of our Solar System. Mercury is represented by a rust colored Sapphire, Venus a golden Sapphire, Earth an irradiated blue Diamond, Mars a Ruby, Jupiter an Opal, Saturn a Cats Eye Chrysoberyl with an inlaid 24k gold ring, Uranus a green Sapphire, Neptune a blue Sapphire and Pluto a black Diamond. What really makes this ring special is that the band of meteorite spins independent of the gold ring, so when it is on, the planets rotate around the wearer's finger.

18k gold Nine Planets ring with Meteorite and gemstones (via The Mary Sue)

* Pluto is a planet.

Redditor creates meteorite-based wedding ring, perfect headline

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:16:51 +0000

Redditor Laporkenstein created his own wedding ring out of meteorite and nickel, and documented it with a gallery of more than 40 images. Then he posted it with this headline: "I hand forged my own wedding ring out of a chunk of Meteorite and Nickel Tooling Steel. Here is a huge gallery with 40+ pictures!"

I love everything about this. The project itself is brilliant. Just as importantly, though, the headline tells you exactly what's in the tin. I love Reddit, but I'm often frustrated by the site's characteristic "clever" headlines that "tease" the subject matter without actually telling you what you'll find at the link. If you grab the front-door feed off of Reddit, you'll get a couple hundred new items a day. A feed that voluminous needs what Bruce Sterling calls "Attention Conservation Notices" -- good descriptions that tell you, before you click, whether you're likely to find something you like when you get there.

So thank you, Laporkenstein, for having the pride and confidence in your link to describe it well, rather than coming over coy and cryptic in the hopes of luring the unsuspecting to it.

For the record, Laporkenstein notes that his wife didn't want a "space ring," so he only made one.

I hand forged my own wedding ring out of a chunk of Meteorite and Nickel Tooling Steel. Here is a huge gallery with 40+ pictures! (imgur.com)

Retro rocket ring

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 12:56:48 +0000

Noah Scalin sez, "Just look at this awesome steampunky rocket ring created by Herbert Hoover (not the former president) for his Ring-A-Day project. He also has a laser-cut miniature wooden version for sale on his Etsy page as well."

I'm partial to Hoover's espresso ring, too.

Ring-A-Day: Rocket Ring

Winged, kinetic rings that flap

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:43:51 +0000

Jeweler/metalworker Dukno Yoon makes beautiful, animated kinetic winged rings, sculptures and towers that flap when you flex your finger.

The contrast between metal structural form and natural feather, together with the repetitive and whimsical movements of fragile wings, provokes the imagination and evolves the intimate relationship between work and viewer/wearer.
Although the recent series, segmented wings have been focused on the formal challenge to engineer an intricate movement that simulates bird wings, these works are intended to be a series of poems in which I develope my own formal language, interpret the nature of wings, create various structural forms with movements, and share the metaphor, imagination, humor, with viewer/wearer.

Wings) (via Craft)

Head-sewn-on necklace

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:02:03 +0000

Etsy seller WeirdlyCute (an apt name!) makes these "Zombie Stitch" necklaces that make it appear that your head has been sewn on. Alice and I went as Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein last year, and this would have made a dandy addition to my Sugru neck-bolts.

(via Neatorama)

Halloween Zombie Stitch Necklace in All Sewn Up - Weirdly Cute Halloween Jewelry [etsy.com]

Macrame with brass hexnuts

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:29:23 +0000

Brass nuts make this macrame bracelet into a beautiful, industrial fashion statement

(via Craft)

{macramé: square knot} string & hexnut bracelet [minieco.co.uk]

Skeletal whole-hand bracelet

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:49:01 +0000

Delfina Delettrez, a designer in Rome, made this beautiful, polished skeletal bracelet (though I couldn't locate it at her site, which autoplays music) (be warned).

Delfina Delettrez

Assemblage brooches and chokers that mix found objects, junk jewelry and vintage military insigia

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:03:09 +0000

Jennie Sharman-Cox's assemblage jewelry uses a wide variety of materials, including a lot of pieces of British military regalia, encrusted with fake pearls and found objects. She's got a great compositional eye and the finished pieces are really beautiful; I just bought one for my wife at Luna and Curious in London.

Jennie Sharman-Cox

Robot-hand ring presentation box

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:49:17 +0000

Atelier Ted Noten & Laikingland designed this horribly-named Lady Killer Volume 1 -- a jewelry presentation box that contains a robotic arm that extends itself to proffer a ring in its pincer.

Lady Killer Volume 1

Detailed 3D printed scarab pendant

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:10:56 +0000

I love the anatomical details on this sterling silver 3D printed scarab pendant, created by Shapeways user Dadrummond. It looks pretty damned cool in plastic, too.

Scarab pendant