Coping with Pet Loss – My Bunny Mad Magazine Feature

I was contacted late last year by Lisa of ‘Bunny Creations’ who produces a quarterly magazine called Bunny Mad Magazine. The magazine that she produces is lovely and contains lots of information for anybody who loves rabbits and pets. For the Spring/Summer edition of the magazine, Lisa was including a special feature about coping with the loss of a pet and wanted me to write a little about myself and in particular about my pet keepsake jewellery.

The latest edition of Bunny Mad Magazine was produced last week and Lisa was very kind in sending me a copy which included my feature, and here it is:

Bunny Mad Magazine

For anybody who is unable to see a copy of the magazine (although I would recommend it because it is really lovely), I have included my feature below...

Capturing Your Memories - My Magazine Feature

“I have been creating and making jewellery for many years now after a long career as an engineer. I had always had a secret artistic side that escaped once in a while, but the urge to be creative got the better of me and after seizing an opportunity to take some time out to be a full time dad to my son, I decided I wanted to do something more with this creative side of me. So I decided to start making my own jewellery.

I was particularly interested in resin jewellery. The science, diversity and sheer beauty fascinated me along with the ability to encase almost anything within it. So that is what I did, taking every day objects and encasing them in resin in wonderful shapes, sizes and colours.

It’s amazing what you can encase in resin. Flowers, confetti, stones, fabric, I’ve even done toe nails – yes, really!

I would have said nothing could surprise me, but when one day I received an e-mail from someone asking me if I cold encase some animal fur from a lost pet, I was slightly taken aback. I’d never been asked to deal with something potentially very sensitive and special. But when that one request turned into lots of requests, I knew I had to provide a service.

Pet Keepsake Jewellery

So, I started helping customers who had lost pets and wanted to have a keepsake or piece of jewellery so that they had their pets with them always. Or provide a happy reminder that they could look at when they wanted to. And it wasn’t just dearly departed pets either, I had a lot of customers who thought a piece of their pet’s fur, hair and even feathers would also be stunning, from pets who were still very much alive and happy.

Fur and hair from precious pets are only part of what I’ve done. I’ve also dealt with pet’s ashes too. It may sound cheesy to some, but it is actually very humbling to provide a special keepsake or item of jewellery knowing someone will find peace and comfort in it, or sheer joy at how stunning their pet’s fur or hair looks captured in resin.

Pet Hair Keepsake

I’ve had all sorts of special pet memorabilia pass through my doors, from hamsters, budgies, to cats, dogs and even horses. And, not forgetting of course, very special bunnies. Some of the rabbit fur I’ve encased is absolutely stunning. It’s amazing to work with and brings sheer delight to my customers when they see the end result.

I currently preserve the hair, fur and ashes within many types of jewellery including pendants, bracelets, rings, brooches, cufflinks, earrings and bangles and also offer an engraving service for the sterling silver items of jewellery. For those people not necessarily looking for an item of jewellery, I also make paperweights. I have a whole gallery of stunning pictures showing my work, and I pride myself on providing a special personalised service. At the end of the day, each one of my customers is unique, and so are their pets.”

If you would like to see some recent examples of my pet keepsake jewellery, please visit my website gallery.

Mick

How to colour resin jewellery

It has been quite a while since I last did a tutorial type of blog post and I felt the urge so here goes. As you are probably aware, I like to use bright and vibrant colours to my jewellery making so I thought I would share the different methods of colouring resin jewellery.

Coloured resin horse hair jewellery

This is by no means a definitive method of colouring the resin but the way I like to do it... I suppose other people may have their own methods. Similarly the methods that I use for colouring resin may also be used for other crafts such as polymer clay and glue.

Pearl-Ex Powder

The Jacquard Pearl-Ex powders are contained within tiny pots however the size is very deceptive! You actually only use a very tiny amount of the powder to colour the resin and each pot goes a very long way indeed. The powder leaves a lovely pearlescent finish and comes in a variety of colours including metallic finishes.

Jacquard Pearl-Ex powder

I use a toothpick or cocktail stick to add the Pearl-Ex power to the resin. Just a very small amount on the end of the stick is required and it mixes into the resin very easily.

Mixing Pearl-Ex powder in resin

The resulting pearl-like colours are very pretty and these are also great for achieving a metallic look. Although the pots do last a long time, it can be quite costly if lots of colours are required.

Resin coloured with Pearl-Ex powder

Castin’ Craft Liquid Pigments

The Castin’ Craft liquid pigment dyes are another method for colouring resin. They are provided in small bottles and provide either opaque or transparent finishes. The resulting colours are extremely rich and it is probably the best method for achieving solid colours.

