By L. Parsons Winslow artist Brian Ziede has made the best of the challenges offered by 2020. Recently, he has increased the wares available in his online shop by making rings in addition to the pens and woodwork he was previously offering. Ziede is an Air Force veteran who spent 14 years working for Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad. Following his stint on the railroad, he became a shift supervisor in the facilities maintenance department at Twin Arrows Casino. In March, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ziede was considered an essential worker and helped to ready the casino for socially distanced gaming. He continued to work even as the facility closed and other workers were sent home. Ziede worked until June when the organization closed the casino indefinitely. Ziede said, “I love my job at Twin Arrows. The staff and the people are great, we are treated well and with respect. In the midst of this pandemic though, it just wasn’t safe to keep it open.” While working at Twin Arrows, Ziede began exploring hobbies to express his artistic side. He dabbled in 3-D printing, and making pens for his friends and family as well as experimenting with resin pouring. “I have a habit of exploring things that I like online and just attempting them,” he said. “I have tried a little bit of everything because I realized I needed to have some kind of an outlet and a hobby. Especially in 2020 where we all have to stay inside.” After the facility-wide lay off in June, Ziede became more serious about his crafts. “There really is no way to know when we will be back to work. We collected pay from the casino for a while, but that can only last so long. I have unemployment now, but it is not the same.” He started small. Building more pens from more interesting materials. “I started finding rare and beautiful wood, like African Paduak. It has a unique orange color and the material itself is really beautiful. The more I looked for wood and different things, the more I enjoyed making the pens. I start with a kit that contains the springs and ink cartridges, and then I design and build the body of the pen. Those got a pretty good response. I was even able to find materials from sentimental places and places from television and movies. I sold one pen that was made from wood from the original Yankee Stadium, for example.” Ziede posted his work on social media under the name R-Evolving Woodworks. “Almost immediately, I had people asking for specific themes. I have made and sold pens representing every branch of the military, the railroad, sports teams, even Harry Potter.” Following the positive response to the pens, Ziede ventured onward. “Again, I was ready to stretch my legs, so to speak, and began designing different things. I have a lathe, which is a tool made for turning wood and resins, I figured I should put it to good use.” He began turning bowls, vases, ice cream scoops, key chains, and much more. “The ideas just kept coming to me.” Then, inspired by the recent engagement of a friend of his, he turned his attention on rings. “At first, I was just purchasing rings with a channel in them, like a groove. Then I filled the channel with different powdered gems and minerals. I was able to get a good response to those as well, because I was filling them with things like bits of real dinosaur bones, glow in the dark materials, opals and even meteorite chips.” The process of inlaying these rings is involved and time consuming. “I lay down a layer of CA (cyanoacrylate) glue in the inlay track for a base mica powder. Then lay in larger opals in the track, working around the ring. Using a finer crushed opal I fill in spaces between the larger pieces until the whole track is filled. Then I use the lathe to turn it flush with the track walls and use progressively finer sanding and wet sanding and finally high speed polishing.” It was in turning these rings that an idea struck him that has become a best seller in his shop. “I saw someone wearing a ring made from a coin and I thought it was interesting. I started looking in to how to do it myself and became immediately obsessed with the look as well as the process. Then I thought other people would like them as well. A variety of different styles and sizes appeal to people. The fact that they are made from real United States coins is fascinating to me and to see people’s reactions to coins that are, say, from their state or representing their interests, it’s cool.” Ziede has changed his business name to R-Evolving Creations because, as he explained, “It encompasses more of what I am doing now. At first, I was only working with wood. Now, I feel like I am able to create from all different materials so the name needed an update to reflect that.” His crafts can be viewed and purchased on his social media under that name. “I do have quite a few pieces on Facebook that you can purchase. What I really enjoy doing though, is creating custom pieces that are specific to you or someone you are giving a gift to. For example, I just created a sort of dinosaur egg from wood and resin that contains real dinosaur bone bits. It was a fun project and it was custom made for a little boy that will enjoy it for years to come. It was inspired by a ring I designed that I call ‘Extinction.’ The ring is a channel ring, like I talked about before. It has fire opal so it represents lava flow, real dinosaur bones, meteorite fragments and a glow powder that makes it really look like it is hot.” For now, Ziede says, “I am enjoying earning a little money while creating beautiful things. It makes people happy and in 2020, we need all of that we can get.” R-Evolving Creations has shipped pieces all over the world and can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rEvolvingwoodcraft.
