Sep 9, 2014 | By Alec
3D printed ring / Andrew Johnstone
At this year's Burning Man Festival, 3D printing played a large role in a unique wedding ceremony. For during their ceremony, the Scottish designer Andrew Johnstone presented his bride Jeri Schneider a custom-made, 3D printed white gold wedding ring. And moreover, a 0.32 gram Tranquillityite rock was set into it, a rock that enthusiasts will automatically recognize as a moon stone.
Now, a wedding at the Burning Man Festival itself isn't so special. Every year, dozens of couples get married at this annual counterculture arts festival held in the Black Rock Desert, which can found about 100 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada. But this particular ring did make the wedding of Johnstone (52) and Schneider (54) an event that will overshadow many other Burning Man weddings to come.
The wedding, as photographed from a drone above the ceremony. Eric Cheng
The artist Johnstone was responsible for the design of this year's Burning Man, which came in at 105 feet and weighed approximately 70,000 pounds. Before it was set alight at the end of the festival, the pair tied the knot at the base of this monstrous statue in a joyous ceremony surrounded by friends, family and festivalgoers.
The idea for this very special ring has been floating around since the 2013 festival, when the Man contained a small piece of meteorite. And when the pair got engaged, Johnstone immediately saw a link between meteorites and his bride-to-be, who works as a science teacher. As Johnstone explained to Cnet, Schneider is 'a science teacher and not a diamond girl, who would think a diamond was frivolous, and wasteful.' Furthermore, Johnstone added that 'as an artist, I can't [just] buy a ring out of a tray...That's not me.'
Johnstone therefore got in touch with a meteorite dealer in Hawaii, who also provided the piece that was included in the 2013 Burning Man. One of the pieces that was extraordinary enough, was this piece of lunar regolith that was chosen, a piece of the moon that had fallen as a meteorite in 2006. 'It's one of the only samples of lunar regolith not owned by NASA'.
Johnstone playing the bagpipes as he awaited the arrival of his bride-to-be. John Curley
3D printing was chosen to design the ring, and Johnstone got in touch with the former jewellers behind Mind2Matter, Rod Wagner, Justin and Sarah Kelly. This small 3D printing company designed the ring, which features a design of a hand grasping the moonstone. The design was made using Sketchup and Maya software and cast in white gold.
Bringing all these elements together, this is truly a unique and unusual ring. As Johnstone remarked, 'What better for a science teacher?' While it will be quite difficult to recreate this project on account of the moonstone, this wedding ring nonetheless illustrates that wonderful things can happen when a creative idea is combined with computer design and 3D printing technology. And fortunately, the newly wed Schneider reportedly loved the ring and exclaimed to all who listen, 'Other guys promised me the moon. He gave it to me'.
Schneider reacts as she learns the provenance of the rock in her wedding ring. Daniel Terdiman/CNET
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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I love that ring! Such a good idea
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