One Ring to Rule Them All

Find Us at https://gustavreyes.com/

We talked amongst ourselves regarding the propriety of naming this post as we did. But when you woodburn a beautiful Elvish phrase onto a sweet ring, what are you supposed to name the post heralding its arrival? 

Behold, an all-good no-evil stainless steel ring with an oak liner: am meleth din, it reads. Or, if you don't speak Elvish: for her love. 

It's a beaut, aint' it? [Insert more appropriate Lord of the Rings-related compliment here.]

Other Elvish possibilities: 

Lle naa curucuar (you are a skillful bowman)
Cormlle naa tanya tel’raa (you have the heart of a lion)
Oio naa elealla alasse' (ever is thy sight a joy)

or perhaps a simple Melinyel (I love you).

Want to make your own custom ring, inscribed with your own lovespeak? 
Drop us a line, by visiting our page here. 

John Dart + GWR = Photomagic

John Dart is an incredibly sweet man with a keen awareness for the life and noise around him, which is a great thing to have as a wedding photographer. He took photos of our work for the Chicago NotWedding last August, and here are the fruits of his labor!

All images below are copyright John Dart, and he should be given credit when you post them all over tarnation in a fit of adoration!

Visit us in Chicago at https://gustavreyes.com/

Booth Photographics & GWR

Stephanie and Stephen of Booth Photographics are basically the hero and heroine of the best, smartest kind of rom-com, only in the happily-ever-after phase. The husband-and-wife team make some mighty fine pictures, and we're lucky that they pointed their lenses and careful eyes at our wares at the Chicago NotWedding in August.

All images below are property Booth Photographics, so make sure to credit them when you spread the love!

Find us at https://gustavreyes.com/

Megan Saul Photographs Gustav Reyes Wood Rings formerly Simply Wood Rings!

Find Us at https://gustavreyes.com/

We were so happy to work with the talented and charming photographers at the NotWedding. Here's the first of three posts showcasing their work.

First up, the energetic and delightful Megan Saul, who photographed our NotWedding ring set, plus the Sky Blue Harmony set, and a hackberry, red jasper and black pearl set inspired by our NotWedding work. 

All images below are copyright Megan Saul. If you want to repost them (and you totally should!), make sure to give her the credit. 

Else-wise credit also goes to Dame Couture, who made the beautiful black-and-white gown, and Menguin, who made sure that the groom and his men folk looked sharp in tuxedos. For more information about all of the great Chicago NotWedding Vendors, head here!

Hackberry, Red Jasper & Black Pearl Ring Set

This hackberry, red jasper, and black pearl set is based on the design we initially made for the NotWedding. We think it's classy and contemporary with more than a helping of warmth!

Falling in love? Contact us for more information on your own great set. 

Amethyst & Mother of Pearl Wood Ring Set

Hey, pretty rings! This sweet custom set features amethyst and Mother of Pearl in rosewood (left) and walnut (right) rings. 

Head to our Custom page to get started on your own set!

360 Degrees of Awesome

Often we only show you one view of a ring (so many rings, so little time!) but we thought we'd splash into the Photoshop pool to show you the many pretty and different views of the "x" inlay. Such movement! 

Want to know more about how our rings are durable and different? Check out our "About Rings" page. 

top: oak ring trio l: lapis lazuli "x" inlay, center: mother of pearl, right:lapis lazuli

bottom: a 360-degree view of the "x" inlay

Prong Setting Super Post

In 1872 Ferdinand J. Herpers patented the prong setting for the Tiffany Company, who had introduced it as the "Tiffany Setting" in 1886.

It is an embrace of a setting, the prongs used in a similar way to how we use the fingers of our hands.

At SWR, we're always amazed at how different one prong-set ring looks from another. Recently, we've moved away from a simple pin-mounted setting. We like to use a prong setting laser-welded to a metal ring inlay. as you'll see below. We find they're stronger that way, and quite striking.

rosewood, garnet, patina'd gold

walnut, client-provided raw diamond (read more about this ring here!)

walnut, topaz

dark bogwood, moissanite, mother of pearl inlay

rosewood, topaz, opal inlay

rosewood and steel, moissanite

Interested in your own prong set wood ring? Get started by filling out our Custom Ring form!

Bob & Monica: Ring Update!

Hey, do you all remember the lovely Monica and Bob, the artist-musician couple we wrote about on the blog a couple months back? 

We finished their rings! And they're gorgeous. 

Bob's ring (bottom) is made of purpleheart, lined wenge. Monica's (standing) is the reverse. As you can see, both the purpleheart and the wenge have a crazy amount of tonal depth. The variance of wood never ceases to amaze us. We guess that's why we dedicate a lot of our lives to it.

Want to make us a ring of a special wood or material in your life? Come get at our Custom Order form! 

Check Us Out on A Practical Wedding!

We love A Practical Wedding. It's a down-to-earth and beautifully designed site to share wedding and commitment ceremonies, get ideas, discover how-to's, and find cool vendors.

Because of this, we couldn't be more pleased to be listed in their Sane Vendors Directory! 

Check us out, and take a look at all the other wonderful vendors they showcase! 

Meet Us at the Not Wedding!

Event: THE NOT WEDDING
Details: August 14, 2014 - 6:30 PM @ City View Lofts
Special discount: check the end of the post to learn more.

We love all of our clients, so much. We love talking to them and collaborating with them and taking pictures of their bright, beautiful faces when they stop by the shop. Most of all: we love that we get to share in the making of a meaningful object.

Often, those meaningful objects are engagement, wedding, and commitment rings.  And we're so excited to contribute to so many special days!

