300/365 dreihundert

Well here we are at ring #300, I can hardly believe it. I'm really pleased with the way this came out except for one really important thing - it should say 'dreihundert' which is German for 'three hundred'. Instead it says 'dirhundert' which is German for 'you a hundred'. Damn.

286/365 chilean miner

sterling silver, brass

264/365 peace

Happy International Day of Peace! Evelyn Markasky suggested that we make rings in honor of the day, this one is sawn from copper sheet.

Maria Apostolou made this lovely silver olive branch ring set with peridot. Maria shared some info from Wikipedia, "In Greek mythology, Zeus was to bestow the newly created city of Athens to the god who provided the most useful gift to humanity. Poseidon cast down a bolt which brought forth from the ground a spring. Athena created the olive tree, and subsequently won. Olive wreaths were worn by brides and awarded to olympic victors. The symbolism of the olive branch was carried on to Ancient Rome, where a defeated army would carry olive branches as a gesture of peace."

And Evelyn's ring, she wrote, "...here is my peace ring, copper stamped with peace in several different languages: la paix, iri'ni, pingan, pokoj, wolakota, shalom, pax, sith, peace, taika. It was very meditative and satisfying doing the stamping. Then I enameled a domed copper disk with several layers of enamel to represent the world and then added a peace symbol with black enamel. Happy Peace Day!"


Lesley Tinnaro says of her Peace Pinwheel, "My kids came home today with 'Peace Pinwheels'. It's a project that their art teacher undertakes ever year on this day. The kids (all 500 or so) make pinwheels with peace signs on them and plant them around the school to help blow the winds of peace around the world."

Kest Schwartzman's ring is entitled A Tooth for a Tooth. Kest wrote, "Maybe today's ring is about peace. Maybe it's not. I don't know. I kept thinking about a Utah Phillips recording of how he became a pacifist- how he kept getting into fights until his mentor type fellow pulled him aside, and told him he was bad at fighting, and he needed to stop, and that the only way to stop was to treat it like an addiction- that he couldn't just stop getting into brawls, he had to outright become a pacifist and never do anything- no matter how small or justifiable- never do anything violent again."


And finally Natalia Gomensoro's street art ring, I love it!

253/365 cigarrette redux

Another cigarette ring. I like the lit end a little better on this one but it's not quite there yet. I have some ideas to improve it further. Sterling silver and copper.

226/365 not a tarball

This ring began as something quite different. The lovely Kathryn Cole sent me some tarballs that she collected from the Florida coast. One was a perfect crescent shape, and I planned to set it beside the urchin - unfortunately it crumbled as I placed it into the setting. So I cut a piece of wood and added some copper inlay and a tung oil finish.

Not quite the statement piece I had envisioned, but I like it and I imagine that my Ring a Day friends are grateful for the respite from political outrage! The urchin was a gift from the wonderful Laurie Brown.

225/365 cat shadow

sterling silver

221/365 shadow

sterling silver

217/365 maui

The island of Maui, made to the same scale as yesterday's Deepwater Horizon ring. Copper and sterling silver.

Maui and Deepwater Horizon Spill

216/365 deepwater horizon

Made from a Google Earth image of the most contiguous portion of the BP oil spill as seen from the air on July 13, 2010. The drill hole represents the location of Deepwater Horizon. Sterling silver.

208/365 abu ghraib

This is the image I remember best from the Abu Ghraib photos. Out of context it might be called Boy with Land Tortoise. Copper.


Playing around with some ideas for display. I'd prefer that the rings be viewed first without the photos, so this isn't going to work. I do like the minimal stand.

207/365 abu ghraib

nickel silver.

Another in what may be a developing series, this ring has a little more detail than the others.

204&205/365 abu ghraib

204/365, copper

Two silhouette rings made from photos documenting the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

Before I actually started sawing the copper sheet for this ring I was thinking about crucifixion, but now the gesture seems more resolute and graceful, like an actor taking a bow at the final curtain. He appears very dignified to me.

205/365, nickel silver. This one calls to mind the KKK and has a sinister feel.

I see now that when I prepared the digital image before sawing I didn't keep the proportions of the original, so the figure is 'smooshed' from the top. Funny how the camera shows us things.

I think of this image as one of the most iconic photos depicting the atrocities perpetrated by American soldiers, there are electrical wires clipped to the prisoner's fingers.