keith richard's skull ring

The first time I spotted Keith Richard's (of Rolling Stone fame) skull ring, I believe was on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. I immediately responded to the "cool" factor of that ring and vowed that one day I would possess one. Occasionally, I have scoured shops, usually on vacation when I happen to be in one that would feature such items. You know the kind I am referring to: "biker" shops or "head" shops or "wicken" shops. It has not been an ongoing obsession. It is only when I am reminded of that iconic ring that I momentarily remember my vow of oh-so-many years ago and resume my search for the PERFECT skull ring.

Fast forward to today. Lately, I've been making a number of purchases on the wonderful site known as Etsy. Etsy features crafts people and artists from all over the globe. It is both the blessing and curse of Etsy as it is often difficult to find the real gems that exist on the website. You often have to perform very focused searches in order to discover some truly wonderful finds. Sadly, it does not occur to me to search categories that contain such finds. As an example, there is a wonderful artist who makes little dioramas that have a mechanical component to them. In one of his series of dioramas, you crank a little handle to animate the waves of a small ocean with a wonderful little sailboat perched atop the water. What keywords would you enter into a search box to uncover this? I'm not even certain how I stumbled upon this artist which makes me wonder how many more are out there in the cyberspace of Etsy. But I digress . . .

Recently it occurred to me that Etsy might just host the artist who has crafted my ideal skull ring. After several pages of scrolling through the results of my search, I stumbled upon an artist, Paul Phillips, who makes a wonderful skull ring of either sterling silver ($300) or bronze ($140) that can be silver plated. His skull is different than the one  worn by Keith. If anything, I believe it to be a more accurate representation of a human skull, but before I go any further, below is the information I managed to uncover on the original ring produced for Keith as per the Courts and Hackett website:

"In 1978 the celebrated London goldsmiths David Courts and Bill Hackett were working on a small scale silver sculpture of a human skeleton. Using a real skull for reference they carved a perfect miniature replica which they then moulded. When the hollow wax skull was removed from its mould the inspiration for the ring was born. Further experimentation led to the creation of the original silver skull ring. At the same time an invitation arrived from Keith Richards to his birthday party in New York - so Bill and David decided that the new ring would make a fantastic present. From the moment he put it on his finger, the magic began and he has worn it ever since


Since Keith put on the original Courts and Hackett skull ring in 1978, David and Bill have received countless requests for a copy but their original decision that the ring should remain unique has meant that there is no replica mould and no duplicates.

Now, for the first time and only available from them is a magnificent new deaths head ring sculpted from the same human skull used for the original.

Using unique techniques developed in their workshop they have created the ultimate skull ring. Exquisite details include an immaculately carved bone structure, individual teeth and finely engraved cranium.

Crafted in solid 925 silver each ring will be stamped with the Courts and Hackett hallmark guaranteeing authenticity, date, materials used and country of origin."

Me again. The Courts and Hackett ring goes for approximately $477, not an unreasonable price at all. However, to me, the original looks just a little mean. Although professed to be an accurate depiction of the human skull, I swear the eyes look menacing. While I want to adorn my finger with a skull (to express my inner Rock Star), I don't necessarily want my ring to be any more off-putting by looking menacing. (Yes, yes, I know; a skull ring is inherently off-putting, but hopefully you know what I mean. Incidentally, if you're interested in purchasing the same ring, Paul's Etsy shop can be found at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/noformdesign?ref=seller_info.)

Anyway, to make a long-story short, I am now sporting my newly-purchased skull ring (shown above). And yes, I now look like a Rock Star, thank you very much.

higashi

Recently, a co-worker presented me with a pink box of obvious Japanese origin. The box was wrapped in a rice paper skin with one of those gold elastic bands with the neat little bow on top with Japanese script. Inside, beneath a leaf of delicate textured rice paper lay neat rows of little sculptured delicacies in various muted tints of color. She told me someone had presented this to her as a gift and she thought I might like to have it for its aesthetic qualities as a subject for one of my photographs. I accepted it, put it in my kitchen drawer (containing my candy supply) and promptly forgot about it.

This month, my issue of Saveur magazine arrived and contained therein was an article on "Higashi," the very confections I had sequestered away a few weeks earlier. Briefly (and this I did not know until I read the article), Higashi is composed of tinted sugar and rice flour. It is an integral part of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, but only from around the 18th Century when it was first introduced to the royalty and upper class ranks of Japanese society. The Japanese Tea Ceremony itself dates back to the 15th Century. Traditionally, Higashi  was sculpted to reflect the season. In Spring, as an example, Highashi were crafted to resemble cherry blossoms. Higashi is rarely found outside of Japan, but there is an American company, Chambre du Sucre (so why do they have a FRENCH name?), that imports these confections. Incidentally, these delights are made by the same Japanese company for 268 years.

And, I have yet to photograph them in a way to do them justice.