permanent neck ring?

hello, I'm looking for info on permanent neck rings, i.e. a thin band of metal welded around the neck. The inquiries I've made so far (mainly at piercing/tattoo shops) have been met only with strange looks and shrugs. I was going to try to find an open-minded jewelry designer next...any pointers? (San Diego area) Would silver work? I haven't figured out the details of the actual welding operation yet, thinking it would come together when I met the right person to do it for me. I've thought about this for some time (years) as far as safety, health, etc and can't think of any reasons not to go through with it. The permanence is a significant element to me, so I'm not really interested in a ring which could be taken off.

thanks for your input; I've come up empty-handed so far

Have you thought about as you get older and your neck size changes as they invariably do?  If you do it in silver

I don't know anything about permanent neck rings, but I do a lot of welding. If all you want is a thin band of metal welded around your neck, you don't need a jewelry designer. Why not ask an artist who works in metal?

I would advise against silver for a couple of reasons. First of all, many people develop reactions to nickel over time. Even if you can wear nickel with no ill consequences now, this could change. Also, silver is fairly malleable, so your ring would probably become oval-shaped and scratched fairly quickly. I weld with fairly low-grade steel, but I wouldn't advise you to consider this for long-term wear either. I've never welded titanium (it's rather expensive), but I do know that it's lighter in weight and stronger than silver, so you might consider that.

Anything that you can put on someone can take off. All it takes is some hardcore boltcutters.

Hope that helps,

-CJ

What you want to do is talk to a jeweler who does custom work. I have had a permanent bracelet for over two years and have conversed with other that have permanent jewelry for much longer. (See http://www.geocities.com/dbbrk/bracelet.html for details). You will probably not what to use silver because of the tarnish that long term contact will cause, however 14K-18K gold works very well, a couple of old class rings would work for a source of gold. My bracelet was made permanent by 'hard' soldering the two ends together, in a process which technically is called brazing. A picture is on the web page reffered to above. The whole process of fitting and brazing only took twenty minutes once the bracelet was made. I would be happy to give you more details if you would like to contact me.

D.

I agree with you Paul. The neck does get bigger as you grow older and silver is not the right metal to use. Stainless steel would do.far better. I have tried to do the same thing with nipple rings and my PA. Nobody would do them so they would become permanent. Maybe somebody out there knows where it can be done, but I am tired of searching so I gave up the idea.

Check out the Yahoo Clubs for some discussion of this topic:
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/neckrings