“Michael is probably one of the most intelligent and cool people I know” Sarah told me. “I love that he is so passionate about everything film and role-playing - basically everything about systems, magic and worldbuilding. It seems like his brain is a HUGE library of knowledge - it's so crazy! He makes everything easy to understand, no matter how complicated it is, and he is always extremely patient with everyone.”
“I probably fell in love with his ability to accommodate me and my quirks, but also the fact that he dares to like himself – a rare trait here in Denmark. He manages to balance between being emphatic and understanding without loosing his identity and strong personality. It makes me both love and respect him a lot.” According to the rule book of Dungeons & Dragons – THE iconic roleplaying system of our time - Individual dwarves are determined and loyal, true to their word and decisive in action, sometimes to the point of stubbornness. Many dwarves have a strong sense of justice.
Michaels ring before the oxydization treatment
To Sarah, the love of her life very much holds these classical qualities of the dwarfs and therefore, she asked me to create a coarse silver ring, with a structured surface somewhere between the bark of an old oak tree and rocks, heavily inspired by the dwarven universe of The Lord of the Rings. The ring was oxidized dark grey – a fleeting feature, because the dark color quickly will turn lighter as the surface treatment wears off.
Who is this young woman so unashamedly geeky and in love with a real life dwarf (of average human hight, mind you)? Sarah is a graphical artist. Her artist name is GALAXARA – and she creates the most mesmerizing artwork, very often featuring the swirling lines of the galaxies found in deep space. Her favourite medium is aquarelle and gouache, but she also does stunning murals and has a knack for manipulating her work into something truly out of this world with Photoshop. Oh, and she is a master with theatrical makeup, able to create the most amazing effects, especially when putting her airbrush to good use! If you would like to see some of her artwork, you can follow her on Facebook or Patreon, which provides a possibility to support this young, talented artist as well, should you feel inclined to do so.
By the way: You can get a little bit of Galaxaras art when you purchase a piece of Dragon Jewellery from me, because it comes with a complimentary booklet, featuring a story about a dragon (in Danish). Two very different stories, one tailored to children (written by the young author Stine Bahrt) and one written for adults by yours truly. Both booklets have cover illustrations by Galaxara. Read the two stories (translated to English) here:
Of course Michael accepted Sarahs proposal, put to him on her birthday and so part 2 of creating her ring resulted in a visit by both of them. Her ring was to be inspired by her beloved galaxies and featuring her favorite colors: Purple and blue, and so I drew a ring centered around an oval purple sapphire and asymmetrically surrounded by bubbles, some of which held dark blue sapphires. The ring was based on the popular embrace design while the two rings were to be bound together by the same very rugged structure, even on the main setting as well!
The result was a set of wedding rings truly out of this world – with as much personality as their wearers!
There is no truly black metal. However, most metals can be treated with a black surface which is more or less durable. The word “durable” being the important one here, since Jewellery and especially rings which are being worn on a daily basis, sees a lot of wear and tear. This literally tears away the comparatively thin layer of surface treatment, letting the original metal reappear. The least durable treatment is oxidization on silver. On a ring it will change already within days and be more or less gone within a few weeks apart from deep areas, which are not subject to mechanical abrasion.
One of the most durable treatments is black (actually dark grey) rhodium, which will last between six months and one year, depending on what you do with your hands. A rhodium layer is transferred to the piece of Jewellery via an electrolytical process, meaning that it is just a few MY thick and as durable (or not) as a vermeil treatment. Both treatments can be reapplied by your jeweller.
You CAN get Jewellery in black materials such as Tantal or carbon, but none of these can be shaped using traditional jewellers techniques. This means that it isn’t possible to have a custom design created and also that they can’t be resized, once the ring is created. Many of us would love a piece of Jewellery, which is entirely black, and so the search for a material, which can be shaped (and reshaped) like precious metals AND be black through and through is still on. So far unfortunately with no luck.
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