Jewellery for Ashes Ideas

I have been making memorial jewellery and other keepsakes containing cremated ashes for the last 10 years so I thought I would illustrate some of the options that I have available. I take pride in offering a fully personalised service when it comes to making the jewellery, however if you would like to see some previous examples, please visit my Jewellery for Ashes gallery of images.

Keepsake jewellery for cremated ashes

The resin jewellery and keepsakes for ashes have an advantage over glass jewellery because they can be further personalised with the addition of other objects. I can provide most items such as real forget me not flowers, however if the customer wishes to send their own sentimental items (for example photographs) to be included within the jewellery, that is fine too.

Resin Pendants for Ashes

The resin pendants for ashes can be made in many shapes and sizes; the pendants can be coloured, and other objects incorporated into the design (small flowers, silver lettering for names, dates etc). The resin pendants have a three dimensional appearance and really do look beautiful with the ashes suspended throughout.

Cremated ashes and forget me not flower resin heart pendant

Colourful keepsake pendant for ashes

Ashes and hearts keepsake jewellery

Sterling Silver Pendants for Ashes

As with my resin pendants for ashes, the sterling silver pendants can also be made in many shapes and sizes. These pendants however have an additional benefit; due to the silver backing to the pendants, I can also engrave names, dates and personalised messages onto the back of the pendant. The sterling silver pendants for ashes are generally smaller than my resin pendants. I can still incorporate small objects such as real forget me not flowers into the design, and the pendant settings can also be coloured.

Sterling silver cross shaped pendant for ashes

Sterling silver oblong shaped pendant for ashes

Sterling silver round pendant for ashes

Sterling silver round pendant for ashes and forget me not

Rings for Ashes

I currently make several different styles of rings for cremated ashes. The ring settings containing the ashes can be left clear or coloured to any colour; the rings are all sized to fit the correct finger size.

Sterling silver memorial ring for ashes

Sterling silver rings for ashes and locks of hair

Sterling silver ring for ashes (suitable for a male)

Bracelets for Ashes

My sterling silver bracelets for ashes are formed by linking sterling silver oval charms containing the ashes together. The sterling silver bracelets can be sized to suit and I can engrave the back of each charm with names, dates and messages. The bracelet charms can hold ashes, photographs, a lock of hair, small flowers etc.

Personalised sterling silver bracelets for ashes

Alternatively, any of my pendant shapes and designs detailed above can be supplied as hanging bracelet charms. The charms containing the ashes are all fitted with a silver jump ring that can be connected directly to a bracelet or alternatively I can also add a lobster clasp clip.

Hanging bracelet charms for ashes

Cufflinks for Ashes

The sterling silver cufflinks settings containing the cremated ashes can be coloured, left clear, and other objects included if required (small flowers, initials, hearts, stars etc).

Sterling silver cufflinks for cremated ashes

Earrings and Ear studs for Ashes

My resin pendant shapes can be supplied as drop earrings containing the cremated ashes and other objects such as real flowers.

Ashes and forget me not flower drop earrrings

Alternatively I can make several styles of sterling silver ear studs for ashes.

Sterling silver ear studs for ashes

Keyrings for Ashes

Any of my pendant shapes and designs illustrated above can be supplied as keyrings for ashes. The resin keyrings have an added benefit being double sided. The ashes and other objects can be encased within one side of the keyring and a photograph or personalised messaged displayed on the reverse side.

Colourful keyring for ashes

Personalised keyring for ashes

Paperweights for Ashes

My memorial paperweights containing ashes can be made as an alternative to a piece of jewellery. The paperweights can be made either domed or square and I can incorporate other objects such as flowers, photographs and personalised messages into the paperweights.

Domed paperweight for ashes

Custom made paperweight for ashes

Many thanks for reading this page containing ideas for jewellery containing ashes, if you have any questions or designs in mind, please contact me.

How to preserve a piece of football ground grass turf

So, if you are reading this you are either a regular follower of my blog, or you may have come across this through having an interest in the preservation  of a piece of turf!

As an avid follower of football, rugby and other sports, I can appreciate the sense of pride when your team takes part and preferably wins a final of a national competition. In the spring of 2016 I was contacted by a fan of Hibernian FC with a very interesting request.

On 21st May 2016, Hibernian FC beat Rangers FC in the 131st Scottish Cup Final held at Hampden Park. This was Hibernian FC’s first win of the Scottish Cup in 114 years, having last won the cup in 1902 and only one time previous to that in 1887. As you can imagine, as a fan of Hibernian FC this was a momentous victory, ending the long drought of not winning the competition.

Hibernian FC Scottish Cup winners 2016

A small piece of Hampden Park’s hallowed turf was gathered by one fan, presumably as he left the terraces to leave the ground. The piece of turf may even have been dropped by the boots of a Hibernian FC player. (Although I do hope it wasn’t from the massive pitch invasion that happened at the end of the game). The Hibernian fan took the piece of turf home, still celebrating his team’s amazing victory and then contacted me in the hope that I could preserve the turf in resin.

