Rings and Omens
Went to go put in the order for our wedding rings today.
Two years ago (i.e. when we'd been dating for only one or two months), we were lounging in bed and talking about personal sigils. I drew mine, which is a swirly stylized version of my name. He drew his, which is a combination of his initials. I looked at the two of them, then said, "hey look! If you rotate mine 180 degrees, it's the same shape as yours, just a little more artsy!" ::blink:: The conversation then went something like: Gee, if we shifted the two to be closer to each other... ::scribble scribble:: and put them flipped one way, then the other, in a band... ::sketchity sketch:: we could put that on a ring or something.
We then realized we were holding the design for our wedding bands, and proceeded to freak right out and decided to hide them for at least another year. I mean, nobody designs their wedding rings in the first month of dating. Nobody sane, at any rate.
So today I went down to Montanari on the Plaza. They make their jewelry in-house (no shipping off to Taiwan), they enjoy doing custom work, and they have fun things like laser welders and high-tech mills for incredibly fine detail.
We were greeted by a kind tinker gnome gentleman who, when he heard my crack-monkey ideas, brought out a blonde elf woman who was very enthusiastic and informative about the possibilities and the processes involved. Her hennaed hands pulled out ring after ring while she explained "if we take a channel-ring like this, and use compression welding on the openwork band like this..."
Meanwhile, featherynscale was lusting after a "fantasy-cut crystal" -- a chunk of flawless amethyst set into a triangular steampunk setting. There was also a citrine cut like a flame and set with flicking toungues of gold. Gorgeous stuff. At some point a woman came in, raving about how fabulous their "double helix bracelets"-- which were very nifty indeed.
With the deposit paid and grins all around, I start conversing with the nice gentleman about coin-pressing techniques. He seemed terriby excited to have someone interested in the process, even going so far as to pull out one of their presses to show me the removable outer flywheel on their press. He mentions that they make jewelry from ancient Greek and Roman coins, and pulls out a tray.
He hands us a ring, and I say "with that crown, that's either Hera or Helios"-- he was tickled that I knew the mythology well enough to spot Helios. He then showed us a couple of Roman coins set in rings, and then two necklaces -- one coin with the face of Demeter on one side and a sheaf of wheat on the other, and one from Tarsus with Baal/Zeus and a lion killing a bull. So we talked mythology & history for another ten minutes. He was impressed with our knowledge, and asked what I'd studied. "Well, um, Psychology, actually. But I'm a Hellenic Pagan, so this is my faith, and I try to study it..." The elf laughed and said something along the lines of "well there ya go, that explains it" and we thanked them for about the dozenth time and went on our merry way.
I was so thrilled with the great service, interesting conversations, fabulous craftsmanship, and good omens, that I bounced and squee'd all the way back to the car. I apologize again, K, I didn't mean to be that obnoxious. :)
Rings. I guess this means we're like getting married or something.
Two years ago (i.e. when we'd been dating for only one or two months), we were lounging in bed and talking about personal sigils. I drew mine, which is a swirly stylized version of my name. He drew his, which is a combination of his initials. I looked at the two of them, then said, "hey look! If you rotate mine 180 degrees, it's the same shape as yours, just a little more artsy!" ::blink:: The conversation then went something like: Gee, if we shifted the two to be closer to each other... ::scribble scribble:: and put them flipped one way, then the other, in a band... ::sketchity sketch:: we could put that on a ring or something.
We then realized we were holding the design for our wedding bands, and proceeded to freak right out and decided to hide them for at least another year. I mean, nobody designs their wedding rings in the first month of dating. Nobody sane, at any rate.
So today I went down to Montanari on the Plaza. They make their jewelry in-house (no shipping off to Taiwan), they enjoy doing custom work, and they have fun things like laser welders and high-tech mills for incredibly fine detail.
We were greeted by a kind tinker gnome gentleman who, when he heard my crack-monkey ideas, brought out a blonde elf woman who was very enthusiastic and informative about the possibilities and the processes involved. Her hennaed hands pulled out ring after ring while she explained "if we take a channel-ring like this, and use compression welding on the openwork band like this..."
Meanwhile, featherynscale was lusting after a "fantasy-cut crystal" -- a chunk of flawless amethyst set into a triangular steampunk setting. There was also a citrine cut like a flame and set with flicking toungues of gold. Gorgeous stuff. At some point a woman came in, raving about how fabulous their "double helix bracelets"-- which were very nifty indeed.
With the deposit paid and grins all around, I start conversing with the nice gentleman about coin-pressing techniques. He seemed terriby excited to have someone interested in the process, even going so far as to pull out one of their presses to show me the removable outer flywheel on their press. He mentions that they make jewelry from ancient Greek and Roman coins, and pulls out a tray.
He hands us a ring, and I say "with that crown, that's either Hera or Helios"-- he was tickled that I knew the mythology well enough to spot Helios. He then showed us a couple of Roman coins set in rings, and then two necklaces -- one coin with the face of Demeter on one side and a sheaf of wheat on the other, and one from Tarsus with Baal/Zeus and a lion killing a bull. So we talked mythology & history for another ten minutes. He was impressed with our knowledge, and asked what I'd studied. "Well, um, Psychology, actually. But I'm a Hellenic Pagan, so this is my faith, and I try to study it..." The elf laughed and said something along the lines of "well there ya go, that explains it" and we thanked them for about the dozenth time and went on our merry way.
I was so thrilled with the great service, interesting conversations, fabulous craftsmanship, and good omens, that I bounced and squee'd all the way back to the car. I apologize again, K, I didn't mean to be that obnoxious. :)
Rings. I guess this means we're like getting married or something.