I just ran across a great blog by jeweler MT Maloney.

His web site is here – alas all in flash, which I hate, but nevermind, it’s a good looking site with some good looking jewelry.

I have not yet seen any of his work first hand, but I’m really enjoying seeing his creative process as it happens in his blog, From the Workbench.

MT has shots of a number of projects in process, from concept to design to final piece; for example the Mako Shark, or the Ace of Spades skull.

MT’s a pretty talented artist and designer; I’m looking forward to seeing more from him on the future. Meanwhile, I absolutely love seeing his work as it develops.

Since I’ve been back on the skull ring thing lately (thanks to Carlos at Sinners Inc), I realized I never posted about the latest DeadRingers skulls.

People have been asking me for ages about smaller rings; the cool thing is, some of the jewelers I’m friends with have started to listen.

The Deadringers version is called The Minima. It comes in two versions, the Minima Yorrick (jawless), and the Minima Classic (full skull).

Examples below; each side by side with it’s big brother. I have the larger versions of both of these.

These are pefect for smaller fingers (pinky rings, ladies rings, or just for someone who wants to go more subtle).

Dimension comparison for the Classic is below.

I’ve been craving one of these since Mark announced them months ago.

I’m planning to get one as a pinky ring, though I’m still waffling over which one I want. Really, I want them both, but that blows too much of my silver budget all at once.

I just ran across these on the Courts and Hackett blog.

They’re fucking fantastic.

I love my Courts and Hackett ring SO much.

My new ring, courtesy of of my brutha Carlos of Sinners Inc.

The first thing you’ll notice about this thing is, it’s freakin’ huge. I mean, absurdly huge.

When Carlos decided to make a skull (after working with me for two years and seeing my double fistful of skulls every day), he decided he had to make a statement. He did it with pure mass.

This skull weighs about a third of a goddam pound, and is nearly an inch and three quarters from the tip of it’s pointy chin to the top of it’s forehead. Below is a picture with some of the rest of the collection (left to right, that’s the Sinner, the Courts and Hackett ‘Keith Richards’, Deadringers ‘Classic’, a Dave’s Custom, a Ruby Crush jawless, and my old Elvis LIves skull from Tony Creed. You can see how out of scale this thing is when you realize that the Deadringers and the Courts and Hackett are both really, really big rings,

The second thing you’ll notice is that it’s gorgeous. Carlos started with an anatomically accurate model of a skull; like me, he wanted the real deal, not some snarling cartoon. Like most of my favorite rings, there’s no exaggeration, just beautiful bone rendered in silver.

I love this thing.

It’s not a ring you’re gonna wear every day. I had to take it off to work a mouse; there’s no way I can work with it on. I’m almost certainly going to hurt myself with it. But it’s a ring I’m reaching for when I put on the full set.

Really, the only issue I have with this thing is that next to it, my other rings will be invisible; but what the hell. Sometimes you gotta go big.

Carlos and Sinners Inc’s work, by the way, is currently showing up on the great big ham fists on Guy Fieri. Keep an eye out on the current season of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives; Carlos’ signature piston ring should show up prominently in some of the latest episodes.

For years I’ve heard the question among skull ring collectors – Who made Keith Richards skull ring?

From what I can tell, the origin of the guitar-players-in-skull-rings thing is Keith. Eric Clapton wears one, Billy Gibbons wears one, Zakk Wylde wears one, James Hetfield wears one. Johnny Depp wears one.

But Keith’s is the original.

Who made it is the easy part. David Courts and Bill Hackett. The hard part though, has been how do I get one like it? For years people have attempted to copy Keith’s ring (or just put jewelry up on eBay saying it was a ‘Keith Richards ring’ without any attempt to make it look authentic).

Finally, David and Bill said – look, we’re getting jacked with this, why don’t we make our own version. After long talks with Keith, they came to agreement.

David and Bill works long and hard to get a version of the ring they could do commercially (since Keith’s was made one-of-a-kind). And shortly, it will become publicly available (any day now as I understand, as soon as final business details get worked out).

But heres the important part; I just heard from David (who’s a lovely human being) that mine shipped last monday. And I can’t be more stoked about it. I’m expecting to get it somewhere around the end of the week. And I’m just vibrating with excitement about it.

[EDIT]

I just got my ring. While David asked me not to share pictures yet, until the new site is up and the ring is shipping (soon, he says, but isn’t giving a hard date), I can say that it’s stunning. It fits like it’s made for me.

It’s no identical to Keith’s own ring (as it should be, since Keith’s was a hand made one-of-a-kind), but it’s teh same in look, feel and spirit. It comes in a bead blasted ‘shadow’ finish (I don’t know if they’ll also offer it in a bright-polished finish), which will gradually grow shiny with daily wear.

It’s a big ring; as big as my Deadringers ‘classic’. Only my Ruby Crush ring is bigger. And it’s heavy; a solid chunk of silver, not hollowed out For all that though, it fits so comfortably I didn’t notice the mass ’til I’d taken it off.

It’s a stunning piece.