Paperweight containing a piece of Hampden Park turf

And this is the result; I set the piece of turf within a square paperweight and added details of the achievement to the paperweight. What a lovely way to preserve the memories of this victory.

Memorial Jewellery Ideas for Men - Jewellery for Ashes or Hair

I am often asked about what types of jewellery or other gifts incorporating cremated ashes or hair are available for a male. Hopefully the following will provide some options and inspiration for men’s memorial jewellery incorporating ashes or hair.

Men’s Pendants for Ashes or Hair

My sterling silver pendants for ashes or hair can be made in many shapes and sizes, I am confident that I could provide something suitable for a man. From basic pendant shapes such as oblong, circular or square, the ashes or lock of hair are encased within resin against a sterling silver bezel.

Men's Pendant for Ashes

Men's Pendant for a Lock of Hair

The resin holding the hair or ashes can be coloured or left clear and other objects added if required to further personalise the pendants. The memorial pendants can also be supplied with leather thong style necklace chains (instead of the sterling silver chains that I usually supply with the pendants).

Keyrings for Ashes or a Lock of Hair

Any of my pendant shapes and designs can be supplied as memorial keyrings for ashes or a lock of hair. The ashes or lock of hair can be combined with other objects to further personalise them such as silver lettering for names or messages, small objects such as small flowers.

Keyring for Ashes 

Keyring for a Lock of Hair

My sterling silver oval pendants containing ashes or hair can also be engraved with names, dates and messages if required.

Alternatively, the pendants can be supplied mounted on ribbon within the jewellery box; allowing the keepsake containing the ashes or hair to be displayed.

Cufflinks for Ashes or Hair

As an alternative to pendants or keyrings for ashes or hair, some men may prefer to wear cufflinks. My sterling silver cufflinks (as seen below) are a lovely way to carry a piece of somebody special and they are often requested for wedding gifts to the groom.

Cufflinks for Ashes

Cufflinks for Lock of Hair

The memorial cufflink settings can be coloured or left clear. They can be made different if required (for example different locks of hair or ashes can be set within each cufflink setting).

Tie-slides for Ashes or Hair

The tie slides for ashes or a lock of hair are similar to my cufflinks above. The ashes or lock of hair are set within resin against a sterling silver setting. The memorial tie slide setting can be coloured or left clear.

Tieslide for a Lock of Hair

Paperweights for Ashes or a Lock of Hair

As an alternative to an item of jewellery, my paperweights for ashes or a lock of hair provide a lovely display piece. The memorial paperweights can be made in the traditional domed shape or square and along with the ashes or lock of hair, I can further personalise the paperweights with photographs, text and other sentimental items.

Paperweight for Ashes

Paperweight for Locks of Hair

I hope this gives you some inspiration and ideas for the types of memorial jewellery available for cremated ashes or a lock of hair. If there is something I have missed or if you have an alternative idea for memorial jewellery, please let me know.

Celebrating 10 Years of Shpangle Jewellery

In 2019 I celebrate 10 years of making custom jewellery so I thought I would record the event and publish my highlights and favourite jewellery items from each year.

2009 - The Beginnings of Shpangle Jewellery

In 2005, after spending 20 years as a systems engineer I decided to make a positive change in my life and become a full time house husband and carer for our son. A few years later in 2009, our son was starting school and I contemplated starting a business.

I had always had an artistic side and wanted to develop this further; I was also interested in taking everyday objects and turning them into pieces of art and hence Shpangle Jewellery was born.

I decided to use resin as a medium for my jewellery and my first items of jewellery incorporated sweets and other small items such as fabric, flowers, confetti and even bubble-wrap. These were sold at local craft fairs and at my local market.

Resin pendant containing a Jelly Tot sweet

This was one of the first pendants I made, an orange jelly tot sweet and seed beads made into a resin pendant.

2010 - Name on Rice Jewellery

The previous year was mainly devoted to making and expanding my range of resin jewellery. I decided to expand this range into another form of jewellery and began to learn the art of rice writing – The writing of names onto grains of rice.

Name on rice jewellery

This saw my name on rice jewellery appear in a short film by Canon, showcasing their macro lenses.

2011 – Jewellery Incorporating Hair or Ashes

Throughout the last couple of years I had received many requests to incorporate sentimental items (flowers, photos and other small objects) into jewellery. However this year was the beginning of what I became reputable for; preserving hair from horses, pets and loved ones into items of keepsake jewellery.

Keepsake Jewellery for Hair

My lock of hair jewellery was featured later this year in a Daily Mail newspaper article and I was also interviewed by Radio 4 as part of their documentary about remembrance jewellery.

After many requests later this year, I expanded the range of jewellery for hair to also incorporate ashes.

Keepsake Jewellery for Ashes

Both the hair and ashes jewellery has become extremely important to me and I am extremely grateful for those people that have entrusted me with something so sentimental and important to them.

2012 - Custom Made Paperweights

My custom made paperweights were developed to accommodate the many requests I received for preserving larger items. The paperweights were also ideal for those people who wanted to display the sentimental item rather than having an item of jewellery.

