[Faceted Cigar Band, sterling silver, carved/cast, and oxidized a nice French gray.]
[Tapered Faceted Cigar Band, sterling silver.]
Hi there all! Sorry it’s been a while since my last post.. I’ve been busy.. And lazy. And we got the fourth season DVD of Mad Men. Yep, that pretty much sums it all up right there.
But of course I’ve still been working and making some new things.. I’m going to list these rings on the Etsy shop here soon.. I will offer a straight version and a tapered version, and each will be hand-carved from scratch, custom to fit each order. Here is a photo of the rings I have been wearing together lately…
Yes, I only own one shirt. The gold ring is of course is the black rose-cut diamond in 18K (Victorian Solitaire) and the silver is a sterling silver carved faceted cigar band. It’s domed and tapered and surprisingly comfortable. I think the two look really great together.
I know. Isn’t that festive? It’s not even December yet and we have a tree already. Until last year actually, we had never gotten a tree, or decorated in any way for Christmas (or any other holiday for that matter), but you know? My two-year-old LOVES the tree. She spends just about all her time underneath it (we even have it bolted down to a big heavy box so she has lots of space to hang out under it) re-arranging all the lower ornaments, wedging her stuffed animals in the branches. She’s been busy. Originally we had no ornaments to speak of so I went crazy and made a bunch out of fabric and felt; so far this year, I’ve made three new ones.
Here’s the typical scene:
She is in the process of shoving all the bird ornaments deep into the heart of the tree where they will be lost forever if I don’t remember to retrieve and count them all nightly before I go to bed. You can see various debris all over the floor: less tenacious ornaments and a host of stuffed friends waiting their turn.
(She has no idea that the plastic comes off those candy canes.)
I love the cigar band ring. So….is the metal hammered randomly, or do you geometrically decide where the facets go, or what? Wish there was a close-up, but I’ll check Etsy in a few days.
You probably went to the Christmas tree farm for the bushy fir tree? It looks thick and lush, and Ronin can get lost in it. I bet the pine smell is divine. Stay warm in the snowy Pacific Northwest. –Oma Peggy, basking in the Arizona sunshine.
The metal is filed-faceted so facets are larger, more evenly spaced, and perfectly flat. I’ll get this up on etsy tonight!
Yep, we went to the same farm we went to last year. Except this year it was raining and it took us all of 10 minutes to pick out our tree!
I think people are intimidated by the thought of a blog, like maybe it means they have to reveal all thier deep dark secrets. You don’t, you can make it as personal or professional as you like. But show what you are working on, what you are looking at, and what you are thinking, and that is usually interesting to others…
I enjoy anything that is preoucdd right!Right=1) Proper construction a) Firm b) no bursting wrapper, fragile wrappers, tunneling, canoeing etc. c) Good draw2) Correct alchemy a) Good flavor despite strength b) No Bitterness (not caused by overheating)3) Proper aging before release!!! a)No ammonia or residual ammonia from lack of proper fermentation! (Do you hear that CAO (Henri Wintermans)!)Ring Gauge: My take is that the new 60 s are for impatient and rookie smokers. I also partly believe in the American SUV condition that bigger is better (a rookie mistake). This is no lie but the only people I know that seek these gauges out are stove pipers and the inexperienced smokers. I’m not saying a person with a palette can’t enjoy them but they aren’t the first ring gauge an experienced smoker would reach for given a choice. I enjoy 60 s but given a choice I would reach for a 52 or 54 Toro over a 60 Gordo depending on the wrapper 9/10. Strength (Super Full bodied): This isn’t easy to answer. In a perfect world I would want a cigar to be full strength with great flavor. My understanding is that flavor will suffer at the expense of strength. Perdomo told me he could make a cigar that would turn me green from the strength but it would taste like s t. I’ve yet to smoke anything that has upset my stomach or made me high but I’m sure that’s because I chew more than a can of chew a day and gut it. Once again I think Super Full cigars are for those rookies that have a limited palette and/or like some old timers have none at all and are after the nicotine. I’ll choose a medium great flavor stick like a Padilla 68 (med-full is a stretch) over a Super Full POS! So yes I want a super full bodied cigar but not at the expense of taste/flavor!!! I can always take a dip if I didn’t get enough nicotine!