When Marcus LaPorte got engaged, he faced the same dilemma many grooms do: underwhelmed by the boring options, overwhelmed by the insane prices. But instead of settling for a basic gold band, this 34-year-old art director and custom fabricator decided to forge his own wedding ring. Out of a meteorite. From outer space.

In 2012, LaPorte—known on Reddit as laporkenstein—documented the entire process in a gallery of over 40 photos that went viral. The result? A one-of-a-kind ring made from a Gibeon meteorite, a chunk of space rock that's around 4 billion years old and survived a fiery plunge through Earth's atmosphere. Total cost: $300.

Forged Like a Samurai Sword

LaPorte didn't just carve the meteorite—he used traditional pattern welding techniques, the same process used to make Damascus steel and samurai swords. He alternated layers of Gibeon iron meteorite with nickel tooling steel, heating and hammering them together to create a stunning banded pattern.

The real magic happens during the etching process. When acid is applied to the finished ring, it reveals the meteorite's Widmanstätten pattern—a crystalline structure that can only form through millions of years of slow cooling in the zero-gravity vacuum of space. You literally cannot replicate this pattern on Earth. It's nature's fingerprint, forged in the cosmos.

Why a Meteorite?

LaPorte has always loved space and dreamed of being an astronaut. Since that didn't pan out, wearing a piece of outer space on his finger seemed like the next best thing. Plus, he's a maker at heart—someone who gets a deep satisfaction from creating things with his own hands.

The Gibeon meteorite he used came from a massive iron meteorite that landed in Namibia in prehistoric times. It wasn't discovered until 1838, but fragments have been scattered across the desert for millennia. Today, Gibeon meteorite is prized for jewelry because of its high iron-nickel content and those gorgeous geometric patterns.

Going Viral

When LaPorte posted his creation to Reddit, the internet lost its mind. News outlets from Gizmodo to HuffPost covered the story. People were blown away not just by the cosmic coolness of wearing a meteorite, but by the craftsmanship and DIY spirit.

LaPorte, who was already married for three years and had a 16-month-old daughter at the time of posting, proved that you don't need to drop thousands on a wedding ring to make it meaningful. Sometimes the best symbol of commitment is the one you hammer into existence yourself—especially if it's older than Earth itself.

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