| February 28, 2023
One of the joys of having a collection is variety. Having lots of variety ensures that you will always be able to find just the right thing to fit your mood, so in this blog entry, we’re going to focus on a variety of materials that adornments are made of. With lots of options, you’ll never find yourself unable to find something to wear!
3D Print
As an avid maker, and all around handy guy, I’ve had the opportunity to design and print rings on my 3D printer. Depending on material, fill, and finish, a 3D printed ring is basically just a plastic adornment. The most common materials for 3D printing are PLA, ABS, and PETG when it comes to FDM and resin for higher resolution items. All of which are a very lightweight material that can get even lighter when reducing the infill settings.
An important thing to remember about 3D printed objects is that they are often porous and not water proof! This means that without a sealer applied to the adornment, cleaning it will be a challenge.
Aluminum
Aluminum truly is a wonder material. It is strong, light weight, and easy to work with. Adornments made of aluminum run the gamut as far as designs and options. Being made of a rigid but workable material allows lots of creative freedom for manufacurers. An obvious favorite in this space is Ballistic Metal because of the many cool options available.
When wearing an aluminum adornment, expect a rigid but non-weighty experience.
Gem
OK, well, I don’t think I have ever seen an adornment entirely made out of gems… but there ARE options out there that enhance a ring made of other materials such as stainless with gems. Putting a gem or otherwise sparkly/faceted object on a ring is a pretty good sign that it is made to be seen and is often accompanied by a polished and refined finish.
Glass
Very few manufacurers offer adornments made of glass or crystal. This can be slightly surprising because you would expect that a cock ring would look great when glistening and shimmering in the light… but, in practice, that isn’t how it tends to work out. Typically made from Pyrex glass, these adornments are usually dyed opaque or are otherwise clear. The opaque offerings can be neat, but other materials such as aluminum can achieve the same visual result when anodized or coated while being a much easier material to work with. When they are clear, the ring takes on the hue of your skin tone (no surprise) making it somewhat camouflaged.
Just about every adornment will warm to your body temperature, but there’s something about glass rings that seem to just feel a little different temperature-wise. This is a common observation with glass sex toys (but obviously more noticeable for ladies).
Jade
Like glass options, it is difficult to find a variety of jade adornments. What is particularly fun about jade is that it is a natural stone, so is quite novel to have been formed into a ring. Depending on the sourced material, jade can come in myriad of colors with highlights and veins throughout. In my travels, I’ve found only one maker that uses jade as a material for actual cock rings. All other examples in my collection are jewelry pieces have been repurposed, which often leads to a suboptimal fit and shape.
While one may expect a stone adornment to be noticeably heavier than other materials, my experience finds no noticeable difference. At the same time, natural stone is a sight to behold when given light.
Jelly
A lot of guys start out with “jelly” rings as their first adornments. It makes sense: they are VERY inexpensive and are incredibly flexible so fit is guaranteed. However, fit is subjective. Many times, a jelly ring is too stretchy to be able to restrict outflow effectively. Further, jelly rings are cheap by design - they do not last long and often just break.
For me, I’ll pass on a jelly ring any time. There are better and more durable materials that offer a stretch.
Leather
What goes together better than leather and motorcycles? Leather and sex, of course! While design options for leather adornments are relatively limited, there are many colors and accents available to choose from. In fact, a few sellers in Etsy are able to custom make any item they normally sell to your specification of color, texture, and button finishes - shout out to blue collar fetish wear and dog and hoop!
When wearing a leather adornment, be cognizant that leather is a porous material and can be challenging to clean without damage. Also, because leather rings require snaps or D rings to complete the loop, pinching can become a thing as your bits shift throughout the day. But… there is almost nothing better than a nice leather cock strap paired with a thick shaft ring!
Plastic
This earth destroying material is everywhere, so why not on your member? Plastic adornments are made from a variety of plastic types such as nylon or the aforementioned 3d printed types.
Although plastic is a light weight material that can be worked into any number of forms, I vastly prefer my adornments to have a bit more pizzazz than such a mundane material offers.
