Search This Blog

Friday 31 May 2013

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
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

Sunday 12 May 2013

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
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
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