Castin' Craft colour pigment

Care needs to be taken though when using the Castin’ Craft range of colours; it is a liquid and resin does not like liquids at all! The smallest of droplets is needed to colour the resin (too much and the resin will not cure properly).

Mixing Castin' Craft colour pigment in resin

The Castin’ Craft pigment mixes into the resin so easily and is great for achieving rich, solid colours; not so good for blending colours together though.

Resin coloured with Castin' Craft pigment

Artists' Pastels

This is my personal favourite and something I use all the time; why buy specialist powders and dyes when simple (relatively inexpensive) artists' pastels achieve the same thing. I bought my set of pastels for less than £10 4 years ago and they still look hardly used.

Artist Pastels

A very small amount of pastel is required to colour the resin. Just shave a small amount off with a knife and mix. It can sometimes take a little while to get all of the pastel absorbed by the resin but it is worth it.

Mixing pastels in resin

I think the pastels are a great way for controlling the colour of the resin; you can use as little or as much as you like and a great way for blending different colours together too. I am often asked to match colours exactly for some of my resin jewellery custom orders and using the pastels is the only sure way of achieving that. For the price you get a great range of colours too!

Resin coloured with artists' pastels

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial about colouring resin jewellery.

Mick

Keepsake Jewellery for Ashes Questionnaire

I was approached this week by a lady from Goldsmiths University of London who is doing a degree in Anthropology and Media. One of her courses at the moment is 'Anthropology and the Visual' and this year she has been asked to base her projects on the theme of 'The Body'. She has chosen to think about the boundaries and limitations of the body after death, focusing on the subject of creating something out of ashes.

Keepsake pendant for ashes

She was hoping that I could answer some questions concerning my Keepsake Jewellery for Ashes which she would be able to include in her report. I am always glad to help and share my experiences so here are the questions and my answers!

When did you first start offering this service of preserving ashes inside the jewellery?

I hadn’t thought of offering a service encapsulating ashes until someone rang me to ask if I could do it. It must have been a few years ago now, but when I was asked, I felt so honoured to have been approached in the first place, I couldn’t turn down the honour so I provided the service. It has been a big part of my work ever since.

Why did you choose to offer this service?

Preserving ashes is such a personal thing. It gives me a real sense of pride and humility knowing I have helped a family in some way help their grief at what is such a sad time for them. Knowing they have that small part of someone special with them gives me such a warm feeling, and the families are always so grateful for my help, it is humbling.

Memorial cufflinks for ashes

Have you noticed a rise in the amount of people interested and requesting this service?

Absolutely. I hadn’t realised what a popular service it would be, but I am happy that people feel they can come to me and ask. I treat every order as such a precious and personal thing. At the end of the day, you are being trusted with someone very special, so you want to make the family proud.

Do you think this way of preserving ashes is more personal than using the ashes to create, for example, a diamond?

I do actually. There are some very interesting ways of treating ashes, but I think preserving ashes this way is so unique and special, and it is often in ways that mean people can take their special momentum everywhere with them such as the pendants I offer.

Personalised keepsake jewellery for ashes

Do you think the jewellery you produce, and other similar (for example, making diamonds for rings out of ashes) help the grieving process, disallows people to truly ‘let go’ of their loved ones?

Grief is a delicate process. People deal with the loss of a loved one in many ways. A lot of the families I have worked with have been so happy that they have their special something and I really do think it helps the process of grieving. It’s not about letting go, it’s about remembering the good things, and often that’s what my jewellery evokes in people. That is something very special.

The idea of using ashes for jewellery (and other objects) is still arguably a taboo situation; do you think it will become more common over time?

I don’t think it is as taboo as people think. There used to be a time where I think most of us would have thought it was odd. A lot of people had ashes in containers from their loved ones on the mantle-piece. Now it is more commonplace to want to do more than just scatter ashes somewhere special. That is of course, a wonderful thing for those who want to do that, but I also think people don’t feel that it is strange to want to keep a part of someone with them. It feels very natural for a lot of people and I think it is a lovely way of just having something you treasure from someone you loved right there when you feel you need it.

Custom made paperweight for ashes

Any other comments or points you would like to add...

I always feel privileged to work with the people I do, and make my jewellery and keep sakes knowing the joy and happiness it will bring people. It’s always a personal thing for me, and I love that I can provide the service for people.

Mick

Win my horsehair jewellery

Other than my own jewellery giveaways and a few pieces for charity auctions, this is the first competition that I have given away my jewellery for the main prize. The competition is being run by The Equine Vet Clinic, a horse veterinary practice dedicated to meeting the needs of horses and their owners in West and Central Scotland. The clinic is located in Houston, just 20 minutes west of Glasgow.

