“We are all a little weird, and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love”
Back in April, my cousin Katie’s husband, John, contacted me and said he wanted to have something special made for their first year anniversary coming up on June 1st. John, being the very thoughtful person that he is, wanted to incorporate paper which is the traditional first anniversary gift. As you might know, I don’t generally work with paper too often, but I was completely open to the challenge.
Now, I realize that it doesn’t sound practical, paper jewelry. My first thought was necklace… I could draw something cute… put it in a handmade locket… BRILLIANT. Then I remembered, Katie can’t wear necklaces. No matter what the material it always irritates her skin. I begin to panic, and I turn to John for some help. He agrees that a necklace isn’t a good idea and he thinks a ring would be best. A lightbulb goes off… Katie is an English teacher, she loves reading. I can put a quote on the ring in paper. I can set a resin over the paper so it’s set in place in the ring and can’t get damaged. I draw up a quick sketch and send it over to John, who is totally into the idea. Now we just need a quote…
A day or two later John messages me with one of the best quotes I’ve seen in a long time:
“We are all a little weird, and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love”
He’s worried that it’s too long to fit on a ring, and I panic because it would probably take a set of 10 rings to fit the entire quote. But I love it, it’s perfect and John comes up with a way to make it work. “How about we just use, mutual weirdness?” he asks me. I agree that it is perfect and lets be real for a moment, mutual weirdness is definitely the coolest and most unique way to say “I love you”.
This sterling silver ring was hand fabricated and formed in sterling silver. I printed the quote on a piece of paper and set it into a rectangular seat that I had cut into the ring. I placed a 24 hr clear epoxy resin over top to preserve the paper. I gave the ring a bright finish on the outside and a satin finish on the inside. I added a couple of mixed metal stacking rings in silver and rose gold fill so Katie could play with the design and change it up as she liked.
Making this ring was really special for me. I feel like Katie and I are the same person sometimes. I constantly kid my mom that we are actually sisters. She is one of the most hilarious, smart and beautiful people I know. I’m so lucky to not only have her as family, but as a friend too. I love all my cousins so much, and even though they probably don’t know it I miss them. I think that if I lived back in New York we would all be hanging out and spending more time together because I genuinely think they are all amazing. You may not be able to choose your family, but if I could, I’d easily choose them every single time.