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The year: A time in an incredibly distant past.
A long long time ago--while Tyler-Baba's distant fifth cousin (Ali) thrice removed through marriage to a girl of lower class to which his parents strongly objected because of her connection to a street gang that called itself The Forty Thieves--Tyler decided in a heady moment of recklessness to become a jeweler. Not yet quite sure which direction in the world of jewelry to take ... Tyler-Baba began to read up on the subject ... and he began with rings ... and this is what he found:
A ring, began a tome, is a circular thing and because it has no beginning and no end it represents wholeness and eternity and endlessness of time. This little Tidbit excited Mr. Baba's son no end ... and so Tyler-Baba read on. The ring is a binding symbol which protects the wearer against evil and is often worn by married couples for its protective powers. These rings are quaintly enough called Wedding Rings.
From continent to continent continued the tome which was obviously written by a world traveler ... children are protected from malicious spirits by encircling their wrists with rings of string. The author of this piece extrapolates by conjecturing that these bits of string around the wrist would ultimately lead some enterprising spirit--perhaps even Mr. Baba himself--to creating rings of gold for the wrist.
Women in labor were to never take off their wedding rings a learned article warned ... for if they did they would run the risk of having demons and witches and other nefarious beings gain power over them. In certain parts of the world ... when one died ... a brass ring would be tied to one's arm before burial in order to ensure protection against ghosts.
I digress. Is there one amongst you who would misguidedly believe that the purpose of wearing jewelry is solely decorative as opposed to being totally utilitarian? Of course not. That would be daft.
Should a Chinese emperor send you a ring ... it was a summons to court. Should the ring be broken ... you were banished from the land. The ring ... Tyler-Baba began to realize ... truly made for a wondrous piece of jewelry. Of course ... the question arose ... how many rings does one need in order to ensure total protection from those of the netherworld who would threaten one's peace and harmony. Alas ... though Tyler-Baba did become a jeweler of some note in his community ... he was never able to solve the answer to this perplexing poser. This would be left to someone else.
The year: 1988. Wendy Ramshaw is inspired by a painting of Picasso's entitled: The Dream. She makes a set of forty rings thereby answering the question that tormented the now long deceased Tyler-Baba. These rings are made of gold and set with garnet and sapphire and moonstone and tourmaline and labradorite and amethyst. They are a sight to behold for I am sure there are few of you who would thing of buying a single set of rings constituting forty separate pieces. For those of you whose imagination may now begin running amuck wondering how to wear the whole set on one finger and how long does that finger have to be ... be assured that the set may be distributed among the many available digits one has privy to ... thereby enhancing one's prestige in the community as well as assuring one's protection against malevolent demons. What more can one ask for in life?
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And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
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