One RingSauron created the One Ring in secrecy, so little is known of how he created it. Gandalf was able to do research in the libraries of Gondor to determine the nature and look of the One Ring, but not much more on it’s forging. Luckily, our good friends at Badali Jewelry are much more forthcoming in how they make this very special item. Below is a video of just what goes into making the One Ring, minus the Malice of Sauron being added to it.

Now that you have seen the process, we asked the artisans at Badali what kind of timeline it takes, and here is the response from Janelle Powell:

From start to finish it takes us about a week to make each item, but that is because we are doing each step in batches to maximize our work time.  The actual time spent on each One Ring of Power is approximately 3-4 hours of hands on work time (meaning its in the hands of a jeweler and actively being worked on).  This does not include time for the investment to set up (approximately 1 hour), time in the burn out ovens (an overnight process), cool down time (15-20 minutes), time in the pickle (varies), time in the ultra sonic cleaner, and time in the tumblers (anywhere from 1hr to overnight).  If the item in question is one of our Gollum Gold 24k Gold Plated One Rings these are sent out of house to be plated which takes about a week and a half.  Once they come back from the plater we inspect each ring to make sure that the plating was done properly, string them on a chain and pack them in their draw string pouches.  If there is any enamel or paint work to be done on the ring, this adds anywhere from 10 minutes – 2 hours of time as well.  All and all, it’s a lengthy back breaking process, but the results are well worth it and ensure that we produce the highest quality items for our customers.

Badali Jewelry will be at Wondercon this coming weekend, and can be found at booth #1404, just a few spaces over from TORn’s booth at #1504. Make sure to stop by and say hello, check out their amazing work, and enter their drawing for some free jewelry. You can also visit them on the web right here.

 

Smaug the Magnificent indeed!  We had some incredible entries to our ‘Show us your passion for Smaug’ contest – it was as difficult to pick winners as we expected it to be. The panel of TORn staff judges really enjoyed seeing entries from all over the world; we received art work from countries such as Serbia, Australia, China, Slovakia, and Thailand, to name but a few! The dragons came in all shapes and sizes; as well as beautiful paintings and sketches, we received photographs of sculptures, decorated cakes, costumes, LEGO creations, knitted and sewn wyverns, and even a candle holder, a carved pumpkin and a jewelry Smaug!

Continue reading “Show us your passion for Smaug – contest WINNERS”

memadness2014-champion-fb The results are in! After three weeks of intense competition we can finally crown a winner! In the end, Thranduil — the Sindarin king of the Woodland Realm — has taken the crown in our 2014 Middle-earth March Madness contest!

We received more than 20,000 votes in the final, and Thranduil (Thrandy to his nearest and dearest?) soundly defeated his worthy opponent Legolas (aka Leggy) with 64.18% of those votes! I guess it is good to be king!

We’d like to thank you all for participating in this year’s event and hope you had a fun time discussing the finer points of your favourite Middle-earth characters and objects, regardless of whether you viewed the contests as a physical battle, a game of wits, or a popularity contest (all valid ways to vote!). It’s also a neat way to explore what makes these characters such interesting and vital parts of Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Continue reading “Congratulations to our 2014 Middle-earth March Madness champion: Thranduil!”

oakentoon_logo_by_peckishowl-d6ljafpWelcome to this weeks episodes of the Oakentoons 🙂

Don’t forget to check out the Oakenstills and Oakencrossovers while you’re there and to say hi to Peckish Owl.

As always, just click the images to go to Peckish Owls site to see the full size images (you’ll also need to click on the longer ones once you’re on her site to see them in full size).

Continue reading “Oakentoon #49 – It Runs in the Family, Oakentoon #50 – The Desolation of Smaug, Oakentoon #51 – 60 Years Earlier”

RichardArmitageDigitalSpyInterview02DigitalSpy have posted this video of their Twitter Q&A with Richard Armitage.  In it they ask him about what we can expect to see in the Extended Edition of Desolation of Smaug and what he’s most looking forward to seeing in There And Back Again.

Continue reading “Richard Armitage talks about the upcoming EE and There And Back Again”