Every now and again I make sure to check in to various sources for adornments, and seldom does Etsy disappoint after filtering through the junk. Recently, I discovered Der Stahlmeister (the steel master) and was quickly drawn to their double ring thanks to the fact that it can be customized and is curved for maximum comfort. Having experimented with a home made saturn ring, I was pretty sure I would like the steel version.
You can read a bit more about how I came across Wood Hard Wear in my previous review, but suffice to say: new opportunities to add to your collection have come! Seeking a 1.875" ring, Renlo made this adornment from aged purpleheart and finished it with a silver leaf inlay. The end result is an absolutely stunning 1.86" ring weighing just shy of half an ounce.
I love it. This adornment is just plain beautiful. The deep color of the purpleheart offset by the silver bands is an awesome combination. Having the silver leaf grooves helps visually break up the width of the ring showing a deft eye for design. The finish on the ring is a gloss, my guess, polyurethane giving a bit of shine to the already handsome adornment. Similar to the pine plywood ring in my previous review, this one doesn’t have a radiused inner edge, but the width of the ring and smooth radius from inner to top ensures a comfortable fit. In fact, it’s so comfortable, I wore it all day and then over night as soon as I received it! As far as proportions go, this one slightly beats out the plywood design due to the thinner height of the ring (a personal preference). This makes the outer profile sit almost perfectly flush with my anatomy while fully engorged, making it appear as though the adornment is an extension of me.
Finally! Another active manufacturer in wood adornments!!! Wood Hard Wear had a brief stint on Etsy selling wood rings, but life got in the way and the shop went on hiatus. As it turns out, the world of great appreciation for adornments is a small world, and I ran into Renlo on a chance thread on Reddit! He’s been recently experimenting in designs again and is rebooting at a new web shop woodhardwear.com.
I already have a few adornments in my collection from Hard Man Outfitters, so when they released a brand new MONSTROUS ring resembling a piece of Captive Bead Ring body jewelry, my attention was immediately grabbed. Thick, heavy stainless? Polished, handsome finish? Over a pound of metal goodness hanging from your goodness? YES, PLEASE!
The package showed up in a small USPS flat rate shipping box and I knew without looking at the label what it was. This thing is heavy! As usual, the HMO packaging was nice with a branded box and branded velvet pouch to store the adornment. The finish is a nice and smooth plating… but… did I mention that this thing is heavy? It weighed in at just over a pound with an inner diameter of 1.767". This makes the wire width about .725" diameter. It came very close in weight to my current heavy weight champion (the custom design Bad Ass Workroom made for me) but ultimately is about 1.2oz shy of that beast. It completely outclassed my other CBR style cock ring that I picked up from AliExpress ages ago.
In case you can’t tell, I’ve come to enjoy custom designing my own adornments based on whatever design thoughts pop into mind! I’ve noticed lately that a lot of things out there now have a hex pattern on them. Everything from car grilles to enterprise server faceplates seem to be sporting a six-sided grid pattern rather than a boring square or diamond pattern. Well, why not give it a shot and see how it looks?
In case you can’t tell, I’ve come to enjoy custom designing my own adornments based on whatever design thoughts pop into mind! The design for this one struck me as I noticed our kitchen cabinets. When designing the kitchen a few years back, I recalled a myriad of choices regarding material/shape/cut/style/etc - just for the door frames. I remembered that we fell in love with the “pillowed” effect cabinets in a dark, rich stained color. That “pillowed” effect is what served as the inspiration for this design.
After creating two self-designed rings following the successful first custom-designed ring, I figured I was on a roll and should try for some more designs! The inspiring thought for this adornment was to replicate the look of a gem-paved band (like the terribly uncomfortable repurposed bangle experiment) for a “blingy” look. Unfortunately, the realities of manufacturing derailed the design similar to my previous attempt (which still turned out awesome!). Initially I started the design with square-shaped gems featuring a “princess cut” leading to an octagonal topped gem. It looked awesome in the renders and the 3d printed prototype, but a spinning CNC bit can only join four corners together without creating a conical meeting point if all of the lines are on the same plane. In this case, the initial design was to have the lines come together at different angles. It would have looked awful and, thankfully, the engineers caught the probability of failure during design review just before being cut. Working with the Hankin at RapidDirect who helped proxy design reviews with the engineers, another design was put together ultimately leading to the understanding that hex shaped gems just will not work out. So, a final design featuring square shaped studs was put together - and… success!
I loved my first self-designed and created ring so much that I was practically antsy to try making another. As a complete nut for fishnet thigh highs, I thought it would be fun to design an adornment that simulated a fishnet pattern. For full effect, there would need to be a thick border and raised netting. The thought experiment turned out to fail in the real world, unfortunately! A fishnet diamond pattern (taller than it is wide) being raised from the field it is in is not possible because of the conical shape of the CNC bit. Further, the machine really does prefer to stick to 90 degree angles. Having gone back to the drawing board with two or three other designs, this design with 90 degree angles and inset-rather-than-raised is the one I settled on - and it turned out fantastic!
The first in my series of self-designed and created rings, this brick-like offset pattern is carved into a 6061 aluminum body. As a test prior to manufacturing, this was made first on my 3d printer to ensure optimal fit and proportions. The pattern is inset by a few millimeters from a bevel cut edge with the pattern carved into the round profile of the ring. This ring features a perfectly proportioned inner radius to maximize comfort and minimize pinching with an overall width of just under .6" for the perfect distribution of pressure.
As I shared in a prior review, I’ve been smitten by a maker’s most exciting (and dangerous?) thing: new knowledge! Using my newfound knowledge of FreeCAD and where to have a custom ring manufactured, I made another custom creation to match the stainless steel version of my wedding band which itself was inspired by the custom design Andrew at Himeros jewelry created.
The design of this ring is identical to the previous stainless steel design but was adjusted to match the proportions of one of the most comfortable adornments in my collection: the Gear Essentials Plunge. Having another width adornment that matches my wedding band is a nice addition to the collection because the thicker bands can sometimes lead to a little too much bulge.
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