faith, hope and love

This is a ring Emily and I made for my mother-in-law- "faith, hope & love". I made the ring with teak on the inside and maple on the outside (which makes it strong and unique). Emily custom engraved the ring with "faith", "hope" and "love" with flying birds in between each word. On the bottom we engraved initials of as many family members as we could fit to remind her she's got a lot of people who love her. My mother-in-law just had surgery for breast cancer so we wanted to give her something special that she can wear while she's recovering to encourage her.

new place to buy my stuff

Check out http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17415130

I listed my first item on Etsy.com! I put the Eclipse ring up for sale. very soon I'll have everything up there. 

in other news... I've been working on a new process for making my rings. They will be twice as strong and twice as beautiful. that's all I'm letting out for now. stay tuned for upcoming pics.

pics from the Festival

this is a frame that I made for denise's buckles. it's a solid block of White Oak. It's meant to be hung on the wall. but I guess you can pretty much put it anywhere you like.
a happy customer! Natalie and David.
me working away.

We had 80lbs of skittles on the table! Everyone thought we were selling candy untill they came close.
This is the booth I shared with Denise Saffren (picture here).
This is my wife, the Loveley Emily, inspecting the display.

Thank you

Sorry for the absence. I've been ridiculously busy lately. But I have been making rings! very soon I'll post some pics. So stay posted.
also...

I'd like to thank everyone who came to my booth last Sunday. For those of you who bought rings, I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them. Thank you so much for coming by and saying hi.
Finally,

For those who ordered stuff last Sunday, I'm on the job and you'll get an e-mail soon when your rings are ready.

This was my first "public appearance" with Hopewood, and it was exciting. I can't find enough words to express my gratitude to all the people who made me feel like I was working on something worthwhile. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

...and now, back to work.

lots of new rings being made

I've been working hard in the shop making lots of rings for the upcoming Festival. I'm just making what ever my mind can conjure. If you plan on coming to the festival and buying a ring, you might want to pre-order your ring so you can guarantee that you'll get the one you want. I'm making random sizes and random styles. I'll try to get them all photographed before the festival, but I'll most likely be making rings up to the last minute so there will definitely be rings not posted on this blog.
So, if you wanna buy a ring at the festival, the best thing to do is to email me at: www.hopewood1@gmail.com
Let me know what ring size you want and what style ring you'd like. If you don't know what style ring you want and you just wanna try them on in person, then just send me your ring size so that I'll be sure to make rings in that size. Here's a chart to help you find your ring size.
http://www.jewelrylist.com/sizer.pdf
Generally I'm making rings that are about size 7. some are 5.
remember, you can be creative with your order. Your eclipse ring (for example) doesn't have to be just like the one on my blog. You can have any kind of wood you want in it and in any order too. I say ,any , depending on whether I can acquire the material.
I welcome creativity, so if you have any ideas you'd like me to realize for you, just tell me what you want and I'll make it.
Finally, There's no obligation to buy a ring if you just email me and say you'd like to see a "wow ring" in a size 9for example. It just helps me know to make that ring and have it available in case you do want to buy it. I'd hate for anyone to have to walk away disappointed because there wasn't a ring that fit them or that the style that they liked didn't fit. And if you want me to hold on to it until you check it out...still, no obligation to buy. I'll be happy to do it. Just say so in your email.
Thanks everyone for your interest in hopewood rings.

Olive wood ring

The Olive Tree (Olea europaea). They may live as long as 1500 years. It's native to Northern Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe. Also grown in California, Florida and Arizona. This particular tree, is found near le-Pont-du-Gard west of Avignon, France, it's believed to have started its life ca. AD 709.
I doubt that this ring is made of wood from a 1300 year old tree. but it's olive wood none the less. Olive wood has a faint yet nice smell to it when you cut it. As you can imagine it's kinda olivey. I like the texture of this wood, its very smooth, very fine with closed pores. There is a certain allure to it's simplicity, it's hard for me to describe any more than that.

