230 Spoon Ring

230 Spoon Ring

Object: Silver spoon ring

Acquire: May 2011

From: Mom, although it might have been Grandma's before that

Notes: This is half the reason I have too much stuff. "Oh, do you want this?" "Yeah, sure, why not?" But I guess a ring made from a spoon is kinda neat?

195 Rings

195 Rings

Object: two Amymade rings

Acquired: 2002ish

From: I made them as a summer camp craft

Notes: We had a really interesting arts and crafts person this year.  I didn't always get along with her, but we found some common ground because we both had the same problems with camp management that summer.  Anyway, whatever else I thought of her, she did a great job with the crafts and the kids.  This was one of the crafts the campers did, and I did along with them.  It's just craft wire wrapped in a circle and going through a bead, but it's pretty snazzy and makes for great camp fashions.

133 Ring

133 Lego Ring

Object: A ring made with a Lego brick and a bit of craft wire

Acquired: Unknown

From: Made it myself, actually

Notes: My first attempt at Lego jewelry making. You can actually buy shit like this--well, jewelry made with Legos anyway--now-a-days in all sorts of online stores. I believe I did it first, but since I never tried to make any money off of it, well...

132 Rings

132 Rings

Object: Two costume jewelry rings

Acquired: Unknown

From: Mom, who got them at a garage sale

Notes: They actually look rather good in this picture, but in person you can see where the silver shell is flaking off the cheap metal they were made from. I only wear them on the rare occasions when I want to play dress up (like a ren fair or Halloween), so it's never bothered me much.

131 Ring

131 Ring

Object: Glow-in-the-Dark ring

Acquired: When working at summer camp

From: Dollar Store

Cost: $1

Notes: Another glow-in-the-dark ring. I told you I had several of them. Nor did it turn my finger green.

130 Ring

130 Ring

Object: Shiny ring

Acquired: Unknown

From: Walmart

Notes: I actually bought this ring new--but on sale.  There was a display in the Walmart near camp, and I spent a long time debating and deciding which ring I wanted, and if I really wanted it, and so forth.  Obviously I got it in the end, but that was only to discover that it turned my finger green--magically without losing its shine, which still has me mildly baffled. It's not like I was expecting it to be high quality--I was getting it for $10 at WalMart, for crissakes--but I did expect it to be about as quality as the rings I was getting from the dollar store, which weren't turning my finger green at all. I was disappointed.

129 Ring

129 Ring

Object: Dream catcher ring

Acquired: 2007

From: Some New Hampshire craft fair

Notes: I LOVE dream catchers, and I really liked this ring. I only wore it for a week or two, though, because then I managed to get the bead that was in the center caught on something, and, as you can see, it broke off. I thought about wearing the ring anyway, but there's a sharp edge now, so that idea was out. I've also thought about remaking the interior webbing, but clearly I haven't done that yet.

128 Ring

128 Ring

Object: Glow in the Dark ring

Acquired: 2003-ish

From: Dollar Store

Cost: Guess

Notes: I love things that glow in the dark, so I couldn't resist buying this (and several others). They are shockingly durable for items from the dollar store; I think out of the four or five that I bought I only broke one, and not a single one turned my finger green. I lost one, too (possibly this one), but then I found it that night because it was glowing in the dark. Awesome rings.

127 Ring

127 Ring

Object: Ring I made myself

Acquired: 2001-ish

From: Art metals class

Notes: Yet another stunning example of high school jewelry craftsman ship.  In my defense, I made a few things that year that are much, much, much, much better than these two rings.

126 Ring

126 Ring

Object: Ring I made

Acquired: Senior year high school

From: Art metals class

Notes: we were supposed to make rings. I designed this one (if you can call it that), carved it, cast it (well, the teacher did the dangerous bits of the casting), and then polished it. I'm almost impressed that I could do all of that, but this ring is hardly an shining example of art metals.

125 Ring

125 Ring

Object: Rabbit ring


Acquired: Unknown

From: My money's on a craft fair

Notes: Mom bought me this ring as another possible replacement for Object 117. I don't think I wore it too much, since either I was at the end of my ring-wearing years, or it turned my finger green, I don't remember which (and it might be sterling silver, I really have no idea)

124 Ring

124 Beaded Ring

Object: Beaded ring

Acquired: Unknown

From: I think it used to be Ella's

Notes: I believe this used to be Ella's ring because I had one just like it, except mine was pink.  We got them at a garage sale (of course) for not much money.  After we got them I wore mine to the beach, and it slipped off in the water, greatly traumatizing seven-year-old-me (or however old I was then; nine?). I scoured that beach for it, but it was never seen again. I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with Ella's ring, though, so there's a chance it might be from somewhere else entirely.

