GOODBYE ARTCARVED, HELLO JOSTENS!
NEW, COOL CLASS RINGS THAT WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!
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WOW!
Where the hell have I been?
I’m shocked, amazed, and excited at something I totally shouldn’t be hyped about…
Class rings.
It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at them… And I’m talking really looked at them.
In all the jewelry stores that I’ve ever worked over the past 27 years, the stores have only dealt with one company:
Art Carved
It was the only class ring I knew.
The classic.
Traditional…
AND BORING!
They haven’t updated their line much in twenty years. There’s nothing new or fresh or current about them. And even their “new” styles just resemble their cookie-cutter mother’s rings….
Take a peek at Art Carved’s class rings…
Told you they were an eye-sore.
But I can’t say the same about Jostens.
I’ve always heard of Jostens, they’ve been around forever, but I’ve never taken the time to look at their class rings.
Today, I actually checked out their website.
(I think it was from a Twitter pic…)
And WOW OH WOW!
I have never in my life seen such cool, modern, and new class ring styles before. Innovative. It literally blows me away.
See for yourself:
Those are awesome.
They offer tons of metal choices:
- White Lustrium – This Jostens exclusive metal blend is a durable and affordable silver-toned metal.
- SunCast – A 23K layered gold coating applied over a white Lustrium base ring.
- ShadowCast – A diamond-like carbon coating adds a rich-black finish to a white Lustrium ring.
- FireCast – This unique coating is achieved through a vapor deposition to add the copper-like color on top of a white Lustrium ring.
- CamoCast – Camouflage pattern applied using a proprietary coating process to our white Lustrium ring.
- Silver Elite – A Jostens proprietary metal. A bright white luster primarily composed of silver with elements of precious metals, including palladium, and rhodium plating for durability and shine.
- DualCast Yellow – Combines the timeless beauty of 10K yellow gold accents with the strength of white Lustrium for a unique, two-tone look.
- DualCast White – A durable and brilliant blending of 10K white gold accents on a white Lustrium base ring, resulting in a lustrous metal combination.
- Solaris Elite – Our patent-pending yellow blend metal is a combination of precious metals, including silver, and non-precious metals to create a beautiful, brilliant and durable solid metal.
- Sterling Silver – Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5 percent silver and 7.5 percent other metals, including copper.
- White Gold & Yellow Gold – Nothing stands the test of time like gold. Its durability ensures lasting value over time. Note: The higher the karat, the higher the percentage of gold in your ring.
Did you catch that camouflage????
Cool stuff!
Many stone options:
Stones from simulated, genuine and even natural elements. See the full list below…
Simulated birthstones:
- January: Garnet
- February: Amethyst
- March: Aquamarine
- April: White Spinel
- May: Shamrock Spinel
- June: Alexandrite
- July: Ruby
- August: Peridot
- September: Fire Blue Spinel
- October: Tourmaline
- November: Topaz
- December: Blue Zircon
Genuine stones:
- Genuine Mother of Pearl
- Genuine Black Onyx
Natural Genuine Elements Stones
- Hematite
- Malachite
- Pietersite
- Carnelian
- Dinosaur Bone
- Tiger’s Eye
- Jade
- Lapis
- Turquoise
All with a beautiful warranty:
These up-to-date designs from Jostens are rings and pendants that teens and adults will love and wear today.
I’d wear them!
I really dig the look and feel (that one black ring looks like something you’d find forged in Mount DOOM! HA)
And the class tags just rock.
COOL COOL COOL!
I’m in love with these styles, and now you probably are too.
If your high school or college doesn’t sell Jostens, don’t worry, you don’t have to buy whatever brand they offer. You can order your own from Jostens using their nifty “ring designer“.
Just enter your school, choose your style, and begin.
Easy as that.
Plus, they also have championship rings, military rings, career rings (fireman, police, EMS), pilot rings, NASCAR rings, Harley-Davidson rings, Boy Scouts of America rings, and even fantasy sports rings.
They have it all.
Jostens makes class rings cool again…
It’s about freaking time.
(P.S. I have NO affiliation with Jostens, I just love their rings.)
Cheers! :)
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Hahaha! You won’t believe this probably, but after getting into a conversation, about a month or so ago, with someone else about class rings, our own and one the other party had found, I got curious about how much class rings must have changed in the last 40+ years since I got my own. So, I started to do a little “Net Trekking” and find out.
Like you, I was astonished how Art Carved’s choices hadn’t changed hardly at all in all that time!! Yes, there were some new metals that didn’t exist in 1975, and a few new design variations on the old, traditional ones, but the lack of new design choices told me they had been “sleeping through Class!” In FORTY years, this was as good as it got?? No way. Send them to Detention! Im glad their wedding jewelry hadn’t stayed that stagnant, or my favorite historic bridal jewelry company would have been out of business long, long ago! So, I kept on looking.
