'Touch Wood' is an apropos business name right now

Dear Touch Wood friends and followers,

I want to update you on our wildfire situation here in the Cariboo and throughout the BC interior. We have been getting emails from our Touch Wood friends asking if we are safe and we thank you all so much for your concern!! You are like family to us and this month has been a challenging one so far.

We are working with a few lovely people this month on new commissions but are keeping our workshop and office work to a minimum while we prepare for what might be a life changing event.


Saturday afternoon. Smoke from the Hanceville fire to our south west...

The city of Williams Lake and some surrounding communities are fully evacuated as of Saturday afternoon and we are so sorry for all our friends and neighbours who have had to leave their homes to uncertainty and fear. Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected; the evacuees, the firefighters, the people who have already lost homes and livelihoods, not to mention the devastation to the land, the birds and the wildlife.

We've been on evacuation order out here for a full week now but have chosen to stay because we have a very good likelihood of being able to protect our home, our property and our business. And it's not our first rodeo. We didn't evacuate during the 2010 wildfires either and those fires came as close as two km.

'Safety first' has always been our motto!! I think we're in better shape off grid than most people in neighbouring communities; where power is off and services have ground to a halt. We have our own solar power system, backup generator and fuel, satellite internet, good well water, and a cold room fairly well stocked with supplies. We have propane for hot meals until we can use our wood stove again :) A good size creek runs through our place which is a real blessing. And while this is a scary situation, wildfires kind of come with the territory. We will stay till we can’t and we are optimistic we can weather this storm.


Sunday early evening July 16th

For all three of us and the wee pup, the stress is a challenge. It's a good test of our sense of humour, our patience and gentleness with each other ~ our ability to think clearly and to prioritize. We have done and are doing everything we can to preserve this beautiful little corner of the Chilcotin. After a week of a crazy amount of work we are feeling quite safe. There are still things we are doing to make ourselves safer but for the most part it's back to normal for us now ... aside from being prepared to run if need be. We're keeping the hummingbird feeders filled (at least until the sugar runs out), staying vigilant, knowing our escape routes and counting our blessings.

You are welcome to follow our public posts on my personal Facebook page. David has been doing an awesome job of recording and sharing our fire protection efforts at the end of each day. https://www.facebook.com/nkwala.jean

And as always, thanks for dropping by! Our love to you and your families! Stay safe and take care of each other. We'll do the same.

Touch Wood :) 

Waning Winter and Wooden Rings

Winter appears to be waning on the meadow. We've had a run of Chinook like weather for the last little while.  It's the 20th of February and it's 5 days early for us to be seeing our first harbinger of Spring but we have, just this morning ... and here he is.  David got some lovely pics of our first Red Winged Blackbird of the season.

Renowned photographer and naturalist Chris Harris notes that "In the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast region of BC, spring typically comes during the month of March. It can arrive late some years in this part of the province, but when you’re outdoors in March, it’s time to start keeping your eyes open and ears perked. It’s a wonderful day when you see your first robin or hear that early first call of a Red-winged Blackbird. Then you know that spring is officially here!"

My post on our Homestone blog last year notes that our first Blackbird arrival was the 25th of February and on that day we also noted the arrival a flock of snow buntings and two robins!

Here are a few photos from my walkabout yesterday morning. It was a lovely start to the day with a touch of frost on the trees and willows.

Today David is busy building rings for some lovely people.  The sun is shining down on us and I must, once I get this post written, get back to answering emails from more lovely people.  We are so touched by what folks write to us.

David made a ring for Bob in January.  

Bob writes: "The ring is exquisite! A perfect fit, the coloring I was hoping for (And as a woodworker myself, believe me, I know how impossible it can sometimes be to select for final color…), and a beautiful swirling grain around the knot. It is… Perfect!   

I had looked at other sites, seen photos of other rings… But I kept coming back to Touch Wood - and I’m glad I did. David’s rings just looked more natural and artistic. And, especially when we started corresponding about the ring, I knew I’d made the right choice. Thank David for fashioning my beautiful ring for me, and thank you both for being such great people to work with!" 

 Spring is springing, the birds are singing and all's right with the world.  Thanks so much for stopping by and ... drop us a note sometime.  We love to hear from you.

