More clasps with potential?
http://shop.rings-things.com/cart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=1227&idproduct=11934
http://shop.rings-things.com/cart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=1228&idproduct=11870
Well, for one thing my engagement ring was about $80 and sterling silver, and my wedding ring was under $10, so while they had sentimental value, it wasn’t something that would be super costly had I damaged them. The main difference, though, is that I’ve gotten back into doing art now. I’m about to finish my undergrad stuff, and then I’m going to grad school, and then I want to start a career as a studio artist. This involves lots of things like hands full of wet plaster, paint getting on everything, harsh solvents, using belt sanders and such that could easily scuff up a ring if you held your hand the wrong way, etc.
So basically, when I was married before, I wasn’t really doing much art except on the computer, and the ring was much less valuable, so it wasn’t nearly the same issue.
The other thing is that I’m back into juggling regularly, and doing things like passing clubs is murder on rings. Catching them repeatedly in your hand like that… I remember in high school when I was also really into juggling, I actually deformed a ring so that the palm-side was flat and not round, just from the pounding of the hard handles of the clubs in my palm. My fiancé is also a juggler–we met at a juggling convention–and so I’m juggling a lot more now, whereas I took about a dozen years off entirely when I was married before and didn’t juggle at all.
So… lifestyle changes that make for a more hazardous situation for the ring is what is prompting this.
Functionally they’re on the right track, but they’re a little too utilitarian for my taste. Whatever I end up with, I’m hoping that it won’t look stupid by itself when the ring isn’t on it as well, so something a little more decorative would be better.
I know you’ve kind of dismissed them already but I’d suggest you try clever clasp. I’ve got one and it’s great, you can attach it to any chain you already have and it has a security lock that you screw closed so it won’t come open accidentally. You can buy them off ebay individually for very little (I got mine for £3.95 plus postage) and love it, taking off my chain take five seconds now.
Well if it screws closed once it’s connected, that helps… but it’s still rather ugly (by itself–it would be fine as a clasp, obviously). Keep in mind that whatever I get will be dangling on a chain around my neck all the time, even when there is no ring on it…
But the clasp is at the back, do people normally see that? Isn’t that normally hidden under your clothes/hair?
I’m not looking for a clasp to close the necklace. I’m looking for something that would hang as a pendant in the front.
Oh… I’ve kind of completely misunderstood the whole point of this thread then. Sorry.
Slinks out
Wow, monstrosity is right! Gah! But yeah both of those show the kind of bar that I’d want. Except I’d need silver or white gold… and not overseas shipping.
Congratulations on your engagement.
I have some skin issues that do not allow me to wear my wedding band. I have it on a leather thong (a thin cord you sickos :)) around my neck, secured with a cow hitch/choker knot. The knot can be tied/untied without taking the thong off my neck. Very secure, I haven’t had the ring fall off in the nearly ten years I’ve been wearing it.
It does require a flexible cord that won’t kink or object to tight knots.
Thanks for the congrats! 
I don’t really want a cord (and I don’t do leather). I just don’t really like the way that looks. I’m pretty specifically looking for something that would go on a chain.
I work in a lab and have gloves on all the time, or am constantly washing my hands, so I didn’t like wearing my engagement ring.
Frankly, I just stopped wearing the ring, left it safe at home and only put it on for special occasions, vacations etc. It was the only solution that worked for me.
Have you gone to a jewelry store (or a jewelry counter) and looked at what they have to offer? Tried anything on?
No. I’ve mostly been looking online. I don’t really have time to go “browsing” in real stores. I virtually never go shopping at brick-and-mortar stores anymore except the grocery store and the drug store. Especially with having to drive to them to get there, and all the time it takes and it’s so hit-and-miss if you’re going to find something or end up having wasted your time…
When you get done solving this one, I’ve got 10 pounds of shit I really need to fit into a five-pound bag.
That’s a heavy bag. What’s it made of?
I think you should take some existing tech and improve on it. E.g. maybe the carabiner, which is secure. But maybe electroplate it in gold? And apply your own artistic touches to signify the new life you anticipate…maybe you could encrust it with some other symbols?
Then I think you should patent them, offer them for sale, and make a zillion dollars. Then you should send me my cut
Or maybe this is why I’d never make it as an artist… 
And I’ve got 14 k of g in a…something or other.
I happened to be in Michael’s (craft store) last night looking for some specialty safety pins, among the jewelry fixings, and happened to see toggle-closure sets pretty much exactly like these.
I don’t know what if anything you’ve done about this, so far, but if you happen to be near a craft store that sells jewelry-making supplies, you could drop a couple of bucks on such a set, wire it to your necklace with thread or beading wire, and try it out for a couple of days. That’d be an inexpensive way of finding whether it would work, before you lay out money for a solid gold version, for example.