Blood Bath and Skinny Dipping Rings Feature a Tiny Swimming Pool for Your Finger

Because high fashion is something I probably won’t ever understand, Studio Cult is selling rings that resemble tiny swimming pools. Available in Blood Bath and Skinny Dipping varieties, the $375 silver rings feature little resin-filled pools, complete with a ladder and diving board. And just $375 apiece? I only wish I had twelve fingers so I could wear more than ten.

I’m not sure about the Blood Bath version (it’s a little morbid for me), but I could see myself wearing the Skinny Dipping one and daydreaming about it being summer in the middle of winter. I keep telling my wife we should move somewhere warmer, but she keeps reminding me moving costs money, and I refuse to part with my Beanie Baby collection. They’re going to make a comeback; you just watch.

Different strokes for different folks, that’s my motto. Maybe you’ve been waiting your whole adult life for a little $375 swimming pool ring filled with blood. Who am I to judge? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I totally am, but who am I to? I’m just a guy waiting for them to make a hot tub version.

This Japanese artisan has devised a technique to make real leather looked like beautiful grunge silver




By meticulously adding pieces of silver foil to leather, Kyotonese artisan Hiroto Rakusho gives the material an appearance that’s absolutely unmatched. A natural hide looks metallic, almost futuristic, while still possessing the qualities of leather, like its flexibility, and its ability to patina over time. The RINPA Silver Foil Leather bags are a combination of things – Haute fashion, Japanese craftsmanship, and a strange steampunk grunge-ish aesthetic. Never did I expect myself to say this but they go together pretty well.

Designer: Hiroto Rakusho

Click Here to Buy Now: $198 $330 (40% off). Hurry, limited to only 60 units.

The RINPA Silver bags are a result of a collaborative effort between Rakusho and Hishiya CalenBlosso, a company that manufactures kimono accessories in the traditional Japanese style. The bags are quite a deviation for both of them, but show how two creative forces can collide to create something new. The process of metalizing the leather, for the most part, is entirely done by hand. Rather than going for commercially available artificial leather that’s been sprayed with a synthetic silver coating, the RINPA Silver series stays truly authentic to the materials, using real leather and even real silver and gold foils.

Rakusho lays down the foils swatch by swatch, gently pressing them onto the leather with a brush. He then peels the back-layer of the foil off, leaving the thin metallic film stuck to the leather. For a distressed appearance, Rakusho brushes on the foil, creating an appearance that’s unique to each bag. It’s a technique he inherited from his father and perfected over time. It’s also a technique that Rakusho says has been in severe decline as people are much more comfortable with synthetic PU leather that’s just been spray-painted with a metallic finish. Now, his foil-layering technique is mostly used in art restoration, where Rakusho is quite the legend. In particular, his high-resolution facsimile of the National Treasure “The Wind and Thunder Gods”, dedicated to Kenninji Temple, is famous for its precise reproduction of the original texture, using his own developed foil technique.

Tote Bag MACHIMURA 3.0 Bag

Laptop Bag MATSUYAMACHI 2.0

The RINPA Silver series of bags come in four styles – a large handbag called the Passport 3.0, a shoulder-slung Laptop Bag, a Tote Bag, and a super-slim Paper bag. The PASSPORT 3.0 is a part of Hishiya CalenBlosso’s crowd-favorite Passport series. It comes with a hidden pocket at the bottom of the main pocket, where the president of Hishiya would often store his passport. The biggest in the series, it holds everything from your laptop to your documents, tablet, phone, and a bunch of other belongings. For something even more compact yet spacious enough to fit your laptop, there’s the Laptop Bag known as the MATSUYAMACHI 2.0, a compact, comfortable bag for professional women, with space to fit your laptop and other work essentials.

Tote Bag MACHIMURA 3.0 in Mixed color

The third Tote Bag is a common classic. Named the MACHIMURA 3.0, it features a large front pocket and a simple design in which the foil surface pattern stands out the most, and is perfectly sized for day-to-day use. The smallest/slimmest in the series is the Paper Bag, or the TAIRA4, which is as slim as a few sheets of paper when empty, but expands to hold your belongings, thanks to a hidden gusset at the base of the bag.

