'Always and forever'- memorial jewellery

This beautiful crystal was created for a wonderfully brave woman facing a tragic burden no one should ever have to experience.

Her equally courageous husband asked me to design her a special piece to honour their precious little boy. I created my signature 'rainbow crystal', a name I bestowed on it due to the tiny rainbows formed from the sharp facets of the crystal when the sun beams bounce of its contours. The pine resin crystal is an exact replica of a quartz crystal from my own personal collection. When I received the flowers an idea immediately formed in my mind as to how the design would work. I sketched the arrangement, and then made a silicone mold of the original crystal. The process to create this special piece had begun.

The resin crystal would hold blooms from her wedding bouquet. The colours of the masterwort were a little faded, so I used my colour restoration technique to rejuvenate their original plum hue. At the base of the crystal, I created a little garden of tiny pressed daisies he picked especially for his mom. I hand gilded the tip in my original style; fragmented 24k gold leaf. The delicate strands of his hair embrace the scene, creating a frame around the botanicals. I then added a plum toned watercolour swirl, which magically glows from within. Strength, beauty, hope, enduring memories and stories are eternally preserved within a bespoke piece of jewellery she can cherish close to her heart forever.

Memento jewellery

Last year I created a very special piece for a wonderfully talented lady who suffered a tragic loss. We worked together on creating diminutive pine resin pebbles that would encapsulate delicate strands of her baby's hair. She wanted a tangible memento to hold onto forever, and to comfort her during a very difficult time ahead. 

I made a trio of pebbles and raindrops; each one holding their precious treasures. I also added sparkling 24k gold leaf and swirls of pink dye, floating upwards through the crystal clear resin. 

The next stage of the project was handed over to the highly skilled Irish goldsmith, Helena Malone. She fashioned a gold frame to hold the pebble; creating an eternal protective embrace. A tiny pink diamond was mounted to echo the pink in the pebble. The outcome was a beautifully unique, elegant and enduringly sentimental piece of jewellery she could wear close to her heart forever. 

Custom memento jewellery

I recently had the pleasure of creating some beautiful memorial jewellery for the late Johannah Deakin or 'Jay', mother of One Direction band member Louis Tomlinson. Her sister-in-law, Sally, asked me to commemorate Johannah's wonderful spirit in the form of little memento necklaces and cufflinks to gift to her children and family members. 

Sally sent me a dusky pink rose she dried from Johannah's wedding bouquet, which would form the basis of the design of each piece. I firstly started by restoring the rose petals back to their original colour, as they had faded and lost some of their vibrant tones. I used a specialised process to bring their colour back, and I then created 'flower confetti' with the petals in my signature design.

The ladies were gifted beautiful rose confetti natural resin heart necklaces, in either gold or silver, while Louis and the men received cufflinks. The result is a tiny happy memory encapsulated into a wearable memento that will hopefully help and offer comfort to those who face a difficult journey ahead.