My internet choice list had Jostens on it, so I checked them next. Leave it to say, like you, I was stunned, astonished, and amazed by how “21st century” their designs struck me! And the thing I liked the most? The fact that anyone who wants to can make their own class ring design, for not just any school, but for any year! They apparently have upgraded their facilities to totally computer operated setup and production, so that they can control the design and production of individual rings, instead of setting up molds for specific schools and then adjusting for each individual student’s choices. That way, every element is completely individually controlled, rather than just the specific side panels. We replaced my husband’s stolen (in 1982) class ring (from his 1974 graduation) several years ago, and even then Jostens was far above the competition in every factor.
Lost YOUR class ring, or had it stolen? Replace it here, no matter when you graduated! Check out those warranties too! And all the other “entities” for which you can create your own special piece. Don’t want to wear a ring? Get one of their class tags! I was totally engrossed in the simple process involved in creating your own expression of you! And you can save your designs of course, and come back later to order, or send them to yourself or share them with someone else, just to compare what you’ve done! Send Jostens to the Head of the Class!!
I spent a couple of hours, at least, playing with the ring designer! I made some doozies, too! Boy, if we had had this whole thing going on when I graduated from high school (1975), or even from college (1993), would we have had some whoppers! But, we had to wait to get the Desktop computer and the Internet FIRST!! LOL! We were still studying in the library with a REAL card catalog, and books and trade journals ONLY when I was going to college in the early 90’s. Desktop machines were available in the form of word processors (remember them?) but no internet access to which to hook anything up existed yet. We were dreaming though, in a “Wouldn’t it be great IF….!” sort of way..
Now, if I can find ANY class ring company that can make me a class ring with MY college major on it, we’ll be doing some business!! Oh yeah ~ what’s that, you say? Surgical Technology, at an outstanding community college, to which I devoted two years of education at mid-life, and over 15 years of my working existence. Nobody before or since has created a ring with that major available, and as many of us as there are out here, you’d think they would want a piece of that market! We get stuck with a generic medical cadeuces, or a generic school panel, but nothing cool at all for us! Not even Jostens. So, for me, that gets them a B+!
But, excellent post from you, as usual!!! I always read yours as soon as I find the notification on my FB alerts, because I know they will always be so! Happy New Year to you!!
Word Processors… Ditto! I wanted nothing to do with Computers back then… Until DOOM came along. Doom changed my life and Computers sucked me in. Now that’s all I do. I’m sure they have a Ring Side for that! :) Congrats on the Surgical Technology, don’t know that is exactly, but I’m sure it’s a little like Operation. :) I have a feeling that gets YOU an A+. Happy New Year Shari, now I’m off for my own Net Trekking. -Richard
Richard ~ If you’ve ever watched a TV show, or movie, where a patient is laying flat on the OR bed, intubated and unconscious, covered in sterile drapes, and surrounded by masked, gowned, gloved, mysterious looking medical professionals, (and I’m sure you have, at least once!) then you hear the surgeon tersely asking for “Scalpel!” “Clamp!” “Scissors!” “Forceps!” “Sponge!” “Reciprocating saw!” “Drill!” “Screwdriver!” etc., and so forth, (and no, I’m not kidding about any of that!) and you see another masked, gowned, gloved, medical professional providing all those items immediately on request, (if not 10 seconds before!), snapping the smaller items smartly into the surgeon’s outstretched hand, then you may have been watching a Certified Surgical Technologist at work! And they were probably doing an orthopedic Surgical procedure with all the power tools! Yes, there are very familiar looking, but battery operated, sterilizable, expensive power tools, and non-power tools as well, that are involved in much orthopedic work, repairing all kinds of bone damage with “plates and screws” or pins, rods, wires, and other devices available in the medical instrumentation market.
A Surgical Technologist or “Scrub Tech” as we are more commonly known amongst ourselves, goes to school for upwards of two years, learning anatomy and physiology, biology, microbiology, pharmacology, Human Relations, Sociology, college level math, medical law and ethics, Surgical techniques (2 semesters) Surgical procedures (3 semesters, divided up into each type of service, like ear/nose/throat, general surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, Ob-Gyn, etc.,) with labs for many of those classes, meaning actual hands on practice, with specialized mannequins that are built to do actual procedures on, in a practice laboratory environment at the school, set up with all the usual OR equipment; plus around 600+ hours of clinical training in local hospitals with experienced preceptors, who are hospital staff members who stand with you, teach you their specific methods, and monitor your hands-on performance as you actually learn your work on surgical cases, similar to how student nurses and medical students learn theirs. It’s a “down to the real nitty-gritty”, intensive process, and when you’re done with school (and even more so after you get a few years of experience under your belt), then you should be able to know exactly what the surgeon will need in the next three or four steps just by watching what’s being done and listening to his/her conversation as it goes right down the line. I’ve had surgeons reject what instrument or other item I’m offering up next, only to ask right back for it again, more times than I could ever count.
