Memento Mori | Ready to Send Ring | size 18 | olive green zirconia | Curiosity Cabinet

Will release on 26/27-09-26 to all visitors of the Duystere Markt Roeselare. Worldwide website release 28-09-26.

Handcrafted Gothic Memento Mori Skull and Bone Ring in Recycled Sterling Silver with Olive Green Zirconia | Size 18 | Ready to Send

This ring is a size 18 and the size cannot be altered. She is already made, set with an olive green zirconia, blackened and finished by hand. No production time, no eight week wait, she ships within 5 working days. If you need a different size or a different gemstone, she also exists as a made to order creation, available in every ring size.

The Essence

Skulls, bones, leaves.
Olive green zirconia in the middle of it.
Size 18, ready when you are.

Inspiration & Story

Memento Mori belongs to the Curiosity Cabinet collection, a realm built from witchcraft, folklore, natural oddities and the strange beauty of things we keep.

She began with a very heavy German book. Der Ring im Wandel der Zeit, a gift from good friends, mapping the whole history of ring making. The pages Kaat kept returning to were the memento mori rings: skulls, coffins, tiny bones worn on the hand.

The context is the interesting part. As the Renaissance loosened the church's grip, people started studying the world for themselves. Plants, anatomy, decay, all at once. So jewelry went botanical and skeletal in the same breath. Leaves and skulls, growth and rot, in one ring, and nobody at the time thought that odd.

Skulls gather around the zirconia, the shank runs into bone and creeping leaves, and the ring holds both halves: the part that ends and the part that grows over it. The recesses are blackened and the raised surfaces polished back up by hand, which is the only way to get sockets that read as sockets at this size.

This one wears an olive green zirconia, and of the three it is the one that commits hardest to the overgrown half of the design. Garnet sends this ring toward mourning. Amethyst softens it. Olive green pushes it straight into the graveyard being reclaimed by the field: moss on stone, ivy over a name nobody reads anymore, the slow green business of things going back into the ground. The bones and leaves on the shank stop looking like decoration and start looking like they belong to the same event.

A word about zirconia, because it deserves one

Zirconia has a reputation problem and most of it is out of date.

Start with the numbers, because they are genuinely good. Zirconia sits at 8 to 8.5 on the Mohs scale. Garnet is around 7 to 7.5. Amethyst is a 7. Peridot is 6.5 to 7. Which means that in this exact ring, in this exact setting, the zirconia is harder than most of the natural gemstones we could put in it. For a ring you intend to wear every day and not think about, that matters more than almost anything else.

Then there is what it does with light. Zirconia has a refractive index of about 2.16, which is higher than any natural stone in our standard range and not far off diamond at 2.42. Amethyst sits at 1.54. Garnet around 1.8. Refractive index is simply how sharply a material bends light, and a higher number means more of the light that enters comes back out at you instead of passing straight through. Its dispersion, the fire, the way white light splits into colour, is around 0.058, which is actually higher than diamond's 0.044. That is not marketing. That is a measurable property, and it is why a well-cut zirconia flashes the way it does.

So why did zirconia ever look fake? Two reasons, and neither one is about the material. The first is that colourless zirconia is permanently standing next to a diamond being compared, and it is very hard to win that specific argument. The second is that for years it was mass-cut badly and dropped into plated settings, so people learned to associate the stone with the cheap metal it arrived in.

Neither problem is here. Cutting has improved enormously, and coloured zirconia in particular reads convincingly because it is not imitating anything. There is no famous olive green gemstone this is pretending to be. It is simply an olive green stone, cut well, doing exactly what it is.

There is one honest trade-off, and we would rather tell you than let you find out. Zirconia is hard but it is not as tough as sapphire against decades of daily abrasion, so over many years the facet edges soften slightly and a little brightness goes. It is slow. It is also, incidentally, exactly what happens to amethyst and garnet, just for different reasons.

Memento mori was never only about death. It was about noticing that you are alive. Green is possibly the most honest colour for that, since it is the one doing the growing. The full history is in what memento mori actually means and why it ended up in jewelry.

