The Touch Of Love: One-n-Only Fingerprint Rings

1st Picture: Metal Clay CaptureTechnique

2nd Picture: Hand Engraved Technique

3rd Picture: Digital Machine Engrave Technique

"Why would you ever put a fingerprint on your wedding rings?!" my cousin brother asked with doubtful eyes twinkling..... How should I make him understand about this very important issue - a unique wood grain resemble human texture means? (especially to fellow ladies?) 

In terms of sentimental value - a unique and meaningful piece of jewellery is always a huge preference. A genetic generated barcode from our loves one that is possible own by ME exclusively....  unexplainable sensuality feel... not to mention the beauty of each unique fingerprint pattern and the touch of  texture on your wedding ring.

We have been researching this particular technique for months. The crucial part is to capture each individual fingerprint as natural as possible. Meaning the actual dimension and the actual texture must is our 1 st consideration. Then the second important point is the ring quality in term of finishing (i.e. fingerprint texture will be enhance more by mirror finishing - and to get a mirror effect the metal itself has to be strong enough) and the ring surface structure must be smooth  after the fingerprint engraving. (we do not want dented surface that produce from metal clay technique)

There are a few ways to produce it e.g. place your fingerprint mark by physically stamp on a metal clay, hand engrave or machine digital engrave. Below are comparison based on the outcome of fingerprint capture and the metal finishing quality.

1st Picture: 

Metal Clay Technique is quite simple to produce which capture exact fingerprint. Due to the limitation of material hardness, this technique can't produce good mirror finishing. I will say not even moderate quality polish/mirror finishing. This is why you will never have the "expensive" jewellery look but a street jewellery effect.

2nd Picture: 

Hand Engraved Technique create the fingerprint texture on ring by using specific craving tools.  This is a time consuming and highly skill needed job but the outcome is quite organic that does show only 50 to 70% similarity of the actual fingerprint. Due to the carving is done by bare hand which the crafter must good eyesight and stable hand skill. The skills to control the craving depth of each tiny lines of fingerprint is so details that years of experience is necessary to created something near perfect.

3rd Picture:

So we settle down with this perfect technique - Digital Machining Technique. The different size of bandwidth custom made ring is handmade that produce a solid base for fine fingerprint engraving. (if produce by casting there will be porosity issue) Harder metal meaning better mirror polishing. Better finishing meaning sharp contrast between detailed fingerprint texture with the metal surface. That will make the ring looks elegant and dramatic. And results of computerized craving, you will get exact your fingerprints that seems gently touching on your rings - how unique is that!

Fingerprint or thumbprint jewellery design is quite common in the US and European markets. And their price is relatively high after material cost deduction.  The minimum price starts from RM 1690/pair (USD 520) onwards just for a sterling silver or 925 silver ring. 

As from us, we want to offer more and better to our customer. With the price of RM 1200/pair comes with anti-tarnishing material i.e. Palladium Silver. (Learn more about this metal here) You will also have the choice of different color materials like 18K Rose, Yellow and White Gold.

Owned this One-and-Only Fingerprint HERE

Some other design of fingerprint rings from our Facebook Page: Custom Made Jewellery

Let age be no excuse....

What will you do to gain knowledge? Will you drive 182 miles or 292 kilometres from Penang to KL? 

At the age of 60+++, what will you do as leisure? Will you learn hand skills from scratch? 

Josef Bronner will...

A German senior engineer cum GM who sign up "Basic Jewelry Design and Smithing Course" with MC Square Studio. 

Travel back and forth, spending 20 over days with us to create his series of master piece. 

You must have these ingredient to make the course a success namely passion, time, money and diligence.

Josef Bronner has these all (^.^)

After the course, he will be leaving Malaysia - a place he has spend almost his entire life and back to Germany 

Me, Chin, Lizzie, Dawn and Wei will surely missed him much - a humble senior citizen.

This quote from Henry Ford most well describes him:
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."

Spot the teacher and the student :)

Amazing piece crafts from wax....

