drove 1,100 miles in 48 hours. that isn’t much if you’re a big rig driver, but when you spend 24 hours in new orleans in the middle, well, yeah. been up over 40 hours now now now…
bought a gorgeous ring in the french market thursday. hand made sterling silver and brass by a lovely lady named chong, who was taught silversmithing by her father. their family has been selling unique rings and more for over 30 years in the french market.
once i had a beautiful fleur de lis ring i bought at the same open market in 2004. we briefly left nola for hawaii for nine months. the woman and i were angry at new orleans when we left, and i threw my ring into the warm south pacific ocean one afternoon after a long swim with dolphins seeking sand dollars.
i’ve regretted that otherwise heavenly day and have been looking for the right ring since we returned to our drunken city of jesus and curse words shortly before the levees broke.
i found that ring this thursday.
perfect.
the woman who made it is named chong and she makes only three to five of each design, ensuring a unique ring, not some junk every other vendor is selling from a slave labor shop in cambodia. it’s sad, but the old french market is gone and you have to look hard for the truly american hand-made stuff. it’s there between the same rings that other jackwad was selling two booths down.
she seemed to think i bought my first ring from her father.
we found hand bound books, clothing and other jewelry, but only about one out of ten were truly hand-made by local artisans. the rest was stamped-out ****.
besides chong at golden wagon, where there were hundreds of rings in many styles with many stones, we found old school mardi gras party masks by “bedford falls headware” (chicks dig this stuff after a few daiquiris) and “creature mixed media mini worlds” by vinsantos. no website. just go to new orleans, grab a cup of coffee at cafe du monde (or a hand grenade at any number of bars) and make your way up the mississippi river to the french market.
here are more rings by chong. the empty spot is where mine was. her prices are great (an understatement) but i bet you five bucks you’ll get a nice discount if you tell her you read about her work here on bikerMetric. you can contact her at chong.yun at yahoo.com if you are not in new orleans but want a great custom ring.
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