People do buy this design as an engagement ring. Engagement rings without rules covers why the diamond expectation is younger and flimsier than most assume, and which type of ring suits your hand and finger type is worth reading before you commit to a size.

Made in our own atelier in the Netherlands, in real recycled 925 sterling silver. No plating, no filled, no vermeil. Which is rather the point: the metal is where the honesty question actually lives, and the honest breakdown of what those words mean is in solid gold vs gold filled vs vermeil vs gold plated.

Perfect for lovers of memento mori jewelry, green gothic rings, olive green zirconia, cemetery symbolism, botanical gothic jewelry, whimsygoth aesthetics, alternative engagement rings and witchy sterling silver rings.

Creation Details

Jewelry Type: Ring
Availability: Ready to Send
Collection: Curiosity Cabinet
Brand: Atelier Wolfstone
Material: Recycled 925 Sterling Silver
Gemstone(s): Oval faceted olive green zirconia, synthetic. Mohs 8 to 8.5. This exact zirconia, already set. Not personisable on this creation.

Weight: 5.25 g
Size: Ring size 18. This exact size only.
Sizing: Not adjustable. This ring is finished and cannot be resized. Every other size is available through the made to order version.
Personalisation: None on this creation. She is finished as shown.

Shipping Time: Ships within 5 working days

This is a Ready to Send creation. She is a variation of our Memento Mori made to order ring, already made in this exact size and with this olive green zirconia, so she leaves the atelier as soon as you order her. Need a different size, or a natural green gemstone, garnet, amethyst, sapphire? Go to the made to order version and build your own, in any ring size, with an 8 to 12 week production time.

Crafted using in-house digital and traditional techniques: 3D designing, 3D printing, casting, sawing, shaping, soldering, stone setting, engraving, blackening and polishing.

Every skull, bone and leaf was finished by hand. The blackening was worked into the recesses and polished back off the raised surfaces, and every prong was closed over the olive green zirconia at the bench by us.

Style & Wear

A gothic statement ring for memento mori, cemetery and botanical-decay-loving baddies, and a genuinely good alternative engagement ring.

She is detailed rather than tall, so she reads as substantial without standing far off the finger, and the shank narrows toward the back which keeps her comfortable for all-day wear. She stacks beautifully with a plain band and wants real light rather than flat light, because the blackened detail needs something to catch and because the zirconia is doing its best work when there is light to bend.

Olive green zirconia against blackened silver is the most naturalistic of our three combinations, so she sits beautifully with anything botanical: moss agate, wood, leather, forest green velvet, dark green nail polish. She holds her colour well under cool daylight, which makes her the most outdoors-friendly of the three.

Perfect for a proposal that was never going to involve a diamond, a milestone you chose for yourself, a walk through an overgrown cemetery, and any day that could use a reminder that you are still here.

Practical Notes

• Images are unedited and photographed in a light box and only lightly enhanced to adjust the lighting.
• Model pictures can be edited.
• Colors may vary slightly in real life.
• 6 months warranty starting from the day of delivery.
• Warranty covers defects in workmanship.
• This warranty is in addition to your statutory rights under EU consumer law.
• Always check gemstone hardness and physical properties to see if this gemstone suits you.
• Prices include 21 percent VAT.

Safety, Care & Documentation

For EU GSPR compliance, safety regulations and technical documentation, please visit:
Product Safety
Technical Documentation & Upkeep
Terms and Conditions
Terms of Privacy
Order Cancellation
Our Full AI Usage Policy

For warranty details, safe usage, sizing guidance and care instructions, visit our More page or our FAQ page. Each order includes a jewelry upkeep document so your creation can last for ages.

Questions & Answers

What does Ready to Send mean?
It means this exact ring is already made and finished. No production time. She ships within 5 working days instead of the 8 to 12 weeks a made to order piece takes.

What size is this ring?
Size 18, and only size 18. She is already finished, so this one cannot be made bigger or smaller. Every other size is available through the made to order version.

Can this ring be resized?
Not this one. The bone and leaf detail runs around a large part of the band, so there is very little plain metal to cut into, and resizing would distort the design. Order the made to order version in your own size instead.

