My friend MT Maloney just sent me a couple of samples of his work to check out, and I could not be much more delighted with them.

I blogged a couple weeks ago about his work-in-progress blog, From the Workbench. But now that I have my hands on his work (and his work on my hands), I’m even more stoked.

MT didn’t just send me these, he customized them. We started talking about things I like, and what he got about me from reading this blog. He wanted to use something related to motorcycling, and something related to Clan MacRae, and then I thew back things I like (the number 13, etc). We threw ideas back and for for several days, and off he went.

What he wound up with was the MacRae clan motto – Fortitudine (latin for With Fortitude) on one ring, and on the other, his own version of ‘elvis 13′ (ELV13), which I think is bitchin’. The smaller one uses a triangular triumph logo, with ‘FTW’ inside – and make no mistake, that’s not ‘for the win’, as the gamer idiots think, it’s Fuck The World, as it’s meant in punk and biker circles for decades.

Below are photos of the two rings.

The larger is MT’s King Skull, his version of the big, chunky, realistic ring that is, generally, my favorite skull ring type. The smaller is his Little Voodoo. The little one is a pinky ring size, the larger fits my left middle finger.

(click to embiggen)

Now, I think MT’s King Skull is awesome. In look and feel, it’s similar to the Courts and Hackett Keith Richards ring, but less brutal; bigger eyes, more detailed teeth. Less totenkopf and more poor yorrick.

It’s a great addition to the genre; it goes in the the line with the Deadringer Classic, the Courts and Hackett, and the Ruby Crush Belladonna. That’s some rarified company there.

But of the two, i have to admit, the one I really, really love is the Little Voodoo.

Maybe it’s just because I don’t own anything like it. It’s completely non-realistic; it’s a low-browed angry little motherfucker of a skull, like something out of a max fleischer cartoon. Like a pissed off dwarf.

But really, i think what I love about it is that it’s the first truly badass pinky ring I’ve ever seen. It’s thick, it’s heavy, it feels far more massive than it really is. YOu don’t think of a pinky ring as being hardass, but this one is. I think it’s a really great ring. It’s also really, really comfortable.

MT’s carving is also distinctive. He’s not trying to be elegant, which oddly seems to give his work a rough sory of elegance I didn’t expect. The lettering on the King Skull (the one that says Fortitudine) just makes me happy. If I ever get my MacRae Fortitudine tattoo, that’s almost exactly the lettering I’d want to use. The carving is personal (He really thought about this, none of it feels tossed off).

I had a conversation recently witha reader who wanted advice on a couple of rings, tryng to decide which to look at. If said reader asked me today, I would have suggested adding MT’s work into the short list being considered.

Good shit, MT. You rock.