Bespoke Retirement Paperweights

Over three years ago I wrote a blog post about a custom retirement paperweight gift that I had made for a retiree from a company. Well recently I have been asked to make several similar paperweights for various companies and charities, the bespoke paperweights are to be given as retirement gifts to the departing employees.

The following are just a few examples of the bespoke retirement paperweights that I have recently been asked to make and all contain objects that were sent to me by the business or charity for encasing inside the resin paperweight.

Refuse derived fuel pellet within a paperweight.

For the first bespoke retirement paperweight I was asked to make, my customer sent me an unusual object to be encased inside the paperweight. To be honest, I was not sure what the object was after receiving it and I had to ask my customer to explain.

Refuse derived fuel pellet paperweight

 The object is a refuse derived fuel pellet, made from recycled household waste (paper/plastic fractions), and it is designed to replace coal. This is a new one for me and the first time I have seen a fuel pellet made from recycled refuse, looks great inside the paperweight too!

MS Society badge paperweight

This next paperweight I was asked to make for the MS Society, a UK wide group of volunteers, fundraisers, researchers and campaigners who are working together to help those suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

MS Society badge paperweight

The paperweight was to be made as a retirement gift for the Chair of the MS Society board of trustees. I was sent a small badge (the very last ‘shining star’ being awarded by the MS Society) to be included inside the paperweight.

Employee name badge paperweight

This last paperweight contains the metal employee name badge worn by the employee who was soon to retire from the company.

Employee name badge paperweight

I always feel honoured when asked to make these bespoke retirement paperweights for companies and charities. It is such a thoughtful gift to an employee or volunteer who has given so much.

Mick

Butterfly themed memorial jewellery for ashes or hair

 I had a jewellery giveaway on my Facebook page in January, to celebrate my 14th year in business making keepsake jewellery. One lucky winner was to win a new stye of keepsake pendant that I have started making in the shape of a butterfly. The sterling silver and resin butterfly pendant would be suitable for ashes, locks of hair, horse hair or just coloured and personalised to virtually any requirements.

The giveaway winner sent me a small quantity of ashes from her pets to be incorporated into the pendant and this is the completed butterfly pendant:

Memorial butterfly pendant for ashes

I have set the ashes within purple coloured resin inside the sterling silver butterfly pendant and gave the pendant a sparkle with a small amount of glitter dust. The recipient was over the moon with the finished pendant, and I really enjoyed making it for her!

This was the first butterfly shaped memorial pendant that I have made, although I have been asked many times over the years to incorporate butterfly symbols into my jewellery. For example, there is this resin hair keepsake pendant containing a silver butterfly.

Memorial pendant for hair with butterfly

or this heart shaped memorial pendant containing ashes and a tiny, coloured butterfly.

Memorial pendant for ashes and butterfly

As part of the jewellery giveaway, I also asked each participant to name their favourite butterfly. The Peacock butterfly seemed to be the most popular amongst those that entered my blog giveaway. I would love to know, what is your favourite type of butterfly?

Mick

Tea light holder containing pet hair

I am often asked if I can make resin ornaments, paperweights and other decorative items containing pet hair, a loved one’s hair or cremated ashes. Well, a few weeks ago I was contacted by Faye who had been given my details from a friend whom I had made a necklace for, containing the hair from her beloved dog.

Faye had some fur from her darling border terrier Flo who was sadly put to sleep following a short illness late last year. Faye really loved the idea of having some fur preserved within a resin tea light holder. Having never made a resin tea light holder before containing pet fur but always up for a challenge, I began to look at possible designs. I managed to source suitable moulds to make several different styles of tea light holders, including star, circular and heart shaped options. 

Faye decided that she would like the pet fur to be preserved within a heart shaped tea light holder. She sent the fur to me, and this is the completed tea light holder containing the fur. The holder is created using clear resin and measures approx. 10 cm in diameter.

Resin tea light holder containing pet fur

The central circular container holding the tea light candle is made of glass and can be easily removed, so the tea light holder could also be used as a trinket dish if required.

Resin trinket dish containing pet fur

Faye  received her custom-made tea light holder containing her pet’s fur and loved it! She sent me this lovely message after receiving it and accompanying photo of the tea light located in her memorial space.

“Just got back from a busy morning at work to open my lovely tea light holder, I'm so happy with it, it's so beautiful and I can't thank you enough for your wonderful work.  I will treasure this for the rest of my life. All the best, keep doing what you do”,

Custom made tea light holder memorial

I am so thankful to people like Faye who give me inspiration for making new products. The tea light holder is an excellent idea and I am looking for to making more of them to preserve sentimental objects for people.

Mick

Custom paperweight for fishing flies

 I have been making custom made paperweights encapsulating personal objects for over ten years now, and it never ceases to amaze me whenever I am asked to set something new inside the paperweights.

This happened to me recently when I was asked by Brenda from Ayrshire in Scotland, if I could set fishing flies inside my resin paperweights.  It is certainly possible for me to encase a fishing fly within a resin paperweight, and I am surprised that I have never been asked to do this before. Although I do not fish, I have always  found fishing flies beautiful to look at and I also admire the skill and artistry of those that make them.

Brenda sent me a photo of the fishing flies along with measurements, so that I could advise on the best size and shape of paperweight to accommodate them.