Can I change the gemstone?
Not on this one. The olive green zirconia is already set and cannot be swapped. The made to order version lets you choose your own.

Is olive green zirconia a real stone?
It is a real, physical, properly cut and set stone. It is not glass, not plastic, not a coating. What it is not is a mined gemstone: zirconia is grown rather than dug up, and we label it as synthetic every single time, because you deserve to know which one you are wearing.

Is zirconia a good choice for a ring, or is it a compromise?
It is a genuinely good choice, and the numbers back that up. Zirconia sits at 8 to 8.5 on the Mohs scale. Garnet is 7 to 7.5, amethyst is 7, peridot is 6.5 to 7. So in this ring the zirconia is harder than most of the natural gemstones we could have set instead, and hardness is what determines whether a ring still looks good in ten years.

How does zirconia handle light compared to other stones?
Very well. Its refractive index is around 2.16, higher than any natural stone in our standard range and not far behind diamond at 2.42. Amethyst is 1.54, garnet around 1.8. Its dispersion, the fire, the splitting of white light into colour, measures about 0.058, which is higher than diamond's 0.044. That is why a well-cut zirconia throws the flashes it does.

Doesn't zirconia look fake?
Colourless zirconia can, and there is a specific reason for that: it is permanently being compared to a diamond, and that is a hard argument to win. Add to that decades of mass-produced stones cut badly and dropped into plated settings, and people learned to associate the material with the cheap metal around it. Coloured zirconia does not have that problem, because it is not imitating anything. There is no famous olive green gemstone this is pretending to be. It is just an olive green stone, well cut, being itself.

Is there a downside?
Yes, and we would rather say it. Zirconia is hard but not as tough as sapphire against decades of daily abrasion, so over many years the facet edges soften a little and some brightness goes. It is slow, it takes years, and much the same happens to amethyst and garnet by a different route. Sapphire at 9 is the one stone in our range that genuinely shrugs this off.

Why is this one less expensive than the garnet and amethyst versions?
Because of the zirconia, and only the zirconia. Same recycled sterling silver, same hand finishing, same two people at the same bench, same hours of work. A grown stone costs less than a mined one, so the finished ring costs less. Lower price, not lesser ring.

Can I get this design with a natural green gemstone?
Yes, through the made to order version. Green tourmaline and peridot are both natural options. Worth knowing that peridot is softer than this zirconia, so you would be trading hardness for natural origin. Both are honest choices, they are just different ones.

What does memento mori mean?
Latin for remember you must die. It sounds grim and it was never meant to be. The point was always the other half: remember that you are, right now, alive. That is why these were made as everyday jewelry rather than funeral objects.

Why are there skulls and leaves on the same ring?
Because that is how they were actually made. As the Renaissance loosened the church's grip on knowledge, people began studying plants, anatomy and decay directly, and jewelry followed. Botanical and skeletal in one object, growth and rot together, and nobody thought it a contradiction.

Does green mean anything in cemetery symbolism?
Green is not a traditional mourning colour, it is the colour of what comes after. Ivy in particular is all over Victorian gravestones, where it stood for fidelity and attachment, precisely because it clings and keeps growing over the stone. Green in a memento mori ring is the reclaiming half of the story.

How do I keep the zirconia bright?
Warm water, a drop of washing up liquid, a soft toothbrush, dry thoroughly. Most of the dullness people blame on the stone is skin oil and hand cream sitting on the underside, where light enters. Clean the back of the setting, not just the top.

Will the blackening wear off?
The recessed blackening is durable because it sits down in the detail where nothing rubs. Raised areas brighten over years of wear, which most people prefer, since the contrast that develops becomes yours. We can reset it if you ever want it back to new.

Will sterling silver tarnish?
Yes, all sterling silver does. Normal reaction to air and skin, not a fault. On this ring a little tarnish genuinely improves things. Your upkeep document explains how to clean her without scrubbing the blackening out of the skulls.

Can this ring be made in gold?
Yes, through the made to order version. We work in 14K and 18K as well as sterling silver. Message us and we will quote it.