If you are a horse owner or know of anybody who does, you can win some of my horse hair jewellery; including a custom made horse hair necklace and a keyring!

Horse hair jewellery

These items of horse hair jewellery will be custom made to the winner’s requirements and will contain your horses hair. All you have to do to enter is to guess the following anagram, easy!

Quit Ten Nice Vehicle

The closing date for entries is the 31st March 2013 and answers along with name, address and telephone number should be sent to horsevet [AT] tiscali.co.uk. Good luck to everybody who enters and I look for to making a special piece of horsehair jewellery for them.

Mick

Wedding dress jewellery and flower cufflinks

I made a blog post recently about preserving wedding flowers into jeweller and other gifts. This was a result of a wedding flower I was asked to preserve within a paperweight. Following on from that blog I have been asked to make a few other wedding and flower related items of jewellery so thought I would show them off.

Wedding dress pendants

Firstly I received some beautiful wedding dress lace material and was asked to encase it within pendants and earrings for the bride and her guests. The red lace material was beautiful, really vibrant and great to work with. The bride wanted all the pendants to be oval in shape and a matching set of earrings. Luckily I was able to use some of the whole flowers from the material and they were a perfect fit for the pendants.

Wedding lace material pendant

 ...and using the smaller flowers for the earrings, the smaller flowers were again a perfect fit for the size of the oval earrings I made.

Wedding dress material earrings and necklace

Real flower cufflinks

This was a different custom order but still flower themed. The flower petals that I received were taken from a rose that was used for a proposal 21 years ago. For the first set of cufflinks I created miniature petals and set them within sterling silver cufflinks.

Real rose petal cufflinks

And for the second set of cufflinks I used some broken fragments of the petals and created a nice effect.

Flower petal cufflinks

The couple were celebrating 21 years since he proposed to her this week and these cufflinks were being given to the gentleman as a lovely gift.

Mick

How to preserve flowers

I really love making my paperweights at the moment for people and I am being asked to preserve some quite unusual items. Usually the items I am working with are larger than those used when making my jewellery so use different techniques. In the past I have had quite a few requests for preserving wedding flowers and flowers from other special occasions within my jewellery. Obviously these need to be small enough to fit within the designs that I have available which can often limit the flower types that I can use.

Here is an example of a pendant that I made containing a selection of small wedding flowers last year:

Real flower necklace

I still have a great deal of fun making jewellery containing flowers however the paperweights have now allowed me to preserve much larger flowers. The paperweights can be made in a few different shapes and sizes to accommodate most flower types and I can also incorporate other objects.

This paperweight was a custom order completed last week and is my first paperweight made to preserve whole wedding flowers.

Wedding flower paperweight

To be honest my wife doesn’t like being bought flowers. I think we both agree in that they don’t last very long and it isn’t very nice watching them die; she would much rather be bought a living plant. At least now we have the option on the rare occasion that she is bought flowers that I can always preserve one or two of them within a paperweight! With St Valentine’s Day just around the corner it could also be quite useful!

Mick

Unusual Christmas Gifts

Just finished and posted the last of the Christmas orders that I have made for people this year so thought I would take a breather and write a blog post about some of the more unusual gifts. It is such a great feeling that on Christmas morning people around the world will be opening their presents and some of them will actually be made by me! I wish I could be there to see their faces although the satisfaction of knowing that I have been involved means so much to me; certainly a more satisfying feeling than working behind a desk like I did in my old job!

Here are a couple of the more unusual Christmas gifts I have made for people this year. Both of them are custom made paperweights and the first involves a Pork scratching! Yes I received this Pork Scratching through the post from a lady who wanted it encasing within a paperweight for her husband. Why I do not know but I had great fun making it. Firstly without knowing how it would react with the resin I first had to go out and buy myself a packet. My neighbours must have thought I was odd sitting outside on the patio spraying lumps of Pork Scratching with Acrylic sealant...but then they are probably used to it by now!

Unique Christmas Gifts - Pork Scratching Paperweight

This second paperweight incorporates several items that I received through the post. The items included a pound coin, table confetti, a photograph and a blade of barley. Again I am not sure of the connection these items have but I am sure somebody will like it when they open it on Christmas day!

Unique Christmas Gifts - Barley Paperweight

I do like giving and receiving unusual gifts at Christmas time; I think the most unusual gift I have given was a big lump of fossilised Dinosaur dung which I gave to my wide a couple of years ago.

What is the most unusual gift that you have given or received at Christmas?

Mick