123 Ring

123 Ring

Object: Sterling silver and Lapis Lazuli ring

Acquired: Unknown

From: Mom

Notes: This is another ring that's made with something what won't turn your finger green.  I believe it's too small for me now, and I think I used to wear it as a replacement for the "A" Ring (object 117).  I don't remember the stone being so damaged, but maybe it wasn't when I got it...

122 Ring

122 Ring

Object: Sterling Silver Ring

Acquired: Unknown

From: Grandma LoRaine/the family jewelry stash

Notes: This is the ring I picked out for myself from the stash of family jewels Mom had us pick stuff out from (as explained more in Object 120). It was almost black when I got it, but the beauty of sterling silver is that it shines up with use, and I wore it regularly for a few months before I stopped.

Mom and I also went on a small Quest to find out if the gems were actual diamonds--I didn't really expect them to be, but the unknowing was a torture. Eventually we found a place that used a clever little device which said no, they were not diamonds, although I can't recall what they might be instead (don't know if those people said, actually). Probably glass.

But I like it a lot, so I don't care what the gems are.  Really, it's better that they aren't diamonds because that way I can actually wear the ring.

121 Ring

121 Ring

Object: Cheap glittery ring

Acquired: 2002-ish

From: a northern Wisconsin liquidator's store

Notes: I was all set to say that this was just a cheap ring I picked up somewhere, but then I remembered; it IS a cheap ring I picked up!  Haha, but actually, I got it as my "superhero ring" for a superhero class (technically a "U-Pick") that me and a camp-friend invented, because our class choices were sorely lacking.  It sounds like a silly little thing, but actually it was a very well-thought out class wherein you discuss the merits of superheros, have the kids make costumes, and then put them through 'training'...so they get a dash of psychology, some crafts, and a bunch of team-building.

Because me and this friend were teaching the class, we obviously needed to be superheros ourselves, so I was 'Super Qui' with the power of creating impenetrable domes...or something like that, and this was my Ring of Power. It was fun.

120 Ring

120 Ring

Object: Sterling Silver ring with some sort of actual gem in it (amethyst?)

Acquired: Unknown

From: Grandma LoRaine's jewelry

Notes: I was looking for nice jewelry to wear to grandma LoRaine's funeral, and I found this one.  At first I thought it was another piece of costume jewelry, but it had a stamp inside of '925' which I eventually located on Google as being sterling silver.  So when we were at the funeral luncheon, I asked mom about it, and she said that it was one of Grandma's rings before it was mine. I was content to learn this because I felt it was respectful to be wearing something I effectively inherited from my grandmother at her funeral, so there's that.

My grandmother was a long time in dying.  It might be a bit harsh to say that, but our first 'grandma's dying' scare was back when I was about 11, and I'm almost 28 now. A year or two after that scare it was concluded that grandma couldn't live on her own any more, and she was moved into various nursing homes.  As part of moving her from the condo, mom and her sister (and possibly their brother, although I don't recall it) went through all of grandma's stuff.  Some time after that--when we were old enough to appreciate it--mom let us granddaughters choose a ring or two to keep.  This is not the ring I chose, which is why I didn't remember it as being inherited from that side of the family, so I guess mom gave it to me later on (or I was so lost in the shiny of the other ring [object 122] I forgot this one)

119 Ring

119 Ring

Object: Ring, probably costume jewelry

Acquired: Unknown

From: Mom and/or a garage sale, most likely

Notes: I'm 80% certain that this is a piece of costume jewelry mom got me from a garage sale, but it might also be a piece of costume jewelry mom gave me from the family ...jewels. There's also a .5% chance it's not costume jewelry.

118 Ring

118 Teddy Bear Ring

Object: Silverish ring with a teddy bear and a bit of turquoise

Acquired: After 3rd grade

From: I remember we were on some sort of family vacation, but beyond that I've no idea

Notes: Mom got me this one as a replacement for the "A" ring, which was getting pretty beaten up.  I didn't end up wearing this one for very long, though, because Ella and I were playing on a playground and Ella stepped on my hand accidentally (at least, I think it was an accident...), which squished the ring around my finger. I can't remember if it hurt, but the ring was never the same, even after mom bent it back into 'shape.'

117 Ring

117 "A" Ring

Object: Cheap ring with engraved letter A

Acquired: Before I turned 10

From: I think mom got it for me?

Notes: I wore this ring for a long time. Always on my left hand (the ring finger, to be precise), and since I was learning to tell left from right then, that's how I learned to identify it; my left hand was the one with the ring.

Eventually this ring needed to be retired, but I needed to have another ring on my hand or I wouldn't know which way was which.  Eventually that was replaced with wearing a watch on my left wrist, but even now I can feel a phantom ring on my finger when I need to remember which way is left.

Also, once I ended with with a bracelet on my right wrist and nothing on my left, and I was very, very disoriented until I switched things around. Weird.