Keepsake Jewellery for Bird Feathers

I last blogged an article about resin jewellery made with bird feathers almost 10 years ago to the day. So, I thought I would show you some recent examples of jewellery made with preserved bird feathers.

I love incorporating bird feathers into my jewellery because the resin not only enhances the natural colours of the feather but has a magnifying effect upon the barbs that make up the feather. Fun fact: Did you know that a bird's feathers are connected to muscles that are attached to the skin. This allows the bird to move their feathers independently and not just by flapping them!

Helen contacted me recently who sadly lost her Green Amazon Parrot. Helen wanted the tip of her Parrot feather set within one of my resin heart shaped pendants; this is the selection of pendants that I made for her, containing different sections of the feather that was sent to me.

Resin Parrot feather pendants

The resin really does show off the beautiful colours that make up the Parrot feather. Here is a keyring that I made containing two bird feathers, side by side.

Keyring containing bird feathers

And a similar teardrop pendant containing black and white budgie tail feathers.

Budgie tail feather pendants

And I am not just limited to preserving the feathers into items of jewellery for keepsakes. Here I have encased the feathers into a resin paperweight. 

Paperweight containing bird feathers

Finally, proving that it is not just feathers from domestic birds such as parrot, budgie or canary,  here is a feather that was sent to me from an incredibly special chicken!

Chicken feather resin pendant

Many thanks for reading about my items of jewellery containing bird feathers. If you would like to read how important my jewellery is for the owner of a bird, please read my Mangos Last Feather blog post.

Mick

Preserving Aircraft Rivets & Swarf

On two separate occasions recently, I have been asked to preserve rivets and swarf that were taken from the restoration of aircraft. I was contacted by a gentleman whose mother and father used to work on the Vulcan Bombers. He wanted me to preserve a small selection of rivets from the last flying Vulcan, serial number XH558. The Vulcan Bomber XH558 is currently in a museum and looked after by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust.

I received the rivets for preserving inside a resin paperweight and these are the labels that were displayed on the box containing the rivets. Firstly, an image of the Vulcan Bomber XH558.

Vulcan Bomber XH558

And on the reverse side of the box there are details of the rivets that were from the Vulcan Bomber XH558, including the 1965 packing date.

Vulcan XH558 Rivets Packaging

I incorporated several rivets from the Vulcan Bomber inside a resin square paperweight, along with the artwork from the box.

Vulcan Bomber Rivets Paperweight

The second item that I made recently contains original swarf from a WWII Hawker Typhoon that is being rebuilt to flying standards. The Hawker Typhoon Preservation Group are rebuilding the Hawker Typhoon. They are currently in the process of rebuilding the rear fuselage based on the original metal from the plane which crashed in April 1945. As a result of this work a member a member of the charity sent to me some original swarf and rivets for encasing inside a pendant.

And here it is, the original swarf and rivets from the Hawker Typhoon preserved within a resin ad sterling silver pendant.

Hawker Typhoon Rivets & Swarf Pendant

Many thanks for reading about how I preserved this historical aircraft metalwork inside jewellery and paperweights.

Mick