Leather paper bag TAIRA4

The RINPA Silver series of bags come in a variety of patterns too, combining silver-layered leather parts with black tanned leather. The beauty in the way they’re made is in the bag’s evolving aesthetic. Leather patinas with time, and Rakusho’s foil-layered leather is no different. However, the foil’s marginally uneven thickness causes it to fade/patina very differently. Each bag looks unique when you buy it, and even more so with use. The bags are built to last but are also designed to age gracefully like any authentic leather bag.

Besides, the square-shaped outline of the foil swatches is visible on the bag’s surface too, giving it an incredibly alluring grunge appearance that never goes out of style. For people looking for something more eye-catching than the silver, there’s even the Gokusai Gold Leather special-edition limited to three units per bag. The Gokusai Gold Leather series comes with a shimmering gold foil, along with a beautiful combination of other colors, in a bespoke composition that’s unique to you.

Click Here to Buy Now: $198 $330 (40% off). Hurry, limited to only 60 units.

Batman Engagement Ring: If Batman Ever Proposes to Catwoman

Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle have been dancing around their relationship for as long as I can remember. I think it’s about time that Batman got down on one knee and asked Catwoman for her hand in marriage. Sure, there was that time when Catwoman gave up her life of crime and married Batman back in 1955, but that took place in an alternate reality on “Earth-Two,” so that doesn’t really count.

Seriously, put a ring on it, Bats. I’ve even already picked one out for you.

Among their various wares, Canadian jewelry shop Geeky Rings sells this sweet Batman-inspired engagement ring. This particular ring is made of gold with a bunch of bats flying around the band and holding up a ruby red gemstone at its center. The ring can be special ordered in other gemstone colors, as well as in white or a rose gold and silver combo, and an 18K gold version. If you’re looking for something that captures the “dark” aspect of The Dark Knight even better, they also sell a murdered-out black version.

Prices for the Batman engagement ring start around $550 and go up to $930 depending on the materials used. That’s chump change for the Wayne family, so you’ve got no excuse, Bruce.

Now, I wonder if this is the ring that Peter Parker gave Mary Jane back when they got married in the 1980s.

You Can’t Pay the Iron Price for These Incredible Game of Thrones Pens

If you’re a Game of Thrones fan who loves to write notes and send them by raven, then Italian writing instrument maker Montegrappa has just the perfect pen for you. It is called the Winter is Here edition.

The pen has an extremely intricate exterior that makes it a work of art, carved from pearlized great celluloid and “enveloped by a masterful study in the ancient art of lost wax casting.” It is a beauty that’s for sure.

The Night King and a White Walker are engraved on the pen’s barrel with ice-blue apatite crystals for eyes and on the pen’s cap, and the ice dragon Viserion is carved in precious metal, over a ring of blue-crystalline hand-glazed flames. The dragon wraps around the pen cap and the head with the tongue of ice is the pocket clip.

It is available in your choice of fountain or rollerball, and in sterling silver or solid 18K gold. The silver model is limited to 300 units, while the 18K gold has an ultra limited run of just 7 units.

These pens aren’t cheap, mind you. The sterling silver version is €4,500 (~$5,080 USD) a pop for the fountain and €4,050 (~$5,570 USD) for the rollerball. The gold one will cost you €48,000 (~$54,270 USD) for the fountain, or €51,000 (~$57,680 USD) for the rollerball.

[via Mike Shouts]

Tiffany & Co. Building Blocks: Like LEGO for Rick Kids

You know Tiffany & Co? They’re the ones that make all the expensive jewelry and accessories for rich people. I’m pretty sure that you and I aren’t even allowed to utter their name aloud unless our bank account hits a certain threshold. Well, now they are getting into the rich spoiled brat market with Tiffany sterling silver building blocks. Think of them as luxury LEGO.

These deluxe building blocks are not actually toys. We think. They look like the toy bricks we all know and love, but instead of round studs, these ones have square studs and are made of sterling silver and American walnut.

Naturally, they are also expensive. They’re priced at $1,650 for a set of 10 bricks. The 10 pieces include three 2 by 2 blocks (0.62” square), three 2 by 3 blocks (0.93 x 0.62”), three 2 by 5 blocks (1.55 x 0.62”), all in sterling silver and american walnut wood. The last brick is a single 2 by 5 block (1.55 x 0.62”) in all sterling silver.

They are numbered and lettered and you can personalize them with an engraving of up to three letters as well. That costs an extra $25 ,which is nothing to anyone who is buying sterling silver LEGO blocks. Damn rich kids and their gleaming silver structures!

[via The Sun via Mike Shouts]