We know that designing your ring can feel daunting with so many options to choose from so we have put together this guide to explain the options.

Ordering Online~ Please see our design guide to choose your rings size, width, pattern, palette, and any stones or add ons that you might like. From there reach out to us and we can build you a quote, discuss timeline, and send an invoice for 50% deposit to get your order into our work queue.

Seeing Rings in Person~We make every piece to order so we don’t have a large collection of rings on hand, once the ring has been made and photographed its off to its new owner! We do have an intimate collection of already made rings that are ready to size and ship. These samples may not necessarily be the pattern, size or width that you are interested in but you’ll be able to see what metal colors look like in person and get a feel for Arn’s craftsmanship. You can choose which ring(s) you would like to see from our available now section which is the inventory we currently have in stock. You can find a link to our available rings here. If you would like to see any of these rings in person please know that our showroom operates on limited hours and is by appointment only. The fastest way to be in touch and to book an appointment is via email.

Showroom Hours of Availability

~by Appointment only~

9am – 2pm, M-F

Call us at: (401) 287-8050

Email us: info@arnkrebsmokume.com

Seeing Rings By Mail~ To see any of our available now rings by mail please reach out to us and let us know what you are interested in seeing. The cost of the Ring Sample mail program is $100-$300 depending on how many rings you would like to see. Up to 3 at ($100 per ring) This fee covers shipping and insurance and is non-refundable. If you decide to proceed with your order, we will apply $75 per ring towards your order. Rings may be kept for up to 48 hours. We ask for a copy of your driver’s license and your credit card info to authorize the full retail value of the rings in the event that they are not returned to us with 48 hours. Please be mindful that these rings are your responsibility while they are in your possession.

Mokume is a beautiful craft dating back to 17th century Japan for use in sword-making, characterized by a woodgrain like appearance of many layers of different metals fused together to make one piece. This specialized technique of successfully forging together sheets of metal into one billet so that they are bonded and structurally sound requires great skill and years of experience as a metalsmith. 

And with this method of creating and patterning rings by hand, either through forging or carving, there is an inherent variability to how the appearance of the ring will ultimately turn out! One of the things Arn loves about mokume and the practice of making it is that not all aspects of how the final ring will look is controllable, which makes each one truly unique. We know that you love this aspect of mokume as well.  Nature never makes the same thing twice and this is one of the most striking and under-recognized aspects of what we attribute beauty to. Much like life, handmade things are unpredictable and beautiful.  

When you order your ring with us there a few paths to consider. We can help you unravel the work of choosing by walking you through the process a bit here.  We offer Custom and  Bespoke options. 

To help you visualize, here’s an example. These two rings are both 7mm wide, made in our Firestorm palette (14kt red gold, 14kt yellow gold, palladium and sterling silver) and Twist pattern, with a low dome profile and etched and oxidized finish. There is no difference in the metals used or the proportion of the metals in the billet used for each ring, but they each have little details and differences that make them unique and distinct from one another!

Firestorm in particular of all of our billets has a range of variation that can be more noticeable and less controllable, as it is a four color combination, rather than two or three. As in its name, this palette is meant to be a whirlwind of color all mixed together to echo the complex and mesmerizing varieties of nature. 

Custom vs. Bespoke 

Our bespoke options are studio-approved alterations to existing AKM designs. For example, say you love the pattern but would like a different stock palette that we offer; while custom orders are designed from the ground up! This requires much more communication time as well as time at the bench, than a bespoke alteration.  

Here are a few examples of custom designs. This can include custom patterns designed by Arn, a custom billet different from our usual stock options, a custom setting for an unusual stone, the possibilities are wide open!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful February, and we look forward to creating with you!

Much Love,

Arn Krebs Mokume

Flow is one of Arn’s specialty forged patterns! This is one of his most complicated patterns, so he wanted to document some of the process to show you how he brings it to life. Come along on the journey from stock to ring!

Some assembly steps, those little rods will be the knots, and the flat stock will be the linear part of the mokume pattern running around the ring!

Here Arn is torch firing the stack to fuse everything together:

And then it’s over to the press to compress the stack, check out that satisfying squash!

Here’s what the stock for the ring looks like reduced down: 

And Arn continues to shape the stock into the dimensions for a ring:

Here he is etching the silver: 

And oxidizing the silver:

And the final reveal!

Arn just completed this beautiful tension set style ring! We love tension settings, they create such a fantastical illusion of the stone floating. Arn documented his process in creating this design, from stock billet to forming and patterning, to setting the stone and finishing the ring.

This ring also features one of Arn’s signature patterns, Guri Bori, inspired by the natural landforms and topography of the western US. The added thickness needed for this style of setting really helps to create that mountainous look!

Check out this look behind the scenes of Arn patterning a woodgrain ring that has a stratum layer! This is an added detail usually seen in our twist pattern rings, but Arn had been interested in implementing it with the woodgrain pattern for some time. 

This is a Flame palette ring (14kt red gold and silver), and the stratum layer is 14kt yellow gold. 

The final product!

We have noticed many questions lately regarding the quality and longevity of mokume rings that contain silver, so we wanted to take some time to talk about why we choose to include silver in our mokume palettes, and the benefits this metal brings to creating beautiful and heirloom quality rings.

One of the primary reasons we use silver is for visual contrast! Silver is able to be either the lightest or darkest color in a metal combination, and either option contrasts extremely well against the golds and palladium we use in our palettes.

Shown below here is the same ring, made in our Firestorm palette, but with two different finishes. It’s amazing how different a ring can look just by darkening the silver layers with oxidation! The silver layers go from practically white to almost black in color.
Read more about our different finishes in this blog post.

Silver is also very ductile, it has great bonding and forging characteristics, both of which are very beneficial in making strong and stable mokume billets!

One of the core values of our business are to make mokume as affordable as possible for as many people as we can. We want to create high quality pieces at a reasonable price and keep mokume accessible when possible. Using silver layers helps greatly in lowering the production costs as opposed to making solely all gold mokume.

Will the silver layers oxidize/tarnish on their own?

No, with regular wear the silver should not oxidize on its own, silver actually only will change color if left to sit for extended periods of time or if exposed to chemicals like sulfur or chlorine! Well water may contain sulfur, so that would be something to watch for, but if your ring were to accidentally get oxidized it’s very easy to remove. Any commercial silver cleaner can easily take it right off.

The silver layers also do not compromise the structural integrity of the ring or affect the wear. It takes more than a lifetime of wear to truly wear down metal enough to compromise a ring, and this applies to precious metals like gold too. Silver wears very well, and the silver in our rings is completely nickel free, as nickel sensitivity/allergy is very common, even often leading to people thinking they have a silver allergy, but really the culprit is the nickel content!

If you’d still prefer a silver free ring, we do offer all gold palettes! We have our Blaze and Cinders palettes, which are combinations of 18kt Yellow Gold, 14kt Red Gold and 14kt Palladium White Gold.

We also offer custom billets if you want to create your own combination!