Brazilian Tulipwood Ring

This is the Brazilian Tulip wood tree. As far as I can make out. There seems to be some confusion as to the real identity of the tree Brazilian Tulipwood comes from. Some sites say it comes from the Dalbergia decipularis, others say Physocalymma scaberrimum . This picture was taken by Chris Diewald who traveled to Brazil and had this to say about it.
"I found a lot of these trees in flower near Pirenopolis, Goiás, Brazil, in August of 2007. This belongs to the central Brazilian savanna biomes (Cerrado). The tree appears not to be well known even in Brazil. I have since found the English name 'Tulipwood" for it and added this to the tags. Unfortunately, I don´t have good close-up images of the flowers.
It is truly a show when in flower! "
Well, I bought this wood from my local Rockler store, and on their web site it identifies the species as Dalbergia variabilis, so I'm going with that.
Here is an example of what Brazilian Tulipwood looks like in a ring. It smells great when you cut it; kinda like perfume or potpourri. It's a hard/dense wood like ebony, it's nice because you can't really notice the end grain with this wood. Not like oak for example where the end grain is very pronounced.
Brazilian Tulipwood is prized for it's color : irregular streaks of yellow, rose, red and violet on a creamy straw colored background.

Liptus trees

I couldn't place this picture in that last post when I talked about Lyptus wood. So here they are, happy Lyptus trees hanging out in brazil.

Rings for sale!

It's come to my attention that I haven't given any hint that these rings are for sale.
I've been concentrating on creating a variety of designs to showcase my ability and creativity. My goal is, naturally, to sell my work. I'm proud of the fact that I don't make "assembly-line" jewelry; each piece is different.

If you want to know the price on any piece you see here OR you want to commission a custom piece, you can e-mail me at:
hopewood1@gmail.com

I will be glad to give you any info you require.

Abbot Kinney Festival

I'll be sharing a booth with Denise Saffren at the 24th annual Abbot Kinney Festival in Venice beach, CA on September 28th. If you can make it down, I'd love to meet you (and if I already know you I'd love to see you too). I'll have lots of items for sale, we'll see how the general population likes the hopewood rings.
http://www.abbotkinney.org/abbotkinneyfestival.html

Check out Denise's work, it's really cool. I have the skull belt buckle.
http://denisesaffren.com

Lyptus Wedge Ring

When I think of a ring, this is the shape that pops into my head. Obviously I try to create every shape possible, but I think the wedge shape is the most comfortable and it's showy without being cumbersome. Lyptus is a wood that comes from a hybrid tree. Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus urophylla. It's grown in Brazil and is considered an environmentally friendly wood. Like most woods, Lyptus will get a bit darker with exposure to UV light. But I think This particular piece shouldn't get any darker. Lyptus starts off kinda salmon-colored and mellows to a nice reddish brown like you see here. Again, most woods have this feature.

by the way, Thank you Heather for your coments.

hu ar iue?

Please, don't forget to sign your comments. I'd love to know your name. please tell me, won't you?

And for those of you who haven't commented yet, please give me some feed back. I'd like to hear what your feelings and impressions are about my work. send me ideas, thoughts, or even criticism. if you like a particular piece, just write that. I'd like to get some gauge of what's popular and what's not.

Hope to hear from you soon.
Stay healthy and happy,
-Carlos Cabal

Knot-eye Ring

I liked the texture of this log that I had in my backyard. It had been sitting there for about 5 years, sucking up sun, moisture, and an impressive array of bugs. I don't know what kind of wood it is. A few days ago I picked it up and decided to do something with it. I pealed off the bark and became fascinated with the leathery-like texture of the wood. So I figured why not make a ring that exploits (what I consider) the beauty of this wood. I went for a very organic shape, I didn't mean for it to look like anything accept a piece of wood with a small knot in it, but doesn't the knot kinda look like an eye? I guess it's like looking at clouds (each person sees their own thing). This here is definitely a one-of-a-kind piece. I can make similar ones, but they will all be different. That's another beautiful thing about this ring.

new "Eclipse" ring

Black Palm Ring

I really like this wood. It's so crazy looking and yet 100% natural. This is a good wood to use for accents (like in furniture or jewelry) . You'll be seeing a lot more black palm in my works ahead.

