The Phoenix Has Risen

A phoenix is a mythical bird with a tail of beautiful gold and red plumage (or purple and blue, by some sources). It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of myrrh twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis. The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible — it is also said that it can heal a person with a tear from its eyes and make them temporarily immune to death. The phoenix is a symbol of fire and divinity.

Many years ago I found the jeweller, James Binnion, on the web. How I found him, I remember not, but I fell in love with his rings that were made with a very special traditional Japanese metal forging technique called mokume-gane (metal with woodgrain patterns), that blended several kinds of metals which then melded with one another to make the most amazing patterns.

I ordered a pingpong ball sized mokume-gane ball from him for Masaki to use with one of his dragons, and it added such amazing depth to Max' art work that the customer was very impressed. I was impressed! We are still impressed, years later!!

I kept in touch with James over the years, and had him design a few rings for me, but we never actually made anything because nothing grabbed my soul. If I am going to wear rings, they need to either reach out and take possession of me, or must have a special meaning to me. This one does (as do the others I wear now).

Most of you know how I absolutely LOVE the amazing texture, and feel of titanium and all of it's characteristics. I bought my first titanium ring and bracelet from another fellow in about 2001 (lost the bracelet in an international flight and miss it terribly!). I just love how titanium becomes one with the body; no other jewellery I have owned does that. I have stainless, sterling, gold, but nothing feels as perfectly in harmony with me, with my body, my soul as my titanium.

Recently I found out that James and his partner had started a new business in which they create the mokume-gane patterns out of blends of stainless steel, and some with titanium/zirconium (to give a grey, black pattern). OMG I loved his designs, so I ordered one!

Well, it turned out that the one that James told me was titanium was actually NOT titanium but stainless, and they had never done anything like that. However, since he took my order, and I paid up front for the ring, he knew he needed to make that ring. So... he and his partner developed an entirely new "know how", technology, to be able to make the mokume-gane pattern in titanium/zirconium! And guess what? They created it on MY RING!

I decided to call this ring my Phoenix Ring because this year is the year of new beginnings, the shift, the rebirth, the BEING. It describes the amazing transition I have gone through the past year with my spiritual studies and meditation, and it expresses my "rebirth through fire" as one might say. I absolutely LOVE this ring! It feels so natural and good on my (shaved) finger, that it really has already become a part of my soul.

I asked James to take photos of the process so that I might share them with you when I tell you the story of how "The Phoenix Has Risen". It is a little complicated, but still... amazing to behold. If I ever meet you, I promise you I will let you see, touch, feel and wear the ring. THEN you will understand why I love titanium so very much! I have semi-retired my other titanium ring for now as I don't have another finger to fit it on because I have my "Eternity" ring from artisanimpact (on Etsy) on the middle finger of my right hand.

God, this ring is gorgeous and just feels so.... NOW!!

Here is a message from James Binnion of www.mokume-gane.com:

That ring is quite special as it is the first one of the Ti/Zr (titanium/zirconium) rings to be made in that way. When you chose that pattern I thought it was one of the Ti/Zr rings but my partner told me after I took the order that the one you chose was a stainless steel ring.

That pattern is actually the end grain of the extrusion. It is what you see when you slice through the bar. So to make the ring I had to convince the end of the bar to become the side of the bar. This is done by making a washer and inverting it. It is forged to make it a conic section , then further forging to bring it in to a tube form. Then trimmed and put on the lathe.

In stainless it is easy to do this and in fact is done cold, but if you try this with the Ti/Zr rings they crack with the extreme distortion that is required. However if you can keep it above 898C you can move it fairly easily. The trick is there is so little mass in a ring blank you have no time to do anything to it before it is too cold. So fast work and lots of reheating to get it to final shape.

It was quite a challenge to make, and while we will offer it as a special pattern it will be quite a bit more expensive (than we had planned) to cover the time involved. So it was a real learning experience for me.

I hope it brings you a new beginning and a wonderful new year.

*****

I love you!

Cam

P.S. If you would like to see the rings up close, please visit my Flickr Page.