Rubber
A number of the cheaper sets available on the market are made of nitrile rubber. Being a rubber based product, the material can be dyed to practically any color - and that is exactly what you’ll find: a matching adornment for pretty much any outfit you can dream up. What is particularly worth noting is that various rubber options may offer a bit more or less give. Nitrile rubber will not stretch much at all whereas other types if rubber may. It all depends on the manufacturer. Practically all options are body safe and nonporous making cleanup a breeze.
Wearing a nitrile rubber adornment is an awesome way to get started in a wallet friendly way to discover your size and what you like. Unlike a metal ring, these kinds will flex with your body as you move, leading to a more comfortable experience during all day wear.
Silicone
Like aluminum, silicone is a wonder material. It’s hypoallergenic, body safe, and nonporous like aluminum… but it can ALSO stretch and flex! Silicone adornments come in a variety of colors and shapes as well as in varying degrees of flexibility. As a flexible material that usually has a somewhat luxurious velvety texture, these are often very comfortable indeed.
I strongly recommend a multi-pack of silicone rings for anyone getting started. They are comfortable, inexpensive, and do not stretch a lot, so are perfect for getting to know what your specific size is.
Stainless Steel
It is impossible to browse for adornments without coming across stainless steel as a material. It’s for good reason, of course: stainless steel will not tarnish, is nonporous, has weight to it, and can be finished with a polished, matte, or brushed surface. In my eyes, polished stainless visually outperforms all other materials for adornments that have a design calling for some “pop”! The shine cannot be matched by tungsten carbide because it is naturally dark while polished aluminum has a tendency to be too white. Stainless steel gives a distinct chrome like appearance. This ubiquitous material for manly adornments makes it the undisputed champion in terms of availability and variety of styles thanks to large manufacurer support.
While this great looking material can be found from many manufacurers, those sensitive to nickel plating may have a skin reaction to cheaper offerings. Also, because the adornment is made of steel, expect modest weight im the form of a gentle gravitational tug all day while wearing!
Tungsten Carbide
We come now to the absolute juggernaut of the materials: the weighty beast known as tungsten carbide! This dense material is what the tip of your saw blade is made from because it incredibly strong and hard. The density of tungsten carbide makes for an adornment unquestionably heavier than other material of similar size. In fact, expect it to weigh more than rings of significantly larger size! The weight of this particular material makes for a unique wearing experience. As with stainless, expect to feel the tug of this adornment all day. You just won’t forget it’s there.
At the time of this writing, tungsten carbide adornments all fall into the ultra premium category. The genre was invented and perfected by King Rings out of the US with Himeros Jewelry recently entering the scene from EU. Most of the offerings are based on widely available tungsten carbide finger rings, but are scaled to proportions for adorning your manhood. Because if this, expect drop dead gorgeous jewelry quality.
With such a heavy weight (and heavy price tag), it’s important to ensure you know your size well. These rings are wide (about 3/4") and have a generous height to give them this unforgettable weight. In fact, because of the weight and incredibly smooth jewelry level polish on the inside of the ring, I have taken to applying hockey tape along the inner radius to keep them from sliding off while flaccid during all day wear!
Wood
There is a lot of beauty in organic materials and, for some reason, a lot of us are particularly drawn to the beauty of wood. It’s surprising, therefore, that there are so few offerings on the market made from wood! A few of the tungsten carbide jewelry grade rings feature wood inlays, but there is presently only one active manufacurer making adornments from one of the world’s most versatile materials (sadly, the most popular options have seemingly closed up shop or pivoted away from the segment). In fact, right now I am wearing the custom Jameson barrel wood ring I commissioned with Tyler at Grown Rings to make over on Etsy.
A wooden adornment has a natural warmth to it - both from a visual and touch sense. Putting on a wooden ring after a hot shower will not be nearly as jarring as putting on a stainless, aluminum, or tungsten carbide ring that hasn’t been warmed, for example. When wearing wood, expect to find the weight equivalent of aluminum. They are light weight, but rigid… and are often a wonderful sight to behold thanks to the nature allure of stained wood.