My rings get a lot of attention. I'm not sure when my love of big rings started, but I always noticed how well they looked on me. I have really long hands from years of piano and rowing crew. Today, they just type, sew, draw, and make flamboyant gestures, so I adorn them accordingly. Definitely conversation starters, the rings are odd, fun, glamorous, and very very big.

My criteria for ring selection are 1) personality/size 2) color/construction 3) price. I spend less than $40 on each of them. Of course, a few others that are more expensive have snuck in from time to time, but only because I really love them. It's also a lot of fun to mix high and low - expensive rings with some really inexpensive ones.

In this first picture, the ring on the left was $5 from the bin at Marc by Marc Jacobs. It's black lucite with gold glitter. The center ring is made of blown glass. My Mom bought it for me on a cruise ship someplace. It's really big, heavy, and cold when I put it on. It has a black base with streaks of red and gold. The ring at right is a Louis Vuitton Inclusion ring from the first season they created the Inclusion line (maybe 2005?). It's totally beat-up and scratched now because I've worn it almost every day since the day I bought it. I also love it because while it has the LV fleurs inside, it doesn't have the "LV" which I think is so much cooler.

This is a Pianegonda ring I got years ago at a sample sale. There are seven separate rings that you stack all together. Each piece is shaped differently, so while they're meant to stack, they're also meant to be a little mis-matched which is fun. It's not super-comfortable though - all that mis-matching makes for a lot of weird space in the arrangement, so when I stack them all it's so stiff that it gets difficult to move my finger.

The rose-red and rose-white rings were discovered one day in a gigantic bowl at Forever 21. I found the white one, asked the cashier how much it was and she said "$2.99". "Great," I said, "I'll be taking that." I kept digging through the bowl of junk, found the red one, and gleefully added it to my purchase saying "I'll be taking this too."

Here's another set of cheap rings found here and there. The red lucite ring is another one from the Marc by Marc Jacobs bin, found the same day as the black one above. I also got the frosted lucite with rhinestones there on a different trip. The orange ring is one of my favorites. It looks like a piece of vintage bakelite since it has all kinds of swirls and variations in color. I think I got it at H&M for $3.

Here I am with my GI-normous Brazilian Agate ring purchased a few months back on Etsy. The designer behind BeijoFlor crafts the most amazing rings from natural stones. Rocks, really. They're bright, colorful, and completely insane in scale. So dramatic and fun, and really reasonably priced. It takes a few weeks for delivery since they're made in Brazil, but completely worth it. This is one of my favorite rings right now.

Here's a picture of my fabulous Kenneth Jay Lane insect rings (with my man-hands in full effect.) I love these little babies. They're so glamorous and cute, and the perfect mix of metal, enamel, and sparkle. They definitely get a lot of attention and they're classic KJL.

This is a new one - I just got this ring last month when I visited New York. Found in the fabulous Lori McLean boutique in the West Village, this is a creation of Hotcakes Design. Small images are framed by hand-cast black resin, inside of a clear dome. The effect is like a spyglass on your finger. I found a bowl full of these rings and spent about 20 minutes going through each one to find this piece. I really liked how this design was framed horizontally rather than vertically, and I loved the graphic quality of the black stag on pale blue and green.

And finally, we have the bling. The large "egg" ring at right is from Marc by Marc Jacobs. It's definitely an opulent eye-catcher, but when going out to a fancy event it's really all you need for jewelry. It's super heavy and a little bit big for me, so I usually have to wear it on my index finger. The two rings to the left are vintage and were at one time party of my Mom's collection from the 1960s. I'm not sure how they came to be mine, but they're pretty fantastic, especially when stacked together.

I'm always on the lookout for my next ring...and since I have a birthday coming up, I may have to treat myself to something new! Who knows? Maybe there'll be a Ring Collection II post coming up soon.