Celebrating the Love at the end of the year.

Celebrating the Love.

There were 10 wonderful people directly involved in the creation of these 10 rings toward the end of 2015.

Two couples who've designed their rings together and individuals who painstakingly described and designed a very special ring as a gift, or an offer of forever for their beloveds. And of course David and I were also very happily involved.  

Rosewood with Mother of Pearl and a Juniper heartwood ring

Man's tapered Blackwood Ring with a Purpleheart wood interior and three full moon inlays of greyed maple, Oak and Pink Ivory wood

 Black Walnut Wood Rings with Birch inlays, an Oak interior
and an inlay of crushed stone and sacred sage and sweet grass

Tapered Australian Blackwood Ring with wide inlays of Red Cedar and Eucalyptus

A size 10 figured Olive Wood Ring tapered from 9mm to 6mm

 Bethlehem Olive Wood Ring with a center inlay of Grenadilla Wood

Size 13 Figured and tapered Olive Wood Ring 

 Australian Blackwood Ring with an Oak interior liner 
and a single offset inlay of Eucalyptus

Wishing one and all a healthy and joyous 2016!

Much love from me and from David.

Touch Wood Rings

By David Finch

Pioneer of the steam bent wood ring.

2014 ~ Touch Wood Rings ~ a year in review

 Touch Wood ~ 2014. 

This was fun!

I picked one couple and their rings from each month last year to showcase as a kind of 'year in review'.  We work with so many wonderful people in the course of a year. Thank you all for coming into our lives and for entrusting us with the creation of your rings.   

Here's hoping 2015 finds you feeling energetic and optimistic 

and doing what you love with those you love. 

Enjoy this sampling of Touch Wood Rings from 2014.

January 2014 

~ Amy and Michael ~
Juniper Heartwood, Birch, Purpleheart, Peridot and Willow

February 2014

  ~ Allison and Phil ~

Greyed Maple and Australian Red Gum Rings with Thomsonite Stone inlay

March 2014

 

~ Aron for Jamie ~

 Cherry and Maple Wood Ring with spiraled inlay of Melody's Stone

April 2014

 

~ Anne and Alex ~

Their 2008 Hawaiian Koa and Zebra wood rings

Back for a meadow visit and a refinishing.

May 2014

~ Chris for Sharon ~

Dark Hawaiian Koa wood ring with a Cottonwood inlay

June 2014

~ Matt and Patricia ~

Apple wood and 150 year old Post Oak Rings with willow, 
mother of pearl and anthracite coal inlays.

July 2014

~ Sherry and Mary ~

Wide tapered Cherry wood rings with birds eye maple inlays

August 2014

~ Justin for Dani ~

Tapered Rosewood ring with full moon Turquoise inlay

September 2014

 

~ Garret for Larissa ~

Juniper heartwood ring with Lapis and Sodalite inlaid in a natural knot

 October 2014

~ Pam and Brendan ~

Australian Alpine Ash wood rings with natural knots.

November 2014

~ Whitney and Nicole ~

Dark Hawaiian Koa with mixed Lapis and Turquoise inlays

December 2014

~ Josh and Cait ~

Black Walnut Wood Rings with turquoise and greyed maple inlays

2014 was a good year!   Much love and many thanks to all our old friends ~ we look forward to hearing from you from time to time.

And on to the new year, 2015... If you're visiting our blog for the first time, or wandering through again for inspiration; welcome here.  We'd like to share the beauty and the changing seasons on our 48 acre off-grid homestead with you too. 

We have two blogs; this Wood Ring blog and our Homestone blog.  There's our Touch Wood Rings primary website ~ which is a bit of a dinosaur ~ but still very active and chock full of good information.  We have a fledgling Facebook page.  You'll find some Touch Wood Ring pins on Pinterest, and we have a Google+ page as well.  I've been offering David's work online for almost 15 years but I've come late to the picnic of social media. If you're on Facebook, I'd be delighted if you 'Liked' our page.

No matter where you find us ~ we love to hear from you!    Thanks so much for stopping by!  I look forward to talking with you, and David and I look forward to working with you.  Wishing you all good things in 2015!