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