turned cherry wood bowl

Key Ring Ornaments

There has long been a tradition of placing ornaments on rings that hold keys and other valuables. In Japan a money pouch would have a netsuke carved of ivory or other material attached to the draw strings. Often these were objects of great beauty and craftsmanship. Subjects were drawn from nature and sometimes were comical.

Contrast this with plastic or metal do-dads of our current key ring ornaments or blatant ads. I thought it would be nice to take some olive wood scraps and make a shape that was friendly to the hand and smooth to the touch and fasten them to the key rings with a piece of rawhide cord.

I use mine all the time and really appreciate its warm feel in winter when the metal ring is as cold as ice. It can also serve as a worry bead when your hand is in your pocket.