Black And White Ebony Ring

This ring is a real eye catcher! Black & white ebony is a rare wood mostly found in the country of Laos, in Southeast Asia. The wood is so exotic looking that I needed to do very little to make a good looking ring. The wood also has an interesting Vanilla-like scent to it. But once the protective coat is applied, you can't smell anything.

Brand New! 109 year-old Ring

Ring made from a 109 year-old piece of Orange Brazilian Rosewood. I was given the piece of wood by Dan Tanner, a real cool guitar maker I know who works in Sardinia, Ohio. Because of the age, it has acquired a mellow chocolate color and the medulary rays (the black stripes) get darker as well which gives a more dramatic character to the ring. The coolest thing about this ring though is simply the age. Just the idea that this wood was around before even my grandmother was born gives it history. something one can ponder every once in a while.

jacaranda tree

Jacaranda tree, the ring in the previous post is made from the wood of this tree.

Jacaranda Wood Ring

Jacaranda wood ring. This is Emily's favorite ring so far. Jacaranda trees are the big trees that bloom in bright purple from spring to early summer in Culver City, Ca, where I grew up. Really light weight, yet strong- people always comment that it's lighter than it looks.

Purple Heart Ring

Purple Heart ring with a White Oak inlay. This is a ring that I made a while ago for Emily. I gave her a simple round ring and though she loved it, she told me she wanted something that looked hand made; Something that couldn't be made by machine. So this is what I came up with. She loves it....It's one of those pieces that every time you look at it you find a new facet to enjoy.

Infinite Mahogany

This piece is intended to be a necklace pendant. I was inspired by a Tongan carving that I saw when I visited Maui. It's carved form a single piece of mahogany. I had intended for it to be the symbol for infinity but you would have to hang it side-ways for it to be accurate. Otherwise it's a figure eight. This is my first dive into three dimensional carving, I hope to make more pieces like this. Maybe I'll try some more complicated knot configurations; something Celtic perhaps.

Righty inspecting my table design

he's a tough critic

table in progress

Custom coffee table that I'm making for our apartment.

"WOW" ring

Obviously not a ring for everyday use, but I wanted to try a ladies ring that people will say wow to, an attention getter if you will.
Emily's version of my ring, photoshopped.

luthier link

check it
http://www.core77.com/blog/broadcasts/core77_studio_visit_lutemaker_jason_petty__10617.asp#more

presentation ring box for the wedding set

This is the box I made for the wedding set from the previous post.

Bulls Eye Ring, Ebony wedding ring set, turned pieces

Though I'm studying furniture and cabinet making at Cerritos College, California, I've recently been using what I've learned there to make rings, self taught. I'm experimenting a lot with different designs and materials. I've been making a ton of them these past few weeks as I'm between semesters, and was commissioned for my first wedding rings set, which was a real honor. I've also been learning to turn wood, with some nice results below.

Bulls Eye Ring

My most recent ring, that I'm totally stoked about, which consists of an ebony center with Brazilian Tulip wood laminated on top, with a 3 part inlay of ebony, heartwood and brass filings. I'm looking for a name for this design.

This is one of two solid ebony wedding rings I custom made for a really cool couple, Tracey and Victoria (see the pair below). I originally made a similar ring for our friend Dominique, who was wearing hers at work one day when Tracey spotted it and asked about it. Now she'll be wearing her own custom version in September.

The next 2 pieces are from drift wood my wife Emily & I found in Palos Verdes, Ca when we were hanging out on the beach. It was an ugly, stinky piece of wood, but a good size for turning. Once I started working with it I realized it was a beautiful piece of Elm, which is pretty rare to find, even in stores. I was able to make these 2 pieces from the 1 log that I found. The vase and pot both have such a cool character to them due to their time spent riding the waves, with unusual cracks and colors unique to these pieces. They also still smell a little like the ocean.