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

How to preserve wedding flowers

A couple of weeks ago I took delivery of a huge box of pressed flowers that the lady had pressed following her recent wedding. The box included flowers from her wedding bouquet as well as a sample of her lace wedding dress material. She wanted both the flowers and wedding dress material preserved within necklaces for her and her bridesmaids as keepsakes of their special day.

Over the next couple of days I began to sort through the flowers and prepared various designs for her pendants. I had so much choice because of the beautiful selection of flowers that my design document grew at such a rate and I produced a 14 page design document, all annotated with the different possibilities. There was so much choice!

Wedding flower jewellery design

We settled on a couple of designs however first I needed to check the feasibility of embedding the fabric within the resin. I have made several pendants in the past incorporating wedding dress material but nothing as delicate as this lace material. So I made a test pendant incorporating the material and here it is.

Wedding dress lace pendant

The pendant was given as a freebie to the lady and we agreed that the fabric would look good as a backing to the flowers within the pendants. So over the next few I started to incorporate the wedding flowers within the pendants and here is an example.

Wedding flowers and dress pendant

And this pendant was given to one of the bridesmaids.

Wedding flower keepsake jewellery

They were all given a little bit of Shpangle by incorporating some glitter dust; I do like my glitter dust and would add it to everything if I could!

Mick

Jewellery Made from Recycled Fabric Remnants

I do not know where the time has gone but it was last spring when I mentioned that I had been making jewellery made from recycled fabric. At the time I asked if anybody had small off-cuts of fabric that could be donated to me for my jewellery making, and the lovely Lynda of ‘Bags of Swank by SimJaTa’ came to my rescue. She sent me a huge pile of fabric remnants with some very gorgeous designs and I have finally got around to making some pendants with them.

Two pieces of fabric caught my eye in particular and the first is this ladybird fabric with foliage and small daisies. The ladybird fabric has been encased within a teardrop shaped resin pendant and has been backed by green coloured resin to compliment the colour of the foliage. The pendant has been given a Shpangle sparkle with a small amount of glitter dust.

Ladybird fabric necklace

The second fabric remnant is this one with pink flowers and a lovely cheeky looking bee. The pendant has been backed by pink resin and given the usual sparkle.

Bumble bee fabric necklace

I must start making more pendants with the fabric off-cuts that Lynda gave to me. The fabric is gorgeous and will look lovely made into some pendants; I also have an idea to make some of it into handmade buttons.

Mick

Confetti - Weddings, Parties or just for fun!

I do love confetti...I love it sprinkled on tables at weddings or parties, I love throwing it at newly-weds and I especially love combining it with my jewellery. I have more confetti than you could ever wish for in my craft collection and this is why this week I decided to do something with it and made these.

Confetti Jewellery - Confetti Pendants

These pendants contain multicoloured confetti stars embedded in resin. I have also added a sprinkle of glitter dust to give them even more of a twinkle.

There is something about Confetti that evokes happiness and pleasure, but where did it originate?

The throwing of Confetti can be traced back to Pagan times. During the wedding ritual the Pagans would scatter grain over the happy couple. It is thought that the Pagans believed that the fertility of the seeds would be transferred to the married couple.

The actual word 'confetti' is derived from the Italian word for confectionary and was used to describe the sweetmeats (sugar-coated grain and nuts), that were often thrown over newly-weds.

Today the rice and grain has been replaced by tiny pieces of coloured paper in all shapes and sizes. Often this coloured paper has been made to resemble flower petals, which dates back to the tradition of throwing rose petals before the bride as she walks down the aisle. The throwing of flower petals was said to ward off evil spirits and grant fertility to the newly-weds.

I just love confetti for its beauty, the shimmering colours, and the happiness it gives people. You can view more  confetti pendants on my website.