Octopus Jewelry

1. Anthony
   May 31st, 2008 at 12:48 pm

   You just throw it in a special plaster called investment and let it dry. Then, throw it in a kiln at 1400 degrees and burn out the flesh. Melt in some silver, and presto.

2. dr. menlo
   May 31st, 2008 at 1:46 pm

   Looks cool but can it be done with killing the octopi? Who knows that octopi are smarter than dogs? When I worked on fishing boats up in Alaska fishermen would tell tales of how smart they were, how they would know where they were when caught and try to get out. But there was also a Michael Crichton book I was reading at the time (before he went nuts), Sphere maybe, that talked about how smart octopi were. I couldn’t wear something or give it as a gift something that was smarter than a dog. Deserves better.

3. Peach
   May 31st, 2008 at 3:51 pm

   This is actually weird, in my opinion. A bit disturbing, with, you know, the fact that real octopus are used.

4. Anthony
   May 31st, 2008 at 5:25 pm

   Dr Mento, ever eat bacon? Know how smart pigs are?

5. Justin Lynes
   May 31st, 2008 at 6:24 pm

   I’m not a big jewelry wearer, but I’m totally lusting after these rings. If only she made cufflinks…

6. Justin Lynes
   May 31st, 2008 at 6:30 pm

   Also, take up your moral dilemmas with all of Asia, I really don’t think they have had a problem eating cephalopods, and sometimes dogs for that matter, for many many generations.

7. Emily M
   May 31st, 2008 at 6:57 pm

   Oooh that’s so nifty

8. Tempscire
   May 31st, 2008 at 7:16 pm

   How awesome. I’d wear it.

9. Evil Pundit
   June 1st, 2008 at 1:01 am

   So when is the Japanese sex toy version coming out?

   My … friend … wants to know.

10. Ajan
    June 1st, 2008 at 6:27 am

    i wonder if they would be able to make spoons out of small tortoises, ear rings with lil fishes and also garden fountains with dolphins.. don’t you think so?? It would be a cool evidence to show that the person was related to the sea..

11. Ursula
    June 1st, 2008 at 6:36 am

    The thing is, a person with any sculpting skill at all could make something like this without needing to harm an octopus. Seriously, look at it: a tube for the tentacle, and then a bunch of circles stuck on, for the suction cups. A second-grader could sculpt that. Even if they’re buying dead octopuses, and not actually killing live octopuses for this process… Why bother? Just sculpt the darn things! It’s an intersting-looking object, I like the idea of octopus-themed jewelry… But using a REAL octopus for this is just gross.

12. Pete
    June 1st, 2008 at 8:14 am

    Kudos to Ursula for not falling for the oh-so annoying [and incorrect] pluralization “octopi”. Octopus doesn’t come from Latin, so the -us doesn’t go to -i in the plural. But even if it did, it’s an english word (no roman ever said the word octopus), so it follows the usual rules for pluralization.

    The only alternative plural you could possibly use is the ancient Greek - which is where the ‘pus’ comes from. It means ‘feet’, and the plural is podes. So you won’t hear me rant if I see the word ‘octopodes’, but I’ll still think you’re annoying

    As for the ring, I think it’s beautiful. I don’t see anything wrong with it - as long as the jeweler isn’t catching the animals for the sole purpose of casting their little legs.

13. Miss Cellania
    June 1st, 2008 at 8:30 am

    Would it be OK if the jeweler is buying them at the fish market for the sole purpose of casting their little legs?

14. Ali S.
    June 1st, 2008 at 10:57 am

    For the Jules Verne in all of us.

15. Anthony
    June 1st, 2008 at 11:49 am

    Sorry, Ursula, you’d have to be a world-class sculptor in order to pick up the surface detail of that tentacle.

    Sculpting wax isn’t as simple as just mushing it around like an autistic kid as you seem to think. That’s like saying anyone could carve David, you just chip away all the rock that doesn’t look like him.

16. Glasses
    June 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pm

    I was recently devastated to learn the plural was not ‘octopi’. And then I read an example in which ‘octopoda’ was used and this I can get down with. And I eat octopus.

17. avraamov
    June 1st, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    Anthony - burning the flesh out of the investment would probably leave too much residue even at 1400 degrees, so you’d get inclusions in the silver, or just areas missing. also going through the lost-wax process means you can sculpt exactly what you need to happen - i have a feeling that an octopus tentacle wouldn’t cooperate that well. it also means you can make copies…

    silver is usually cast in a centrifuge to make sure it gets right into the investment - the amounts used for a ring. are too small to ensure gravity feed

18. Anthony
    June 1st, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    Lost wax does not insure multiples. You lose the wax you’ve just carved. You could use a silicone mold to cast your wax, but that’s expensive, more expensive than octopus legs anyway.

    Having cast insects, paper, corn husks, branches, and other organic materials in bronze and silver, I am confident you could burn out a small part of an octopus.

19. Ursula
    June 1st, 2008 at 5:38 pm

    Anthony - I have no experience sculpting in wax, but plenty of experience sculpting with Sculpey and other materials… and I can tell you that sculpting tentacles is wonderfully simple. I have to fight the tempation to put tentacles on every little monster I make, because tentacles are a cinch and they always look deceptively complicated and fiddly. First I’ll make a bunch of little circles (the suction cups) and fire those, then I’ll make the tube of the tentacles and I’ll stick the fired, firm suction cups on, and fire that. Presto: a tentacle! And that surface detailing would also be easy to duplicate with a toothpick or pressing in a piece of some other material.

    I’m assuming (and hoping) this artist ISN’T killing the octopus, but they could avoid any ethical questions (and boost their crafter street cred) by sculpting the thing instead of using animal meat.

20. Soaked In Sin
    June 2nd, 2008 at 9:45 pm

    I just got the same necklace from her store for my birthday - TWICE! I love her work!

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