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This object consists of 3 parts, some of which may be located elsewhere.

Time Capsule

Finger Ring
2021 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Ruth Tomlinson is a jewellery designer and maker working typically in precious materials. Her work derives from close observation of the world around her and reflects her love of nature and her sensitivity to texture and colour. She trained initially in 3D design at Manchester Metropolitan University, then in jewellery at the Royal College of Art, London.

Her ‘Time Capsule’ ring brings together unlikely treasures gleaned along the Thames foreshore, found when she became fascinated by mudlarking during the COVID-19 lockdown. It is set with tiny beads of possibly Roman date, a panel of polished shell - perhaps an offcut from the button trade, a still-sharp shard of glass, and the spiralling shell of a tiny water snail.

It was made as part of a series of four unique rings each incorporating different found objects. Titled ‘OffeRings’, the intention was that the four would be thrown back into the Thames for future mudlarks perhaps to find. A romantic and whimsical gesture devised by Ruth to celebrate her twenty years as a London jeweller, it was documented in the Financial Times’s ‘How to Spend It’ magazine of 22 October 2021. The three other rings were indeed cast into the Thames, tied to flint hagstone weights; ‘Time Capsule’ was preserved as a reference point for the others and as a creative and individual response to COVID-19.

The ring evokes the constant human presence along the river, the debris of centuries, and London’s tidal hinterland with its ever-present ebb and flow. It speaks also of transformation and re-purposing the lost, the discarded and the overlooked.

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Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Ring
  • Pebble
  • Case
TitleTime Capsule (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Brief description
'Time Capsule' ring, designed and made by Ruth Tomlinson, 2021, a cluster of found objects from the Thames forshore set in gold, with a separate flint hagstone weight and a rectangular brown leather case lined with grey suede.
Physical description
An irregular cluster of found fragments set on a textured gold band. At the centre a curved panel of polished shell abutts a fragment of lime green glass, with tiny green glass beads, a ring of corroded metal and the curling shell of a purple water snail set alongside. The flint weight is irregular and river-worn, shaded in grey, brown and white. The hinged leather case is of rich brown, lined with grey suede.
Dimensions
  • Ring height: 13mm
  • Ring width: 20mm
  • Ring depth: 27mm
  • Hagstone height: 42mm
  • Hagstone width: 42mm
  • Hagstone depth: 53mm
  • Case height: 40mm
  • Case width: 52mm
  • Case depth: 33mm
Marks and inscriptions
(London hallmarks for 2021. Case stamped RUTH TOMLINSON)
Credit line
Given by the artist in honour of Christine Houghton and Alan Ward
Association
Summary
Ruth Tomlinson is a jewellery designer and maker working typically in precious materials. Her work derives from close observation of the world around her and reflects her love of nature and her sensitivity to texture and colour. She trained initially in 3D design at Manchester Metropolitan University, then in jewellery at the Royal College of Art, London.

Her ‘Time Capsule’ ring brings together unlikely treasures gleaned along the Thames foreshore, found when she became fascinated by mudlarking during the COVID-19 lockdown. It is set with tiny beads of possibly Roman date, a panel of polished shell - perhaps an offcut from the button trade, a still-sharp shard of glass, and the spiralling shell of a tiny water snail.

It was made as part of a series of four unique rings each incorporating different found objects. Titled ‘OffeRings’, the intention was that the four would be thrown back into the Thames for future mudlarks perhaps to find. A romantic and whimsical gesture devised by Ruth to celebrate her twenty years as a London jeweller, it was documented in the Financial Times’s ‘How to Spend It’ magazine of 22 October 2021. The three other rings were indeed cast into the Thames, tied to flint hagstone weights; ‘Time Capsule’ was preserved as a reference point for the others and as a creative and individual response to COVID-19.

The ring evokes the constant human presence along the river, the debris of centuries, and London’s tidal hinterland with its ever-present ebb and flow. It speaks also of transformation and re-purposing the lost, the discarded and the overlooked.
Bibliographic reference
'Why I'm throwing my jewellery into the Thames' by Kate Finnigan, Financial Times How To Spend It, 22 October 2021
Collection
Accession number
M.3:1to3-2022

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Record createdNovember 15, 2021
Record URL
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