Alright folks, we need to get to the bottom of this. We all know this is the unicorn. The holy mystery of ring
work. George Balabushka's infamous gold glitter rings. Wedding band rings. Gold ribbon rings. Foily crap.
Whatever clever name you can come up with next.
I have spent some time trying to hunt this material down lately, with no luck. Apparently I am not alone. Pete
Tascarella told me he has been looking forty years. We have seen a few imitations, most notably the epoxied ribbon
used in some Adams balabushka (made in Japan) limited edition tributes:
Note: these imitations are no longer made, for whatever reason. The Adams tributes now have a cheaper looking
acrylic material.
There are a couple stories floating around of its origin. One, George bought the material at a plumbing supply
store. It was used in faucets and/or as a decoration to plumbing fixtures. This seems to be the most plausible
answer, and I even showed pics of the ringwork to my grandfather who was a plumber 40+ years ago, and he said the
material looked familiar and he remembers similar-looking "sticks" with plastic on the inside, he thought the
metal part is probably brass. The other thing I have heard is that it was used as a decoration for certain musical
instruments, such as an accordion.
Somebody has the answer! Pete Tascarella told me the following facts about the rings, and he has probably seen
more of them than anybody else so I think he would be the most qualified for this type of info:
I have seen similar-looking things, from olive oil bottle caps to garden hose couplers. But I have no idea how one
could finagle such a thing into a pool cue.
I hope that in this thread we can collectively figure this out! Thanks
work. George Balabushka's infamous gold glitter rings. Wedding band rings. Gold ribbon rings. Foily crap.
Whatever clever name you can come up with next.
I have spent some time trying to hunt this material down lately, with no luck. Apparently I am not alone. Pete
Tascarella told me he has been looking forty years. We have seen a few imitations, most notably the epoxied ribbon
used in some Adams balabushka (made in Japan) limited edition tributes:
Note: these imitations are no longer made, for whatever reason. The Adams tributes now have a cheaper looking
acrylic material.
There are a couple stories floating around of its origin. One, George bought the material at a plumbing supply
store. It was used in faucets and/or as a decoration to plumbing fixtures. This seems to be the most plausible
answer, and I even showed pics of the ringwork to my grandfather who was a plumber 40+ years ago, and he said the
material looked familiar and he remembers similar-looking "sticks" with plastic on the inside, he thought the
metal part is probably brass. The other thing I have heard is that it was used as a decoration for certain musical
instruments, such as an accordion.
Somebody has the answer! Pete Tascarella told me the following facts about the rings, and he has probably seen
more of them than anybody else so I think he would be the most qualified for this type of info:
- Ring is made of three parts
- The bottom is a slightly flexible canvas backing
- The middle is the twisted/colored foil material
- The top is sealed with a clear coating (possibly acrylic)
- The foily part is prismatic, meaning it changes color as the light hits it at different angles (gold/red/green)
I have seen similar-looking things, from olive oil bottle caps to garden hose couplers. But I have no idea how one
could finagle such a thing into a pool cue.
I hope that in this thread we can collectively figure this out! Thanks