Rocks and rings and puppies, oh my!

They've promised to share some wedding pics after their celebration in August :) but for now, here's a relaxed and happy pic of Kim and Sarah on their anniversary this past November...  (Update below)
We began our conversation in October 2014.  These two women were so much fun to work with. They sent us photos of their three sweet pups as each holiday came around.

This first pup pic was their Christmas card ~ do they have fun with their dogs or what?! 

Sarah and Kim sent us stones from the place where they got engaged and also the place where they will be married. They chose dark Hawaiian Koa and Juniper heartwood as their woods.

We always send a series of work in progress pics but when we sent them the photos of their completed rings this is the email we got back!  :) 

"Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!!  We are both so amazed by these beautiful rings that we don't even know what to say!
We opened the email and were shocked that the rings were already done. They look like they would take months to complete. How does David do it??
We then had to click a "load pictures" link to get the images to display. It felt like it took about a year for the pictures to load! We held hands and waited... Anxious and nervous for what we were about to see. And once the rings came into view, we both shouted with glee!


The rings are incredible! Never in a million years could we have imagined that they would be so perfect!
The most amazing part is probably the inlay. We realized somewhere along the way that we had set a monumental task in front of David. We sent a ton of stones, not knowing how they would blend, whether or not they would compliment one another, and what final color they might make. We also gave David very little guidance regarding what we wanted the final "color" to be (since we really didn't know). We simply trusted his artistry and that was a great decision! Despite the enormity of the task, he hit a grand slam!
The color of the inlay is perfect! It's so beautiful! It almost has the look of marble.. A gorgeous, cohesive color, but with a ton of character and personality, especially when you take a closer look.

The woods are gorgeous. The inscription is perfect. We cannot thank you both enough!! We have already sent the photos to the select few that will be attending our big day, and they agree that the rings are gorgeous!
We will be anxiously awaiting their arrival and will definitely let you know once they have made their way to Ohio.
Thank you both so much!
Kim and Sarah and Pups"

And then their rings arrived in the mail :)

"They are spectacular! We absolutely love them! We are already showing them off to all of our friends (who all agree that they are perfect)! We are so excited!  We can't wait til August, for the rings to finally be on our fingers. We absolutely adore our rings and we have been so happy with the entire process!  Again, thank you both so so much! We are so glad that our search for unique, special rings lead us to you two. I honestly can't think of a pair of rings (or a pair of people) that would have fit this occasion any better."

and last but not least ... a pic of Caesar wearing his birthday party hat...  

Soon ... we'll update this post with some photos from Kim and Sarah's wedding celebration.  I'm betting their fur babies will be in some of the pics :)  Much love to you both and your pups ~ we'll be with you in spirit on August 14th! XO

 Brutus, Cali and Caesar on the 4th of July :)

Update:  August 24th, 2015

"It was amazing!!!!!  Best day of our lives!!  The weather was beautiful, the ceremony was perfect, and the moment was incredible!

We had such a great time celebrating with each other, the pups, and our closest friends.  It was perfect!  The entire ceremony was very personal and intimate, and exchanging beautiful rings that echoed those same sentiments was truly wonderful.  We are so happy!

Thank you again for everything!  Our day was truly remarkable, and our beautiful rings, as well as the love and care that went into them, helped make our day even more special!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 Kim, Sarah, pups"

Wish we could have been there ~ but your photos make us feel as though we were!

and we were with you in spirit. :)

Much love and happiness to you both Sarah and Kim

and your delightful pups.

as ever, Nicola and David

New life for a branch of beetle killed pine,

Pine Wood Ring   David is making himself a ring right now as a side project. I'm calling it his '48 Acre' Touch Wood Ring.  It's made of bug killed pine from our own property. 

David wears a size 13 1/2.  He's tapering his ring and it features a 'galaxy' knot. He swears by a tapered ring for comfort.

I thought it would be fun to share a few pics of this ring as a work in progress, then when it's complete, I'll come back and update with final pics. The grain and figure in wood deepens and intensifies through the sanding, shaping and finishing processes.

'Bug killed pine' is the blue stained wood sometimes called Blue Pine, Denim Pine or Beetle killed pine.

And here, as promised, are some pics of David's finished Denim Pine Wood Ring

"The current outbreak of The Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic in BC started in the early 1990's. Today the Mountain Pine Beetle occurs well beyond its historic range, extending into northern British Columbia and eastward in the boreal forest of north-central Alberta. Not just limiting itself to lodgepole pine any longer, the beetle is also reproducing in jack pine, the dominant pine species of the boreal forest." 1 source NRC
 

Six years ago, David wrote a blog documenting the sustainable harvesting of the dead and dying pine on our own property.

You wouldn't necessarily know it from reading my 'zippety do dah' posts, but our remote off grid lifestyle requires a good deal of grunt work.  Living here is worth every minute of the hard work required. I'm just saying I don't talk about it much.

David's blog is called Racing Ants It's a good read; full of intelligent, thoughtful commentary.  He talks about all sorts of things;  road building, fencing, sustainable logging, forest health, and it's chock full of photos too.  It's a great record of some of the hard work that happens to keep our 48 acres singing.  


And so ... as a bit of background to the bug killed pine that is getting another life as a wooden ring, here is David's introductory post on Racing Ants.  It was written June 5th, 2009. 

