Accessories: Jewelry: Owl and skull rings!

Okay, so here’s the thing with me and jewelry: I don’t wear very much of it. Right now I have three pieces I wear every day – a claddagh ring, a necklace, and a bracelet – and two of them (the ring and the bracelet) I only take off if they get in the way of applying sunscreen or hand lotion.

This is because I’m just not much for jewelry, by which I mean that I like pretty sparkly things in theory, but in practice they get on my nerves, in my way, or both.

Nonetheless, a couple of months ago, after a stranger complimented my claddagh ring, I found myself sitting around contemplating rings in general and wedding rings in particular, and how wearing a ring – any ring – is a good way to find out who is scanning your fingers. Sometimes, in my crankier moments, I am tempted to have “spinster” tattooed on my ring finger in big black letters. And from that cranky impulse sprang an idea: the spinster ring.

The first one I bought was from Duane Reade, please excuse the cell phone picture:

It lasted a couple of days before my constant fiddling nearly shredded the elastic in the band. I took it off to save it and put it aside. Meanwhile, I had done some Etsy window-shopping for cute rings, but exams and travel and various other things happened and the whole thing kind of fell by the wayside.

Then a couple of days ago Joy texted me to tell me she was sending me a present, and today these beautiful things arrived in the mail:

Owl ring, from A Goth Shop:

The leading edge of his eye-feathers (I have inexplicably decided the ring has a gender, and it is a boy) tends to catch on things, so I may have to swap him over to the other hand or keep him aside for special occasions, but still, I love it.

Monster skull ring, also from A Goth Shop, and my claddagh ring, which is vintage:

Tangent: things I have learned from photographing my own hands: 1) getting good angles is difficult and 2) why hello there, weird scars! If I remember correctly, the one on my left hand is from a surprise encounter with the sharp edge of a wall-mounted bathroom mirror, and the one on my right hand is probably cat-related.

Also, A Goth Shop has a bunch more AMAZING pieces, especially of you like octopi, mermaids, bracelets made from spoons, and things that are generally steampunk-flavored.