A selection of colourful fishing flies

We decided that two of the smaller fishing flies would be perfect together inside the square shaped paperweight that I make. Brenda also wanted me to further customise the paperweight by including a short message; she sent me the flies and this is the completed paperweight:

Custom paperweight for fishing flies

I have encased the fishing flies together with the message ‘Tight Lines’ (which is used between fishermen as a greeting or good luck wish), the phrase ‘keeping your lines tight’ means that lots of fish are being caught.

The fishing flies really do look beautiful inside the paperweight. The resin tends to enhance colour and textures, so the feathers and other materials that make up the flies look stunning. The fishing flies also look like they are suspended within water. The square paperweight being a good choice for displaying the flies because as well as being displayed flat like a traditional paperweight, it can also be displayed upright as a display piece.

I am going to now look up some YouTube videos on how fishing flies are made. Thank you so much for reading about my paperweights!

Mick

Horseshoe bracelet charm containing horse hair

I was asked by Sharon towards the end of last year if I could set a small amount of horse hair within a bracelet charm that would be suitable for a Thomas Sabo charm bracelet.

The bracelet charm was going to be a gift for her friend whom tragically lost her horse last summer. Unfortunately, they only managed to get a few strands of tail hair at the time, however this was more than sufficient for me to make an item of jewellery with it.

After a little investigation I discovered that Thomas Sabu made a horseshoe style bracelet charm, so I suggested making something similar to contain the hair. This is the horseshoe shaped bracelet charm that I made for her, containing the hair from her friend’s horse.

Horseshoe charm for horse hair

I encased a few strands of the hair with clear resin inside a sterling silver horseshoe shaped pendant bezel and then attached a sterling silver lobster clasp clip.

I have been quite busy this month making resin bracelet charms containing horse hair. Here is an example of coloured resin bracelet charms that I recently made. Again, my customer only had a few strands of horse hair that they were able to send to me however this was more than sufficient to make a couple of small resin oval shaped charms. I coloured the bracelet charms blue and green and criss-crossed the horse hair throughout the resin.

Multicoloured bracelet charms containing horse hair

I really enjoy working with horse hair in my resin jewellery because of the amazing effects that you can create with it, for example, the criss-crossing of the horse hair in resin often resembles rutilated quartz.

Many thanks for reading!

Mick

Preserving conkers from a special tree

Happy New Year! So, I know it is probably the wrong time of year to be discussing conkers (Horse Chestnuts), but towards the end of last year I was asked on several occasions to preserve conkers that had fallen from special Horse Chestnut trees.

I have been asked many times in the past to preserve special flowers and even leaves within items of resin jewellery and paperweights. Several examples can be seen within my real flower jewellery page. These flowers and leaves are often taken from a special occasion such as a wedding or birthday, but on occasions they are also taken from a sentimental plant or tree. Maybe a plant or tree that evokes fond family memories or a memorial to a loved one.

The following are a couple of examples whereby I have been sent conkers recently for them to be preserved within resin paperweights. The conkers were obviously very sentimental to the families that sent them to me.

The first example is of a resin domed shaped paperweight containing two conkers that have been encased inside the paperweight side by side.

Resin paperweight containing conkers

For the next example I have preserved two conkers within a resin square shaped paperweight. I have also included a section taken from a fallen leaf from the Horse Chestnut tree, and a photograph of the family home and the tree. 

Paperweight containing conkers and leaves

I hope these paperweights containing the conkers are special keepsakes for the families, and they give a lasting reminder of their special conker trees for many years to come.

Did you know that in North America, many people refer to conkers as “buckeyes.” They are named “buckeyes” because the conkers resemble a buck’s (or male deer’s) shiny brown eye!

Take care and I hope 2023 is a great year for everyone!

Mick

Handmade Christmas Decorations Containing Pet Fur

This is likely to be my last blog post before Christmas and most likely the last post of 2022, so I thought that I would continue with the Christmas theme. Following on from a recent post I made about my custom-made Christmas snowflake decorations that I recently made, I have been contacted by several people since who have asked me if I could put cremated ashes and/or hair or fur from a loved one or pet within the hanging decorations.

I was contacted by a previous customer Sarah who wanted me to set the fur from her very much missed pet Hugo within a couple of resin snowflake decorations, and these are the decorations I made for her.

The first custom made hanging snowflake decoration that I made for her containing Hugo’s fur containing a small amount of glitter and is personalised with Hugo’s name.

Personalised pet hair Christmas decoration

And the second snowflake decoration I made for her contains the pet fur, glitter dust and a small amount of blue glitter.

Christmas decoration containing pet fur

After receiving her snowflake decorations containing Hugo’s fur, this is the lovely message that Sarah sent to me:

“Wow what can I say? Thank you so much for my stunning Xmas decorations! I absolutely love them. They’re beautiful (and I love the pretty packaging too, what a lovely touch.)

I am honestly thrilled with how they’ve turned out, they will be the highlight of my Xmas tree every year from now on. They are truly gorgeous. I’m so grateful to you for the lovely things you’ve created for me with Hugo’s fur, keepsakes that I will treasure forever and look at with great love and affection.

I am sure we will be doing business again soon and wish you all the very, very best.

Sarah”

I was thrilled to hear that my Christmas decorations containing Hugo’s fur will be on display, hanging from her Christmas tree every year.

Take care and I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year.

Mick