Mokume Gane
By Never teh Bride
Ever since one of my dear readers mentioned the Mokume Gane metallurgy technique in a comment a few months back, I’ve been in love with the idea of Mokume Gane wedding bands. They look super cool, but unlike some of the other more unusual wedding bands out there, they are made out of gold, platinum, and silver, so EMTs will not have to take a blowtorch to your hand in the event of a finger-related emergency.
The distinctive woodgrain pattern in the Andrew Nyce rings above is the result of a technique perfected in 17th century Japan. First used by master katana makers, the Mokume Gane technique was picked up by jewelry-makers when the sword industry went bust in Japan’s Meiji era. Multiple sheets of metal are fused and cut from different angles to create layer patterns resembling clouds or wood.
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August 3rd, 2006 at 3:10 pm
We looked at those (before settling on a nice titanium band that won’t require a blowtorch) and they’re really really beautiful in person, but also really really really expensive. (Okay. To me. I think $1500 for just a wedding band is insane. Other people’s perceptions may vary.)
August 3rd, 2006 at 3:39 pm
I will not disagree with you there, Meg! They truly are crazy expensive!
August 3rd, 2006 at 3:55 pm
They are expensive, true. But they’re also GORGEOUS. As well, look at the (sometimes ridiculous) price for engagement rings. Which are supposed to celebrate the engagement. As opposed to the wedding band. Which is supposed to be about the marriage… To me, it makes sense to spend more on the band than the engagement ring. It’s fairer for the men, & when you compare the straight line depreciation, the band totally wins out.
If you’re married for 20 years, and you wedding band was $1200, then that works out to a paltry $60/year. Let’s contrast with an engagement ring of the same value (which could be pretty lean for an rock, let’s face it) and a two year engagement (the longest I’ve heard of). Works out to $600/year! No contest!
Of course, we had custom bands made, so I’d alreadygone through all of that in my head. (And I didn’t have an engagement ring. And the engagement was only three months long. And I asked him to marry me. And I wore red. So I’ve bucked all sorts of trends…)
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:22 pm
Way to go, Kourtney! And I agree with you, as well. People (sometimes) feel the need to dump two months salary into an engagement ring, then they buy $50 bands. That’s a little nutty, too.
I think we can all agree that weddings make people do and buy things they wouldn’t otherwise do or buy
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:53 pm
So what do people think about matching bands?
I’ve noticed that many of my friends who are married do not have matching bands. For me it was important that our bands match, in form and metal. (Which proved a great design challenge - however, fabricating them has been my fav part of the soon-to-be-over wedding planning process)
August 3rd, 2006 at 5:19 pm
You know, you can eBay Mokume Gane rings for $200 or so and pick the pattern and metals you want. I’ve had nothing but luck with eBay jewelry so far, including custom pieces, and I’m seriously considering it.
August 3rd, 2006 at 5:25 pm
I am pro band matching in a YMMV way. To me, it’s important, but I don’t think not matching the bands will put you on the road to divorce.
Are you making your own bands, SJ?
August 3rd, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Not cheap, I’ll grant you.
August 3rd, 2006 at 7:12 pm
GreenKarat is usually wicked expensive, no matter what you’re ordering. I’ve found custom MG for $800 or so.
August 3rd, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Beautiful. I could see this as an upgrade ring…say around our tenth Anniversary. By then I very much doubt I’ll be wearing my engagement ring. I’m so hard on jewelry, I’ll be down to some poor, weathered band.
Seriously, I have at least three rings in my jewlry box with the bottom of the band worn all the way through. (Granted, none of them are titanium or anything.)
August 3rd, 2006 at 8:05 pm
NTB - Yes! Finished our Pt bands about two months ago.
August 3rd, 2006 at 8:27 pm
SJ: THAT IS *SO* COOL!!!!!!!!!
August 3rd, 2006 at 10:31 pm
You can get some really interesting combos in mokume gane, a couple I know got their bands in iron and silver about two years ago. It’s really interesting seeing how the metals interact differently with their chemistries.
There’s a gold/copper alloy used pretty commonly called shakudo that can look black depending on what it is treated with. It looks utterly stunning paired with rose gold and/or a white metal and I’ve been harboring the secret desire to get wedding bands (if ever oh ever the day comes) in some combination thereof.
It’s probably a good thing I have tiny hands.
August 4th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Dang, sterlingspider, the pieces with the shakudo look like animal prints! That’s neat!
August 4th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
My fiance and I are wearing matching “engagement rings” of some random silver metal with some random black metal sandwiched in between. Got them at a body jewelry shop
We went with matching titanium bands because I am so not a rock girl, so we just got two men’s bands (my hands are not the delicate) and ran with it.
But I am eyeing the mokume gane as perhaps a 10th anniversary surprise down the road. (The advantages of wearing nearly the same size rings.)
August 7th, 2006 at 10:09 am
I’ve been looking for a replacement for my custom crafted ring that I lost - this looks like a great technique! But with the price of gold what it is, they better have pre-made some in order to be able to afford anything. I couldn’t go back to the same goldsmith, becuase the cost of the ring would be 6x what I paid for it 6 years ago.
August 13th, 2006 at 5:00 am
Hi all - I have been researching these mokume gane rings - and you can get bands for loads less than 1600 bucks (I found mine at about 900) - always remember if you are dealing with someone who makes them, you are buying their time and work - it’s negotiable just like any other labor: if they are having a slow month and need to make rent, well…you get the picture. Good luck!
August 23rd, 2006 at 12:35 pm
I am getting one of these for my fiance. He’s half Japanese so I thought it would be kinda of a cool thing for him. After much searching for a reasonably priced one I found this website. I really liked the way these looked.
http://boonerings.com/mokume.htm