Recreating the Zissou Ring

[JohnGrimm]

Hey, first post on TRPF despite having lurked a good deal. I'm interested in making a ring similar to the one seen in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The ring seems like it'd be easy enough to make.

The ring seen in the movie.

There's also a guy on Etsy who's made some that look alright but he's charging 25$ a pop. Which is way too much for a ring that looks like I could probably just make it myself.

So do any of you have any idea on where I could start with this ring?

MOD EDIT: Image has been removed at the request of the image owner.

 

[DrMcoy]

LOVE this movie. I have made the ZISSOU shoes (modified Adidas Italias) and I have made many of the rings and sold them on ebay.

Here is what my ring looks like:

Life Aquatic Team Zissou Ring Replica Prop (07/13/2009)

To my eye, it looks like they made the ring from an actual vintage kids ring, which makes sense as Owen Wilson's character tells Steve Zissou he still has his junior Zissouy ring from when he was a kid.

You can still find these on ebay...they have a clear plastic lens on top and underneath is usually a cartoon character, but they often have pics of 1960s favorites like John Wayne, the Three Stooges, MAD magazine kid, etc etc.

These vintage rings often have subtle differences in side detail - some are smooth with no detail and some have lightly inscribed design.

It looks like they took one of these vintage rings, removed plastic lens, removed whatever was printed on it (soak in warm soapy water to dissolve the imprinted image on back of lens -- this takes some care so as not to scratch plastic lens) apply the ZISSOU logo, and then it appears they applied a small adornment to sides of the ring...perhaps they had to do this so it would fit on Owen Wilson's finger or just to add some frills to side of ring.

These vintage rings go anywhere from $10 to $40 on ebay, depending on the character in ring. THey come in a few different colors, but the ZISSOU ring in movie looks golden/bronze to me. I may have one left if you'd like me to make a ZISSOU ring for you -- just can't remember if it was bronze or silver tone.

The vintage rings have adjustable bands that will fit up to size 12 or 13 -- what is your ring size?

If you want more info, drop me a PM.

 

[nick daring]

The bits on the side look to be little metal dolphins.

Nick

 

[DrMcoy]

FANTASTIC EYE, NICK! I've looked at screen caps many times and could NEVER figure that out...I bet you're right. Probably dolphin charms or earring glued on by prop guy to give it a little extra flair. Now the hard part, finding dolphin charms/earrings that small (the ring is a child's ring, so they would have to be REALLY tiny).

 

[DrMcoy]

Okay, so I am crazy nuts about LIFE AQUATIC...as I mentioned, I have modified many pairs of Adidas Italias to match the ROMS used in movie, have a stash of red knit caps, modified the model kit of Calypso to look like Belafonte, modified a sea horse toy to look like crayon pony fish...and have modified many vintage kids rings to look like the Zissou ring worn by Owen Wilson.

I could never figure out what silver details on the sides of the ring were until Nick pointed out that they looked like small dolphins, which is exactly what they are. All this time I thought it was some little rick-rack or solder added to simulate detail...but upon learning they were dolphins, I hit the internet in search of something I could use to make my Zissou rings as close to screen-used ring as possible. I looked at a LOT of dolphin rings, charms, pendants and earrings...and I think I may have found an exact match. Here are some pics -- you can compare these to screen grab of actual ring at the beginning of this thread.

These are very tiny dolphin charms -- slightly hollow on one side. I had to cut off the little loop on top that was used to connect the charm to necklace or bracelet. If they are not 100% spot on, then they are very very close.

I had to bend the charm in a few places top make it fit the contours of the ring, most notably the snout and tail fins. I attached charm to ring with JB WELD. The ring pictured is one I use only for display with my other Zissou stuff. Not sure if I will attach them to the one I wear as I don't know if JB WELD will be strong enough to keep it attached should I ding it against anything.

I plan to make some up to sell...but they may be a bit more than people would typically wanna spend, but the vintage rings themselves are not easy to come by and go for $10 to $25. And I am not sure how to attach dolphins to an adjustable ring -- if you flex the metal band to make ring bigger/smaller, it will undoubtedly put stress on the surface of ring that the charm is glued to, and not matter how strong a glue you use, it is liable to pop it off. So if I sell any, I am likely to sell them as display rings only.

If you have a vinatge ring already and you just need the charms, drop me an email and I would be happy to send you 4 charms for a buck, or simply search for this on ebay: 20 SILVER PLATE 9x9mm DOLPHIN CHARM -- you can get 20 for about 3 or 4 bucks.

Let me know what you think of the charm modification and if it looks like a good match to screen-used ring.

 

[nick daring]

Awesome work! I need to build one too someday.

I also want to build all the nick knacks from Rushmore.

Nick