what about designing a hope chest? but a cool one, not like those awful ones with hearts stenciled on... yuck.

i think theres a link in archinect for wood jewelry.

its under "fashion" and "say it in wood"

there used to be a link at "toy mistress" for unique items and some were made of wood (or gave wood)

what the hell is wrong with me, i take 3 weeks vacation and my mind is all messed up

thanks for the leads...

design geek-girl: i thought about building a piece of furniture, but being a typical male, it seems i have waited a bit too long to even attempt such an endeavor. thanks.

still looking at wood jewelry ODR....

jam-arch: hang in there.....

ooh, you could plant a tree... it comes across as romantic yet sustainable.... and yet, it's cheap and takes almost know prep time.

hmm thats a good one (note to self- no tree planting for dgg valentines)

i am actually surrounded by 90' pines at the moment. perhaps something on a smaller scale. good suggestion though..

yeah, I can see how your anniversary sapling might be dwarfed by the pines... so nevermind, lol

haha, thanks jam ;)

until the tree was mentioned, I was thinking of something else completely materialistic. now I see the error of my ways -- why not present a carefully sculpted bonsai? Your undying love represented by a tiny tree, which with meticulous care can outlive you both.

so sweet. and you can both spend the rest of your lives caring for it.

or suffer great confusion when you leave for a vacation and forget about it and it dies.

sorry could not resist.

well. fine.

well, I like the idea Ddot, for what it's worth... and hey, what doesn't die when neglected? Even dead it would make for a neat metaphor for marriage.

ddot, if its any consolation those smart ass comments are probably the reason i don't have a boyfriend.

well, aml, if it makes you feel better, my creepy metaphor comparing dead trees to marriage is probably part of the reason that my b/f is moving to CT.

I can highly recommend a welsh love spoon crafted by our finest wood carvers. A Celtic tradition of the men giving love spoons to their women as a token of his love and affection that dates back to the 17th Century.

lovespoons

yeah, i sort of didn't get that but still i'm going to applaud your dead bonsai = succesful marriage analogy. just sounds cool, and i can imagine the couple returning from vacation and hugging and kissing exstatically [sp?] when they see the dead tree.

haha aml... the scene you just described just made me laugh a little bit.

alas, my eloquence has let me down again. I meant, that a neglected tree like a neglected marriage would die (sweet, I know) and that it would at least serve as a reminder to pay more attention to each other and water and trim as needed. Ideally, the tree would stay alive though.

ahhhh..... that makes a lot more sense.

now if someone could explain those spoons, that'd be great.

cause from my point of view... sorry, no. a bit creepy, also.

Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.

Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988)


History

bots, thanks for the link, but sorry, i still don't get it. doesn't mean they are wrong, am just being sincere. they are based on symbolism and that does not work for me. i spend hour after hour telling my design students they can't 'translate' horseshoe for luck or heart for love - that's a shortcut-, and helping them abstract a concept into intuitive shapes and shadows instead of symbols. so it's a personal way i feel about design.

probably wrong to say they are creepy but that was more of a gut feeling, so now i'm giving you the brainy part to explain myself.

but i guess the whole material = year of marriage thing is basically symbolic, so i'll quietly drop off this thread [to which i've contributed nothing].