Sea glass picture of a Jersey beach

I thought I would show off something I have made for myself for a change. My family has spent our summer holiday on the beautiful island of Jersey for the last couple of years. I am not normally a beach kind of person (I would much rather be exploring the cliff tops), but there is one particular beach that I particularly like exploring in Jersey. It is the beach where I manage to find lots and lots of sea glass. The sea glass pieces are formed by the sea tumbling and eroding broken glass bottles and the resulting pieces can be found in a variety of colours and shapes.

One of our favourite Jersey beaches

During our summer holiday to Jersey in 2012 we collected a bag of sea glass and it has taken me about a year to finally have something made with it. We decided that we would produce a mosaic type picture of a Jersey beach. I had a bright idea of mounting the sea glass onto the glass front of a picture frame so that we could somehow shine a light behind it to illuminate the colours. The picture frame is a driftwood effect box frame and measures 22” x 18”, each piece of sea glass was individually glued onto the glass (tip: the best and cheapest glass glue I found is Wilkinson’s own glass glue, believe me I used a lot of it!).The picture represents a Jersey beach, flanked by the green cliff tops and tumbling rocks.

Sea glass picture of a Jersey Beach

For the lighting I purchased a LED strip lighting kit. This kit consisted of a flexible 5m strip of LEDs that was easily cut to size and it was sticky backed so attaching to the inside of the box frame was easy!

LED Strip Lighting Kit

The only problem I had was that the individual LEDs were visible, especially when viewing the picture from side on. To reduce this problem I mounted a card border behind the glass.

Illuminated sea glass picture

The LED kit also comes with a remote control with lots of colour options and effects such as colour fading, brightness control and even a strobe function (which our little boy had lots of fun playing with).

Picture lit up with LED strip lighting

I hope you like it! I am now planning what to do with all of the sea glass I collected from a jersey beach during this summer’s holiday.

Mick

A seed pendant or is it a nut pendant?

I began writing this blog post convinced that this was a seed that I had made into a pendant. In fact it was described to me by my customer as being a seed. But then I began to wonder if it was a nut, and what is the difference between a seed and a nut? I got distracted from writing the blog and started searching for the difference and I am still none the wiser. So rightly or wrongly I will describe this as being a seed (unless you can convince me otherwise!).

This seed was sent to me by a customer, along with a bird feather that I also made into a pendant. The seed and feather were both found at the Taj Mahal in India and are of significant sentimental value to the couple. They wanted me to create pendants from both items which will be given to their daughters.

Seed Pendant or Nut Pendant

It was initially suggested to me that they wanted the seed encased in resin but I think what I eventually made is a nicer solution. I coated the seed with many coats of resin (I lost count how many coats of resin I gave it) and connected a sterling silver peg bail to the top. It really is pretty and different and I am sure it will be cherished for a very long time.

If anybody can help me with the difference between a seed and a nut that would be appreciated!

Mick

High school prom jewellery for our daughter

Wow I have just noticed it has been such a long time since I last blogged! Our daughter has her high school prom this Friday, something she and all her friends have been so looking forward to for the last year. She has spent many weeks preparing for it, including choosing dresses, hair styles, makeup and even transport to the prom. The prom is no doubt going to be a big memorable night in her life and whilst I cannot really help with the hair, makeup and dress side of things, I did offer to make her some jewellery.

High School Prom

Her prom dress is predominantly green however there are touches of pink on her shoes and hair piece. I wanted to make something fairly delicate to compliment her dress and pick up the colours of pink and silver. I decided to use the delicate lace flower throughout the jewellery and initially made her this sterling silver necklace incorporating the pink lace flower. I also engraved the back of this pendant with her name and the date of the Prom.

Prom necklace

I also made this sterling silver bracelet, again incorporating the delicate pink lace flowers...

Prom bracelet

...and also these matching earrings...

Prom Earrings

I showed the jewellery to her last night and I think she was quite pleased! My wife Angela also commented on the earrings and wanted a pair for herself; luckily I had made two pairs! I hope she has a great time at her prom and comes home with lots of happy memories.

Mick

Horsehair paperweight – an alternative to jewellery

I have made quite a lot of horsehair jewellery for people in the past however this was my first custom order request for a paperweight containing horse hair. I am a little surprised that I haven’t made more of these since the paperweight is an ideal way to preserve the hair as an alternative to a piece of jewellery. In this case I made the paperweight for a gentleman who was going to give the paperweight to his wife as a memorial to their two horses.

Custom made paperweight containing horse hair

I combined both sets of horsehair together to form a single tassel and encased it within a square shaped paperweight. These paperweights are great in that they can be stood up on the edge as a display piece, as well as laid down. As requested by the gentleman I also included a short message within the piece; this was achieved by printing the text onto transparency sheet and encasing this within the centre of the paperweight.

I think this paperweight took me about 2-3 weeks to make (yes I do like to take my time with them!), and it is a great feeling once they are finished and popped out of the mould. I seem to have a custom made paperweight in the production all the time now and the latest make is quite exciting; it contains an iced flower that was used as a cake topper on a wedding cake, I am looking forward to getting that finished and showing it off.

Mick

Preserving Funeral Flowers

I appreciate this is a sensitive subject however it is something that I am extremely proud of and to be honest most of my creations are based around sensitive and emotional events at the moment (for example my cremation jewellery and lock of hair jewellery). It gives me immense satisfaction that I have helped a family in such a way following their loss by preserving a flower from the funeral of a loved one.

It has only been recently that I have been asked to preserve flowers following a funeral; I have always been involved with the preservation of flowers from weddings and other occasions, but not funerals. I think it is probably due to the introduction of my custom made paperweights that give the option of not only preserving larger flowers, but provide the preservation of items within a non-jewellery related item.

This was my first paperweight that I have made containing a flower taken from a funeral. The domed shaped paperweight contains a single rose and was presented to a family member. With this piece I also included a name plaque, including a photograph within the presentation box lid.

Preserved funeral flower paperweight

I haven’t come across the use of oak leaves at funerals before although the leaves themselves are quite symbolic to many people. This was one of several leaves taken from the funeral coffin that I was asked to preserve within paperweights.

Oak Leaf Paperweight

I had quite an emotional time when casting these paperweights; normally when I am preserving locks of hair and ashes from loved ones or pets I am able to distance myself from it. After all, I do not know the pets or people involved and I concentrate on making something that is beautiful. But somehow this was quite different for me; the flowers and leaves were symbolic of a funeral that took place and for me that had more of an impact on my emotions.

Please visit my real flower jewellery page for other examples of jewellery and paperweights containing real flowers.

Mick

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