A Modern Stainless Steel Ring Box

A couple of weeks before my brother-in-law's wedding last Saturday, Paul and Che Lai were reviewing their day-of timeline with me, and describing their many wedding details. The son of a couple in the wedding party was the ring bearer, and so I asked what he was going to carry the rings on. They said that they didn't have time to really think about it, and would probably just have the ring bearer carry the jeweler's ring box down the aisle.

I knew that they only had a couple of weeks left until the wedding, and still had many last minute things to accomplish, so I offered to make "something" for them that the ring bearer can use to carry their rings. They took me up on my offer, and I said that if they didn't like it, they could just use the jeweler's ring box.

Now, it's not like I make things like these every week. But, it was an opportunity for me to be creative and try to come up with something hopefully great, which I always love to do. Their wedding theme was modern, with colors of gray and mustard yellow. I first thought about filling a 5"x 7" silver shallow box (which I already owned) with dark gray river stones, and then tying the rings on yellow ribbon coming out from the center, with possibly a fresh yellow cymbidium orchid on the side. After thinking about it more though, a 5"x 7" box is actually quite large, and that much of an area of stones for a 6 year old to carry might be heavy and a would-be-disaster if it was accidentally flipped upside down.

So, it was time to look for something smaller. I was NYC's floral district, and found the perfect box for $8 at Jamali Garden (149 West 28th Street). It was a 3"x 3" stainless steel box, which really fit their modern theme well. Along with some yellow grosgrain ribbon from M&J Trimming (1008 Sixth Avenue) and a bunch of little marble stones, I had everything I needed.

When starting to construct, I began by attaching the ribbon to the bottom of the box with some tape. Then, I crumpled a bunch of magazine pages and started to fill in the box slowly, taping down the pieces as I moved up in the box. The reason for the filler is so the heavier stones are only along the top of the box. If the entire box was filled with stones, it would be heavy for the ring bearer, and it also would be hard to glue everything down if there were only all loose stones. After the majority of the box was filled with paper, I used some foam material to cover the paper. Paul used this material to line the drawers in their kitchen, and had some extra lying around their condo. Then, I filled the top of the box with marble stones. After I figured out how many stones I needed to cover the area, I dumped them all out, and then started to individually glue each stone down with wood glue.

Paul had some extra tags leftover from their out of town guest bags, so as a finishing touch, I placed one tag on the front of the box. Just to make sure that rings could be tied on properly, I borrowed the bride's engagement ring to test out the ribbon. It worked out great, and after seeing the final product, Paul and Che Lai were really happy with it! Here are some photos of my ring box project.

Doesn't it look like the perfect ring box for a modern, gray and yellow themed wedding? They actually liked the stainless steel look so much, that they went back to Jamali Garden and got the matching 8"x 8" stainless steel box to hold their wedding cards at the reception. If you would like some help creating pieces for your own wedding, contact me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com.

~Emilie