Wednesday, May 30, 2007

New friends and their beautiful wood ring design

Many thanks to our dear Irish friends; Breda and Marc for the beautiful wooden rings they designed of Grenadilla with crossed spiraled bands of blue spruce.

Breda wrote: “The first thing that struck me was amazement at how on earth David can create such beautiful pieces of art made of such tiny pieces! I guess you don't fully appreciate that when looking at the photos as the mind is tricked by these larger images. He obviously has gifted - patient - hands. We just love the rings. They are absolutely stunning. They really are works of art, so very, very beautiful. Oh, and they fit perfectly! :-) How light they feel too - it's like a feather touch.

You know, of everything we have chosen so far for the wedding - restaurant, dresses, music etc, this feels the most special. You and David make a wonderful team.”



















Saturday, May 26, 2007

Wooden Wedding Rings in Costa Rica




"I cannot express to you the absolute joy you brought to us with the rings you made only for us, with the woods that emulated our love. Your handcrafted rings were a vital part of our sacred ceremony in Costa Rica.
I have attached photos to convey how amazing this day was for us, and your part in it.
After we returned, we found the rings to be such a bind between us, knowing that we shared the same trees, the same meaning, and the same spirit that created our rings.
Thank you again for brightening our lives."

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Ancient Kauri wood ring with a black wood band


Ancient Kauri wood.

One new story and one very old story.

A lovely couple from Ohio contacted us a few months ago and asked if David would make them rings of Kauri wood. The couple specially ordered the wood from ancientwood.com and had the wood shipped directly to David.

The ring you see here is David's first kauri wood ring; his test ring.

Dusty and Erin's rings will be kauri wood with bird's eye maple liners.

Now for the old story. This Touch Wood Ring is crafted from reclaimed ancient Kauri timber that is aged from 30,ooo to more than 50,ooo years old. Ancient Kauri wood comes from forests buried at the time of the last Ice Age, which are located on the Northern Island of New Zealand. It is called the World's Oldest workable timber. Read The Kauri Story on the Ancientwood website. These points are from their pamphlet.
  • The harvesting of Ancient Kauri is a very ecologically friendly practice.
  • No standing trees are cut
  • These incredible trees are excavated from underground and any disturbed land is carefully restored.
  • Every tree grew for more than 1200 years.
  • They stopped growing over 50,000 years ago.

This ancient Kauri wood is pretty spectacular stuff and it fills us with a sense of wonder to hold something so very very old.


Bespoke Wooden rings
meticulously hand crafted
in Canada
by David Finch.

Touch Wood Rings

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Italian Olive Wood Rings

David just finished these rings incorporating olive wood sent to us by a couple who live in Ithaca, New York.

Katherine's ring is blue spruce and incorporates their olive wood as an inlaid band. Nate's ring is solid olive wood.

When Nathaniel first made contact with us he told us about his cousin's family in Italy who own a small farm with olive and fruit trees. "This farm is a special place for me. What's more, Katherine and I will be spending a portion of our honeymoon there." So with some serious effort on the part of Nate and his cousin d'Angio; a branch of an Italian olive tree has been transformed by David into Katherine and Nathaniel's Italian Olive wood wedding rings.







Dear Nicola and David,
The rings arrived and we couldn't be more pleased. They fit perfectly and are exactly what we wanted. Thank you both so much for your efforts. And thank you for providing such a beautiful alternative to traditional wedding rings. We just can't say enough good things...
Thank you.
Best wishes,
Katherine and Nathaniel

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Koa wood rings with juniper heartwood and birds eye maple


This beautiful set of rings was designed by a young couple who work in the Peace Corps.
They are made of Koa wood, juniper heartwood and birds eye maple. Katie's wedding and engagement rings are a split design of Brian's wedding ring.



Friday, April 27, 2007

Stackable wood rings ~ just for fun

I thought I'd share a glimpse of my collection of tiny rings but please know that these really are 'just for fun'. They are very narrow (2mm wide) and David does not recommend a ring this narrow for regular wear.

David has made about 10 of these very narrow rings for me! I wear them in stacks of three and I just love to mix and match them. Depending on which 3 I wear, they can look like a solid ring when worn.

I especially like to use two black wood rings as borders for a center ring of koa or blue spruce or juniper heartwood.
Some of these tiny stacking rings are lined, some are one solid wood. These have all seen lots of wear :)







An alternative to traditional wedding rings

When Brenda first wrote she thanked us for having this alternative to the traditional wedding ring. She said she'd known she wanted wood wedding rings for a long time. These beautiful blackwood and blue spruce rings will be winding their way to Jamaica in a few months.

She wrote "We love our rings... Everyone we've shown is very impressed as well. Not only by the beauty, but also by the idea of a wooden ring instead of metal. We'll keep in touch and send pictures of the wedding! My expectations have far been exceeded!
Thank you both so much!"


And you are both so welcome Brenda. It's been our pleasure!

Hawaiian Koa wood ring with an oak band.


"Just got back from the UK to find the ring here waiting for me, thank you so much it looks stunning! She’ll be thrilled with it. Thank you again for all your hard work and kind emails."
This pretty ring now lives in New York City. It was lovingly designed using a dark Hawaiian koa wood and a grainy oak inlaid band. It's a size 5 1/2, 4mm wide and gently rounded.






Wooden rings with two hearts

This Michigan couple designed their Touch Wood Rings to be made of juniper heart wood, with purple heart wood liners and narrow golden koa inlaid bands.
Their rings are 5 and 7mm wide with slight tapers.
In just a few days these folks will be married.

We'll be thinking of you and sending our love!




Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Rosewood friends

Often our conversations with people start months before the work actually begins and so it's always gratifying to hear back from folks after our work is done. I get pretty attached to folks while chatting with them over a period of months and David develops a special relationship with people through making their rings. Dani and Schmick have been in our lives for awhile ~ another couple of wonderful people whose kindness humbles us and whose friendship we value.

Upon receiving their rings, Dani wrote ~ "I was wondering how you would package our rings and I was very pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful card they were in. The rings are absolutely beautiful. They feel and look very elegant on our fingers. It's kinda funny but, in the pictures you don't get a sense of how delicate they actually are and I can't imagine the skill, care, and patience it must take to make them. They are perfect.

Since we both make a living with our hands, we are having a friend weave hemp necklaces for us to put the rings on while we are at work so now we are searching for some nice wood beads to put in the necklace. We would like to thank you, not only for all your time, effort and love that you put into this process, but also for being the beautiful people you are and for providing people with such a fantastic way to symbolize their commitment and love.

Words cannot express how much I have enjoyed this process starting from the moment I found your website and instantly knew I was in the right place. You will always be in our hearts."