A new chapter of hope and love.

Hi, it's Adam Lucas here from Australia. In 2012 David made my wonderful wooden wedding ring. A few years later I had him make one for my wife also.

When last we spoke, my wife and I were celebrating Christmas with her new ring, and our new baby!! I think I may have even sent through some of those photos to you, all that time ago.

Since then life has been crazy!! We have had our second child, which resulted in some severe health problems for Kelli my wife during childbirth. This resulted in us having to move 400km to Brisbane, Australia for her continued care. We only arrived back home in our coastal town of Bundaberg in March of this year. It has been a very rough 2 years but thankfully has ended with a wonderful result of a great recovery for her and the resumption of our normal family life.

During her health battles, as mentioned, we had to leave our family home for almost 2 years. During this time away I lost my beloved wedding ring, but did not stress as I had bigger things to worry about!!!

But in a tearjerking touch of fate, I managed to be reunited with my ring in the most amazing circumstances. After witnessing the miracle that saw my wife unexpectedly recover and my family being allowed to return home, I went into our bedroom in our family home the day we moved back in and found my wedding ring sitting on a bedpost, where I had absent-mindedly left it during a fly-by-night trip back home to collect belongings for my wife's prolonged hospital stay. This was such a beautiful moment and was a symbol of our 'new' marriage and our life re-starting in a new chapter of hope and love.

Adam's 2012 Touch Wood Ring. 

Black Walnut, Eucalyptus inlay bordered by Greyed Maple

and lined with Clear Juniper

So, the reason for my writing is that I have decided that to mark this gorgeous occasion, I would like to send my ring back for some fine tuning if I may. I would love to have it sized down to an Australian size 11 if that is at all possible (I believe it is a 12 at present) and for it to be re-varnished/lacquered if possible. I have lost a fair bit of weight since my wedding day 6 years ago, and would love to get the ring on board with my new figure!!

How might I proceed with this request, and is it possible to make the changes I would like? I am, of course, happy to pay for whatever expenses this incurs.

I hope this story of your wonderful work becoming such a symbol of our marriage was worth me telling, I thought of you both often when wearing my ring these past few months. You truly made a little piece of magic that has survived more than I ever intended to put it through!

Thanks, guys, love to you both.

Adam Lucas

Want to watch something totally uplifting?  Here is a link Adam shared to the Today show story on Australian national morning news.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1233586936678565&id=391969740840293

Thank You!

We have not fallen off the face of the earth, just replaced blogging with Social Media it seems. We are on Instagram and Twitter and Pinterest and Facebook. It's time consuming. It's also a great way to reach people. And it's fun. The social aspect is what I love about it; the feedback, the ease of sharing.

However, I miss writing our blog posts. Personally, I like it as a record of our work,and it's a wonderful way to share the stories of folks we work with.

Our clients (you!!) are the most amazing, warm, loving people! 

And really, our story is your story. 

We thank you for entrusting us with the creation of your rings!
Whether they are wedding or engagement rings, a birthday gift, memorial or anniversary rings; we are humbled that you entered into this relationship with us. 

THANK YOU for enriching our lives these past 16 years with your stories.
You’ve shared your hopes and dreams, your struggles, your joys and your sorrows with us.
Sometimes we’re the first to know that you plan to propose, the first to know you’ve decided
to elope, the first to know just how deeply in love you are! 

For David and I, you are why we do this work and your stories are what sustain us.

Awesome people you are!  One and all.  

Like Lauren and Chris who are artist/illustrators. In February, while David was making their rings; Lauren and I were chatting about spring, and Chris's birthday and that kind of thing. She wrote, "Things are finally starting to warm up here in Texas so we took the opportunity to bring our dogs out on the town! Austin is a super dog-friendly city and a lot of the bars serve non-alcoholic "doggy beer." Looks like Cicero might have had one too many in this photo :P " 

After Chris and Lauren received their rings, they wrote: "Thank you both again so much for all you do, we could not have asked for a better experience. We will definitely send you photos from the wedding in a few months!"

Much love to you both Lauren and Chris ~ we look forward to some pics from your Lord of the Rings themed wedding (yah) and we're hoping that Bilbo and Cicero will be taking part in the celebrations as well.  Because... Pugs. :) 

And thank you all ~ With dearest love.

Poetry, Graffiti and Wildfires

In early June, a lovely couple from the Kootenays commissioned a set of Touch Wood Rings. Matty is a Graffiti Artist and Leesa is a writer. We had so much fun working with them and were delighted to learn that they would be passing through our area and were adventuresome enough to want to come out and meet us and pick up their rings in person.

David and I live remote and off grid west of Williams Lake ~ it's not the easiest place to get to; over the years we've met only a few of our thousands of awesome Touch Wood clients.
Leesa and Matty were planning a trip across BC and over to Haida Gwaii where they planned on being engaged. Not only were we looking forward to meeting them, but then they'd be heading to Haida Gwaii; the home of my heart. I had the good fortune of being a child on those magical rainforest islands.
So. June was a pretty normal kind of June. We had a flush of summer weather and were making summer plans; things we wanted to do around the property, a few quick trips we wanted to make, scheduling visits from family and friends who wanted to come out and visit.

And then All Hell Broke Loose. Wildfires erupted on July 7th. We were placed on Evacuation Order on July 10th. 62 days in total. An entire summer surrounded by the worst wildfires in BC's recorded history.

Leesa and Matty were planning their trip. Roads and highways were closing all over the province as wildfires flared and new fires sprang up. There was no way in to our place and no way out. The City of Williams Lake was evacuated and so even though David completed their rings, there was no way to deliver them ... This was a first for us in 17 years of  making rings.  Matty and Leesa took it all in stride. They found another route around to get to Haida Gwaii but had to forego having their rings with them and we were sorely disappointed.

The evacuation orders for the residents of Williams Lake were finally lifted and we were able to ship once Canada Post resumed service. It was a very difficult and stressful summer but in the end we are just SO thankful that we didn't lose our home or property Others, sadly, did not fare so well.

Once Matty and Leesa were back in the Kootenays, they wrote saying .... "We are home and the long awaited moment finally arrived today when we trotted down to the post office to pick up the most important package. 

We shipped along happily to the lakefront to open the envelope like children on Christmas morning. 

We absolutely love the rings and, of course, they fit us like they have always been a natural part of our bodies. Thank so much! From our hearts to yours. Matty and Leesa."

And then earlier this month (Jan 2018) we opened our email to find these awesome pics and a happy note from our Kootenay friends.

"Matty and I recently got married in Hawaii and we wanted to send you a few pics of the rings. We are thrilled to have them out and about​​! They are comfortable and beautiful and we love them so. 

Thank you for being an important part of our union. ... we brought the Hawaiian Koa wood back to its homeland for a visit :) 

Much love, Matty and Leesa"

Matty and Leesa's rings were made of Hawaiian Koa Wood with Purpleheart wood liners and inlays of Lapis Lazuli, Mother of Pearl and Oak with natural knots.

TOUCH WOOD RINGS