Custom Made Paperweights

2013 - Magazine Article

In 2013 a lovely article about Shpangle Jewellery was featured within a magazine. The article appeared in the ‘Bunny Mad’ magazine and was part of a special feature about coping with pet loss.

Shpangle Jewellery Magazine Article

This article means so much to me; it was the first time that I had been featured in a magazine. To be chosen to be part of this subject made me realise even more how important my jewellery is to people.

2014 – Lovely Customer Feedback and Gifts

I always feel over the moon whenever I receive lovely customer feedback for my work and it is one of the main reasons that I make the items; knowing that I have made somebody happy is so important to me.

Customer Thank You Gifts

In 2014 I received through the post a gift of chocolates, wine and a thank you card for making an item of jewellery. So extremely thoughtful and I will never forget this act of kindness.

2015 - Hedgehog quills

From the numerous items of jewellery and paperweights that I made in 2015, I tried to think of one item that sticks out in my mind. A very difficult decision however it has to be this pendant containing hedgehog quills.

Hedgehog Quill Pendant

This was the first and only time that I have worked with hedgehog quills and incorporated them into a necklace.

2016 - Pandora Style Beads

After many hours of experimentation in 2016 I finally discovered a way of incorporating either hair or ashes into Pandora style beads. This became another popular way of preserving both hair and ashes into an item of jewellery.

Custom made Pandora style beads

2017 – Jewellery for Teeth

The year 2017 saw me produce my first pendant containing a tooth! After several years making jewellery for ashes, flowers, hair etc I am surprised that I have not done this sooner (i.e. keepsakes for a child’s first tooth, puppy tooth jewellery etc).

Jewellery containing a tooth

2018 - Rings

In 2018 I expanded the range of rings available for holding ashes and locks of hair. I now supply seven different styles of sterling silver rings for ashes/hair.

Custom made rings for hair or ashes

2019 – Sterling Silver Jewellery Range

This year has seen me release a new range of sterling silver pendants for ashes, hair and other keepsakes. I can now make the sterling silver pendants in most shapes, including hearts.

Sterling silver pendants for hair or ashes

More sterling silver pendant shapes will be released in 2020 and I look forward to the next 10 years of Shpangle Jewellery!

Mick

A Paperweight for a Bullet

Late last year I was contacted by a soldier who served in Afghanistan in 2014. He wanted to send a bullet to me that was fired at him (and narrowly missed him) during his time there. Here is the bullet that I received:

Bullet from Afganistan

The soldier wanted the bullet encasing within a paperweight, along with a suitable caption and this is what I made for him:

Bullet in a Paperweight

I felt so honoured to have been asked to make this paperweight for him because of the sentimental importance of the bullet...it certainly was a 'Close Shave'!

Old Fashioned Wash Day at Hinckley Museum

We had a lovely time today washing clothes (now I don't think I say that very often!). I took the kids to an old fashioned wash day at the local museum in Hinckley. We entered the courtyard at the back of the museum to be greeted by a group of ladies dressed in old fashioned clothes. They then handed out cloth caps and scarves for the boys and aprons for the girls (I even managed to persuade our teenage daughter to wear an apron!).

Old Fashioned Wash Day - Hinckley Museum

The ladies then began to tell us about how we used to wash our clothes; firstly water was only available from a communal water pump several metres from where we were standing. The water was then taken to the boiler house located at the back of the museum. Early soaps were then discussed including those made from animal fat and wood ash (not very appealing to look at but apparently it worked)! Another method was to use the leaves and stems from the Soapwort plants. For today's washing day we were to use blocks of homemade soap.

Old Fashioned Wash Day - Soaps and Grater

My apologies in advance if I have some of the terminology incorrect, however I was trying to keep up with the little one who wash darting between each piece of equipment whilst I was listening to the washer lady's commentary. The bar of soap was first grated (by what looked like a kind of cheese grater) into a tub of hot water and then pounded with a Posser (a long wooden pole with a wooden handle and metal plunger attached to the other end). Our Dolly Tub was made from galvanised steel however I believe they were originally made from wood.

Old Fashioned Wash Day - Dolly Tubs, Posser and Scrubbing Board

A wash stick (or long wooden tongues) were then used to remove the garment from the tub and then placed onto a scrubbing board. The bar of soap was then used to scrub the clothes and then the garment was transferred back to the tub for rinsing.

Old Fashioned Wash Day - Scrubbing Clothes

Once cleaned the garment was taken to the Mangle where the little one had great fun turning the handle. The garment was passed through the mangle several times and after each pass was folded in half before being squeezed through the Mangle again.

Old Fashioned Wash Day - Using a Mangle

We then hung the garment to dry and used some amazing home-made pegs which looked so simple to make (and I can imagine would probably last a lot longer than our modern versions).

Old Fashioned Wooden Pegs

We all loved the wash day and experienced what it used to be like before the use of our modern conveniences. I can see several advantages of these old fashioned methods though; they are certainly better for the environment, can be a family fun occasion with each person taking on a different task, and it certainly keeps you fit!

Hinckley Mangle at the Hinckley Museum

If you have any memories of using Mangles, Possers and Dolly Tubs please share!

Mick