This was the first time I saw a ring made from a coconut shell and
somehow blackened to look like onyx with a small wire of silver
embeded in the top. My customer had it for eight years and now it
finally broke in half and want me to find her another one like it.
Since I live in Tx. and their are no suppliers of coconut shells thick
enough to make a ten milimeter wide ring …does anyone have any
ideas where one might get a ring like that or a coconut thick enough?
Its amazing what we get ourselves into but hope someone out there
knows what I’m talking about or I will be forced to travel to the
south pacific coconut farms. Thanks Ron Kreml
You can use whatever coconut, even a small piece which then to press
several times into a cuttlebone fish until you have the desired size
and then cast. You can do that also in that Dutch sand called Delft.
By the way, melons with a net surface also make a very nice surface
for rings and earrings.
Ron, I think the ring you are referring to is made from a small
tropical nut called Kuna nut. Hi - Without seeing the material, Ron, it
is a little hard to tell. If it is very black it may even be black
coral. There has been much black coral used in jewelry. I’m pretty
sure the nut Jerry is referring to is the same as the “kukui nut” (the
Hawaiian name). Coconut is definitely a brown color - usually with
irregular flecks of an ivory color. Generally, kukui nuts are a lovely
dark brown color - or fairly solid blackish color. The nuts can also
be an ivory color - which is more rare. I have never seen kukui nut
made into a ring commercially. Also, I have never heard of dying
coconut (or kukui nut) - but then again, I am not an expert on the
subject. There is much altering of raw materials these days. Kukui
nuts are more commonly individually polished and tied in a lei
(necklace). The Kukui is the “candlenut tree” - Aleurites moluccana.
The oil from the nut was burned for light in early Hawai`i. There are
many other uses as well - but I’m sure this is where the name
"candlenut" originated. You are also welcome to communicate with me
off-line in continuing your search for the raw material. I know I
have the kukui nuts in a can somewhere - we used to drill a hole in
the nut and bury them and let the ants eat out the insides! Cynthia
(in Honolulu)