Chapter 1

In the beginning . . . there were ants

It's a busy time of year when spring finally emerges from the frosty nights and blustery days. Every project that winter inspired becomes more urgent as the short summer approaches and setting our priorities becomes paramount. Thank goodness our talented lead hand is also patient as we jump from one job to the next and he struggles to divide his time into our list of wants.



This is the year we have to deal with the considerable amount of bug killed pine that peppers our little forest. The trees are standing dead, but just barely standing, as root rot and ant colonies conspire to fall them before we do. We have to be very careful and keep our wits about us because they will sometimes fall without provocation . . . unnerving and dangerous . . . and the sound of wind is a warning to make your way to a clearing . . . heads up!

The Pine Beetles that eat the Cambrian layer and kill the tree, cause a stain that penetrates the tree for several inches in some cases. This stained wood when sawn produces a spectacular show of blue grey wood mixed with the typical white pine. The stain does not appear to fade or run so the wood can be finished to enhance this natural beauty. We have been burning this wood in the home fires while lamenting the destruction of these beautiful trees and the huge waste of potential lumber and wood products that are falling all around us. This winter we decided to do something to at least deal with the trees on our own land, so we bought a four head Logosol planer to add some value to the rough sawn lumber that is commonplace here. . .

Planing our lumber is the final step in the production process . . . first we had to acquire all the support machinery that is needed to produce the rough lumber for the planer and to selectively log the trees and haul them to the mill, and clean up the branches and remove the stumps and build the roads etc etc. Also we had to provide shelter for the machinery and store the final product. This will be a record of how all that is coming together . . .

 _______________________________ 

For the rest of the story, visit David's sustainable logging blog at http://racingants.blogspot.ca and check back here at the end of the month for some finished pics of his '48 Acre Ring'.


David and I are old school readers ~ the idea of reading a blog from the latest entry backwards never feels quite right.  There is a sense of order in starting at the beginning :)  on that note, here are chapter by chapter links for Racing Ants.

Chapter 1 
Chapter 2    
Chapter 3 
Chapter 4 
Chapter 5 
Chapter 6 
Chapter 7 
Chapter 8 

As always ~ thanks so much for dropping by!  

Reconnecting with old friends

David and I worked with Melisa and Luke in 2010.  

We made their rings during the summer of that year and were finishing their rings when our area was in full wildfire madness. It was pretty scary. Luke and Melisa and the other folks we worked with during that time were so understanding.
That's the first time I've lived anywhere where I was surrounded by raging forest fires.   But we all made it through.  No human lives were lost and very little human property was damaged.  I know that was not true for the wildlife and birds with whom we share our surroundings, but four years on, everyone seems to have recovered from their losses ~ thank goodness.  Even the forest is recovering, albeit rather slowly.

We got an email from Melisa just a few weeks ago.  She writes:

"I hope this note finds you both well.  It's been more than 4 years since the last email, and I am happy to report that Luke and I are very happily more than four years married. I had meant to email you a picture from our day and now it's years later and I realize I haven't.  Funny how time goes so quickly...

I'm writing now because our well loved rings are ready for some refinishing ~ they're a bit worn but they've been worn with love....."

Turns out their rings are actually in lovely shape and David is refinishing them this month. Luke wears his ring less often than Melisa as he is doing tree work and wants to protect his ring ~ it's a tad snug on him too so David is doing a little resizing at the same time as refinishing their rings.

When I wrote back to Melisa, I assured her that we would dearly love to see those photos from their wedding.  While it might be old news to her, it is always a joy for us to share in moments from couples celebrations of love. 

The way I see it, celebrating love never gets old. 

I mean, look at those pups wearing their beautiful wedding collars :)

Melisa and Luke designed their rings with Black Walnut wood and offset inlays of Greyed Maple and Pietersite. 

 

They were so much fun to work with.  Melisa shares our passion for birds and photography
and she volunteers at a wildlife rehab facility where they work mostly with sea birds, but also raptors and songbirds.  

I want to share a link to Melisa's website too ~ she does such beautiful work.  www.melisakroening.com
 

 

We always love meeting new people who come to us to create rings for them  ~ and it is truly heartwarming to reconnect years later.  Much love to you both, Melisa and Luke!  It was wonderful working with you in 2010 and awesome to reconnect.  You make us smile!!

The 'Thinking of Each Other' Tree

I want to share a set of Touch Wood Rings David created recently that included some very personal material to incorporate as subtle inlays.

 

Ethan and Amy's Redwood Rings have Cherry wood interiors and specially sent Acacia Confusa Root Bark which they requested David use for their inlays.  They kindly left the remainder with us to spread around our home for some good energy. 

 

If it's anything like Amy and Ethan ~ then it definitely has good energy. Thanks you guys!

I did a bit of a search and found a company called 'Eternity in a Box'.  They had some interesting information on the Acacia Confusa.  From their website: "Acacia Confusa is sometimes referred to as the ‘Rainbow Tree’ or the ‘Thinking of Each-Other Tree’ in Taiwan where they grow naturally.  These trees are originally native to Taiwan, though were brought to the Pacific region years ago. They grow vigorously in Hawaii and are even considered of a higher medicinal value than the Taiwanese native trees.
Acacia Confusa has been used in traditional Taiwanese medicine to help heal blood disorders as well as for detoxification. The more mystical application involves preparation into an Ayahuasca-like brew, and has been utilized for visionary and spiritual purposes."