Mokume Gane Greatness with Krikawa

Many moons ago (a.k.a 4 years ago) I was engaged. Prior to the long awaited engagement, we had dated for over six years. In that amount of time, many a conversation was had about getting married and what-not. Typical of most long-term relationships. And so there came a time in that relationship when I started to look at rings.

I was in a lovely jewelry shop in Lafayette when I came across mokume gane for the first time. For those of you who just want the quick and dirty explanation of mokume, here goes…mokume gane, which translates to “wood-grain metal”, is the end result of layering several metals and then folding them and blending them to create something new and totally unique. This method was used in ancient Japan to create Samurai swords.

I’ve said time and again that I like things that are out of the norm, and mokume gane is the pinnacle of that, in my opinion.  Yes, people can make the same style of mokume over and over buy using the same metals (things like platinum, palladium, yellow gold, white gold, rose gold, silver, etc.) and the same method of folding, but by the very nature of the process, no two outcomes can be the same. And frankly, I’ve never seen someone wearing mokume gane, which is a shame, because it’s breathtaking in person.

So, yes, my engagement ring was made of mokume gane and I loved, loved, loved it. But the marriage was not meant to be and he asked for the ring back. Not that I would have continued to wear it, mind you, but still. Is asking for the ring back tacky? I’m not sure what the social norm around this is. Anyone? Bueller? Someday I will have another mokume ring to cherish and this time it will be a gift I give myself and one I’ll never have to give back! Muah ha ha! Oh, sorry.

Below are some pictures from my favorite mokume gane designer, Lisa Krikawa. Trust me, I did HOURS of research into the best mokume jewelers and her pieces blew the others out of the water. Yes, you’ve seen one of these before, but I just love it so much I couldn’t help but include it.