The Rich Story of Mokume Gane Rings
If you've ever spotted a Mokume Gane Ring and other kinds of this Japanese metal process Jewelry, you have seen something special. This fascinating style of metalwork possesses an undulating and arresting appearance that sets it apart from the common looks of gold, silver and platinum Jewelry.
To check out the superb art of a genuine Mokume artisan, drop by The Chris Ploof Studio. Chris' jewelry is popular for women and men's wedding rings and numerous other purposes. Chris Ploof also creates jewelry with Damascus steel and meteorites. He's unquestionably from another universe.
Mokume gane (mo-KOO-may GAH-nay) is a style of Japanese jewelry making which uses a variety of mixed-metal laminates, in which soft metallic components and alloys are mixed and layered togehter to create an original look. When the metals are melted down, they create liquid phase diffusion bonds that will not fully melt. Then as the precious metals cool, a Mokume gane artisan then turns and rolls the metal to develop a trademark look. Because of the many ways to merge metals and the distinctive techniques each artisan uses, the result is that no two Mokume gane jewelry pieces are alike.
Mokume gane has been called kasumi-uchi, translating to "cloud metal" and itame-gane, translating to "wood-grain metal." These descriptive words reflects the sophistication and variety of a cloudscape or the gorgeous ways wood grain can differ. When you look at a Mokume Gane ring, it is easy to understand how Mokume got its alternate names.
The method was discovered in 17th century Japan. The metalwork was put into use for striking sword fittings, but when firearm modernization came to Japan (guns), Mokume gane artisans had to find a different avenue for their trade. Their solution was to design decorative pieces instead.
Traditionally, gold, copper and silver were combined in different ways creating alloys called shakudo, shibuichi, and kuromido in Japanese. These gold-copper, copper-silver, etc. alloys were the first metal combinations used. Today modern Mokume gane techniques encorporate such metals as titanium, platinum, iron, brass, bronze, sterling and nickel silver and assorted colors of gold.
The technique of Mokume gane is fairly complicated, and only skilled artisans can confidently ply the trade. Commonly the modern Mokume gane artisan will use specialized equipment to laminate Mokume. After a method of heating and clamping layers of metals, a billet is shaped. A billet is simply a block of metal. This billet is then forged, rolled and otherwise manipulated to come up with the motifs. And this leads to brilliant an unique Mokume Gane rings and jewelry...
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