Because of this, we often find ourselves at wedding-centric events. We don't often go to large conventional expos--most people there are on the search for more traditional rings--and so it's special, niche events where we turn up. They're chock-full of sweet people and pretty things, cleverness and magic and light. We were used to the idea of setting up the rings, talking to folks, being a part of the fair melee. We figured we knew the routine. Until now.

From our friends at Green Wedding Alliance (with whom we do the fantastic, annual "Committed" show), we heard about THE NOT WEDDING.

It's not a wedding, but it's not not a wedding. 

And we're pleased as punch to be providing the engagement rings and wedding bands for the not-couple, who are local Chicago married folks who will be renewing their vows at the event.

We'll also be in the Tunnel of Love (vendor fair) to talk to guests about our rings and their dreams!

So join us for a dynamite dinner, super-fun dance floor, and awesome, hand-picked vendor-rama to get some great ideas for your own special day.

Interested in coming? Want a discounted ticket? We'd love to share our golden tickets. Email Amanda at amanda @ gustavreyes DOT com to let us know!

So Fresh, So Clean: The New Site Is Up!

Dear Friends,

It's almost our 10th anniversary. Technically, traditionally, that's tin, but we prefer to think of it as "double-wood"! As a gift to ourselves, and a gift to you, we've put together a sweet new site that tells your stories and displays everything that makes us special as a company. (Hint: a large part of that is you all.)

First, here's what the site looked like in 2006. A bit nineties, to our eye, for sure. It's nice, though, to see we had that simple elegance from the start. [Insert winking emoticon here!]

(If you haven't checked out archive.org's Way Back Machine, do it. It's hours of fun!)

And, [drum roll as loud as thunder],  here's our brand new look!

On the site, (which can still be found at simplywoodrings.com), you'll be able to get to the meat of the matter (wood rings! how wonderful they are! how to take care of them! the team!) while enjoying beautiful pictures of our wares, all under the sheltering sky (banner) the color of seawater in a cave.

We hope you'll take time to explore the new site. Contact us with comments and suggestions. In the coming week, we'll be expanding the gallery selection to show off even more beauty that's coming out of the shop.

Share, share alike, shout from mountaintops, re-post, blog and skywrite just as much as your heart desires.

Stay tuned for exciting evolutions and fun adventures!

Yours,
The SWR Team

On Glitter, & Value

No one ever wants glitter.

We wish someone would!

Or perhaps ground pyrite (fool's gold), shimmering under the finish as it would in the fast currents of the creek.

fool's gold itself (image by Didier Descouens, via Wikipedia_

At the studio, one of us remembers discovering a chunk of pyrite during a creek walk at Pilgrim Hills. She was five at the time, and only beginning to understand the idea of currency. Fishing it up from the sandy bottom, she hollered: "We're rich!" Like Scrooge McDuck or Donald Trump. Her mother giggled a bit, had to explain as they walked home that though the rock was beautiful, it wasn't gold. Their bank balance would remain the same. They would have to skip a lazy backstroke through a room-sized vault of doubloons. They watched a whitetail deer mince along the treeline. "But it's still really beautiful," her mother said. "You should keep it on your windowsill where it'll reflect the light."

At Simply Wood Rings, we work with this kind of beauty: the natural, the authentic. Sure: money helps us all live in our contemporary lives, but natural beauty feeds a different part. This is why we love doing what we do. We're not only spellbound but inspired by our materials, their past lives, their journeys. They reflect our own evolutions as people on a planet full of uncountable types and forms of beauties.

Seashore's Muse: Rosewood and Mother of Pearl

Consider: that we want our rings to call attention to this kind of natural wealth.

Consider: that for us, they do.

Be it glitter or pyrite or fossil or ancient woods.

Wishing you some beauty today, wherever you may find it. 

When Style Aids Authenticity

Style and adornment are a way to embolden and announce your interiority to the outside world. So, let's all be authentic. Let's all greet the world with kindness. Embrace who you are and who you strive to be. 

Most of the people we work with come to us at a time of engagement, marriage or anniversary: they're affirming and reaffirming their commitment to each other, the value of good Earth citizenship, and the lifecycle of matter. 

But there isn't any reason to save that celebration for just a romantic occasion.

Consider, adorning your hand with a reminder of the things you believe.

Consider, giving your best friend a birthday present that means something special.

Consider, passing on a talisman of earth to a family member, a tree to the family tree.

We believe that we make objects that mean something, out of materials that are sustainable. By wearing one of our rings, you can make your own meaning. Why wait to have or give that?

Here are two new rings that we love, that work perfectly no matter the purpose.

dyed birdseye maple with a rosewood interior

In real life, this beauty shimmers like we imagine a mermaid might. Or, it is the silver of a spring, or the sweet ethereal mist of twilight. Wearing a ring like this inserts some magic dreaminess into the everyday. 

rosewood, using the natural color abnormality of the lumber

This one by design uses contrast and as a result feels uber-contemporary. Like dominoes or like black-and-white cookies, the colors work together strikingly. In it is confidence, a 3"-high newspaper headline, strength and force and elegance all at once.

Let our work be one small step toward matching your insides to your outsides. May you find pleasure therein.  

Happy Wednesday!

Puzzle Rings!

Today I would like to talk about puzzle rings. There are many thing about these rings that are wonderful, but I think overall it's a great we to bring three rings to a central theme.

The idea is that the engagement ring and one wedding band fit together like a puzzle. Then there is a curved line that follows the puzzle shape of the ring. This line is added to the larger wedding band, to tie all three rings together!

We've only made a few set's so far, we hope to make more. What do you think about them?