Pink Silver -  I call this "Happy Metal"

Josef Bronner has good polishing and crafting skills

Inner Peace Seeking Moment - Mix Media Charms Pendant

idea recording

combination of silver and brass

Just realise - to materialise our idea is an inner peace seeking journey. When reading from paper the world chaos seems like a never ending story. And the story became a real horror. The weak and small are always the victims of the violent and hatred. As a 3 children mother, I was so terrify to accept this fact. 

When in such emotional condition, I choose to ease myself by writing, singing, dancing, drawing, watching tv bla bla.... But when the negative feeling is still there, I turn to God for HIS guidance!

Design description: 

The round crooked background silver plate is the current world with confuse lines criss-crossing all over created by hammering technique. The texture was emphasized by blackening technique.The original sketch was a round structure, but I was not satisfied with the outcome. Turn to use heavy duty scissors to cut and trim the round onto crooked.shape until it represent my though of the confusing world, then I stop.  The flame shape brass plate holding colours cubic zirconia representing 5 of us: black is the father Chin, white is me, blue and pink is Lizzie's and Dawn's favourite colour. And lastly the green prince of us at the bottom of all stones. We hope to be the light that walk the talks of GOD's teaching. At second though the flame plate is also like hands holding together when you carry something precious. Symbolized GOD's love and teaching hold all us together to face the current and future challenges .

We finally did it - Wood Ring Project!

the raw wood before treatment

Two tone jewelry really looks wonderful

the wood natural grain enhance the beauty of the ring

All the while I think wood should be pair with metal to enhance its grain beauty as well as to make it more elegant. We were planning to make something out from wood only the matter of time. Finally there came this  lovely lady same "taste" as us who want to make the special wedding for her future husband.
I personally prefer Ebony wood but the colour is to dark for the customer.
So Chin went to source for different local hard wood and finally settle with "Chengal". This is a kind of wood with rich resin which means more "tahan lasak" to water. We did some treatment on the wood before going for setting. Chin broke 3 pieces of wood rings before succeed. To enhance the wood grain texture, we applied some wax on it. The wax will also act as a protector to the wood.

Source from Malaysian Timber Council www.mtc.com.my

Why Chengal hard wood ?

Chengal wood is one of the hardest wood found in Malaysia. It comes with densities of 800 to 1,120 kg per cubic metre at 15%, moisture content. It is naturally durable, containing substances which repel wood-destroying agents. It can safely be used without preservative treatment in all climates. Main uses are in heavy construction and flooring, railway sleepers, door and window frames.

On top of that, every piece of Chengal Wood Carving retain the value over the years, because  it is a piece of art work, not just a piece of wood.

simple wood ring sets with palladium silver

beautiful two tone colour design

Crazy Project - 700 Pieces of Brass Pendent Delivered In 10 Days!

the 1st art work presentation

the final product

Material: Based brass with silver plating
Necklace: 90cm length Stainless Steel 

 This mission impossible was completed in the month of early Sept, which is less then 3 weeks from design confirmation to final product. No doubt 3 weeks delivery is always our practise, but this time we are talking about 700 pieces of big and small pendants with necklace. In fact, from mold to casting then to the actual polishing was less then 10 days due to casting failure. Another challenge was the job has to be done with less then 2 and a half full time workers. All I can do was the CAD designing and the mold part, then the rest has to pass to Chin. He worked like zombie for 2 and a half week. The toughest part of the whole project was the 4 x 4 cm pendant finishing.The fishing task was 3 times of 2 x 2 cm one. If time was long enough, we will be able to produce a better results. Sign! So we decided to be firm next time, to make sure more time spear for the manufacturing process. One and a half month time, AT LEAST!

Touch By Passions

"Protections Shield"- a sensuous hammer texture pendant design by Caroline for her mother

"Ying Yang" -  masterpiece design by Caroline for her Tai Chi Master

"寿桃"-

Peach Pendant

classical design birthday gift by Irawati for her grandpa

Amoeba ring design by Irawati (set with CZ) 

Irawati very first piece of "Silhouette Butterfly" charm - finely crafted

"Moon Walking" - Fabiana very fist design 

 Those beautiful works are done by three of MC Square Studio students. All come with passion to gain knowledge for jewelry making. 