You have to be able to set up an OR for any specific case, all the equipment, instruments, and supplies; know how to do sterile procedures, from scrubbing our hands and arms (you try holding your hands up, with your elbows bent, keeping your fingers pointed up above your hands, and scrub from fingertips to elbows, one finger then one hand and up one arm at a time, switching back and forth as you go, and rinsing so no water runs down off your fingertips but only from fingers to off your elbows, for at least five minutes without touching anything unsterile, or you have to start all over again! Betcha can’t! LOL!!) – to gowning and gloving ourselves and everyone else in the room. How to handle, open and set everything up so it stays sterile, is in neat, logical order, know where everything is kept, so you can not only find it yourself but direct others to it in storage cabinets, closets and whole rooms as well; how to order your supplies so that you don’t over stock OR run out of anything!
Know how to operate laser and video systems and computer operated equipment like the new robotic Da Vinci surgical equipment, how to drape patients and equipment however it’s needed for whatever procedure is being done, and good Lord, I could go on and on, but I won’t!
Oh – a very important point, is to get good enough at your job to be able to teach others the basics on THEIR clinical experiences! Or to teach RNs to scrub, because nursing school does not teach that any longer, since it’s such a highly specialized training now. In fact, their own accredited training by their organization for surgical nurses (AORN) can take up to a year, because they’ve already had the nursing basics like anatomy and pharmacology and other courses we took along with the surgical specialty courses. And theirs is all textbook and on-the-job training with experienced, certified RNs and us C.S.T.s.
That’s a small glimpse at the world I lived in for over 15 years, had to leave because of advancing physical disability, and miss dreadfully! If you just want to read this and not post it, because it’s really very long and has nothing to do with jewelry, that’s absolutely fine. I will surely understand! But I like to take every opportunity to introduce us to the “outside world” because practically nobody knows we even exist, and almost everyone assumes that every person in the operating room is either doctors or RNs! Not true! We C.S.T.s work our behinds off for our patients, and the guiding focus of our own professional organization is, in Latin, “Aiger Primo” meaning The Patient First!
…And Jostens doesn’t have a side for that??? It all sounds quite Fascinating and Scary. I’ll stick to Louping Diamonds instead. But I’ll bet that others will enjoy reading this as well. You should start your own website and teach people all about it. :) -Richard
No! Jostens doesn’t have a side for that! Maybe they don’t have any idea how to go about designing one, since there’s so much involved? I have several ideas, but rarely does one individual have the prescience to make a big company like that sit up and pay attention. I have tried, in fact, by refusing to buy a ring TWICE from my school, the first time when I got my certificate, and the second time when I turned it into my degree, but apparently that wasn’t enough for them to take notice, because there still isn’t one. Oh well. We wouldn’t be able to wear them at work anyway, so most of us didn’t think it was important.
But we don’t work 24/7, so there IS time to wear one. I would wear one, because as you can probably tell, I’m rather proud of my profession! I still wear my high school class ring sometimes, just because I can! I guess it’s their loss really, but it sure makes us feel just that much more ignored by the general public.
As for starting a website, our professional organization has beat me to that by a long stretch! If I lived in or near Denver, Colorado, where the Association for Surgical Technology is located, I may have tried working for them! But, since I can’t work for anyone anymore, that’s out, no matter where I live. Ah, well. Time marches on!
I do have a Pinterest board devoted to Surgical Technology though, and lots of followers, so I take some comfort in that! Feel free to check it out anytime. Under the same name I use here. Should be easy to find, if you care to check it out.
For someone with “no affiliation” with Jostens, your article is quite laced with direct links and flattery. As someone who does video vlogs for a living I can sniff out a paid review at a second’s glance. You might not be “working” for them, but you sure as heck are getting SOME sort of kickback from this, maybe they give you commission from whatever people buy from your links. That WOULD in a way make you affiliated.
At least in the world of YouTube we are legally required to state upfront if a product is sponsoring us or was given to us to review.
I was honestly all set to buy an Jostens ring, but after this sketchy review I am now thinking about looking up other companies. If your review was genuine, you would have stated how their lustrium finishes can cause severe allergic reactions in people with nickle allergies, and tend to warp and bend on thinner bands. Or that the camo print wears off within a year.
And while they do (like many jewelers) have a warranty, they ALSO charge you for many things. It’s nice that they will replace simulated stones if cracked, but you’re out of luck if it’s a real stone of any sort, OR if the stone comes loose and gets lost.
Yes, they do have some very nice styles and interesting metal choices. But they will also cost you a small fortune for even a low-cost ring in those newer styles. ironically enough their original collection is still reasonably priced . . . but try talking a 15 year old into something traditional . .
Hi Suzanne. Well believe what you think, but I have no affiliation with Jostens, make no money off their links, no commission, and it was not a paid review. Many times I’ll do a review solely based upon my thoughts and opinions. And while I do many affiliation posts, this is not one of them. I really was that blown away with the difference (after seeing ArtCarved most of my life). So do with it what you will, but it’s all from my heart. If a company pays me to review their product, I state so. But thanks for your comments. I didn’t mean to sound over-the-top, that’s just my personality. :) -Richard