 Caroline - a physicist cum dancer who took 2 hours each forth and back trip just to attend the classes. ["Thanks" to KL traffics!!! :P] Jewelry making was her childhood dream and she manages to fulfil it at the age of early 30s. Since this is a right timing and opportunity,  nothing can stop her from making her dream come true.  During the whole learning process, she has to let go some techniques like soldering, due to her back injury. Chin and I were touch by her hard working attitude, she did a lots of practise on brass sawing before settling on silver plate. And the end results are stunning. (as per pictures) She dreams of these beautiful pieces. And managed to capture into her sketch book the middle of the many nights . And she truly believe that this pendants will help to protect her loved ones in a way, I think the same too. Cause those pendants were created out from her "sincere heart", and that can be feel from the people who received it.

 Irrawati - a charming young lady travel all the way from Indonesia just to learnt about jewelry making. She spent 8 days with us to learn about basic CAD (3 hours morning class) and silver smiting (3 hours afternoon class) - Intensively! She is a smart and fast learner. Chin named her - the most talented metal smiting students.  I still can remember that moment when she first did her sawing. I thought Chin was doing the sawing cause when listen to the sawing rhythm, it was continuously without pause and full of confident. No breaking of single saw plate.  And her first masterpiece - Silhouette Butterfly charms was splendid. She always complaints "This is hard" but in the end she still mange to did it well - I meant very well! The most gifted attitude she has is being a good listener. She listens, asked questions if got doubts and digest then executes well. I think these are the most important character of being a fast learner - passionate, hard working, humbler and a good listener.

 Fabiana - a housewife who taking care of 4 kids, 1 dog and two cats(?). I like to describe her as supermom. Besides, of being a driver, chef, house keeper and etc., her energy in jewelry making and designing never fade but double.  Her great passion of making her own jewelry designs is always there and her design ideas seems fall from the sky. She has all the character of being a professional jewelry designer. 

 Passions is a positive energy that can be feel by people around you. It is like a smile or laughter that make others happy too. To be passionate is the great instinct to do things right with all our might and heart. 

Dangling Rainbow Parade

Chin and I worked till 2am before gluing the last piece. Frankly speaking, I enjoyed doing this. Really fun looking and touching so many sparkling stones with stunning colors. I got the romantic feel when surrounded by them. Although they were heat treated genuine stones. Namely Garmethvst, Honey Quartz, Smoky Quartz, Blue Topaz, Lemon Quartz, Onyx , Rose Quartz , Challedony , Pink Amethyst , Chalcedony , Rose Quartz, Smokey Quartz, White Topaz   and Blue Topaz.

Door Gift - Mother of Pearl with Stamping Brass Plate Inlayed

The pendent original logo pattern was hand engraved and blacken a bit with black ink. (The ink even smear around the engrave logo :( ) When it comes to hand engrave the person who handle the engraver must be very skillful or you will get amateur results. Chin has this sparkling idea of metal inlay which make the mother of pearl more presentable. He calculated the whole cost and client agree to pay slight higher for better results.

The brass stamping mold is best option for small production which the cost is much more lower compare to EDM mold. In fact, when producing steel stamping mold the quantity of production has to be high. And when it is use for minor production, then I will say the mold is under utilized.

We have tried two type of metal i.e. brass and pure silver as inlay. Both designs present different color matching but both looks great. At the end of the day, client picks the pure silver stamping plate. 

A Gift from God

She is my daughter-Lizzie, 5years-old. She is a marvelous gift from God. We start our R & D when she was six months old in my tummy. The whole journey of our career and taking care of her, gives an unforgettable memories in my life. She make me become a down to earth human being, learnt to love and to be love. Yes,  the way God loves. She remind me of gaining back "things" that I have lost - the pure heart, the sensitivity,  the peaceful mind and the clear instinct. 

I enjoy every moment I have with her.(Especially the first six years of the child.) We love to communicate and talk with sincere heart. There will be no secret in life, nothing she won't understand. Just the way of explaining. I think this is the vital part to prepare her to the realistic world. 

To live with kids, is to lead a simple but fruitful life.

Palladuin Silver Ninomiya Enamel Pendants