 So, you want to make Breastmilk Jewellery? You have tried sooooo many times to get it right?, asked a number of professionals only to be turned away?, used, wasted a lot of your own precious liquid gold and you are now you are at a loss as what to do ? Your not alone. I get asked almost on a daily basis how to I "do it"? While I admit that the secret to success is a trade secret and none of us professionals will openly tell you exactly how to so it, i do come across so many blog posts and discussions in facebook groups on the topic and everyone seems to have a "method" they are willing to share freely. Unfortunately, these "methods" are not the correct way of doing things and then we see a run of new businesses popping up everywhere claiming to be the holy grail of keepsake artists, providing clients with a opportunity to purchase a dearly sentimental keepsake of their own. Only for months later (sometimes weeks) their keepsakes turns brown or black and goes moldy. What a sad position for the customer.
 The biggest misconception on methods for keepsakes is adding straight milk to resin, this is a sure failure. The other is dehydration of milk, this also is a sure failure. I have also seen methods such as adding milk to pantry items such as flour, corn flour, vinegar, salt, and god knows what else, this is also a sure failure. To preserve milk you must actually preserve it, some think that once it is in the resin this will deter the growth of bacteria, this is not the case, the bacteria continues to grow despite the lack of exposure to oxygen. Breastmilk is a living organism, it has hundreds of different strains of bacteria that multiply quickly, I have heard the argument that it is good bacteria not bad bacteria", and while yes this is some what true, breastmilk does supply our children with great gut healthy good bacteria, that bacteria does and will go bad if left to spoil, just like any fermented food. When i first started out 3 years ago, I too tried these methods, straight milk being my first, dehydration being my second, vinegar was one, salt another, citric acid also, none of these methods exceeded the life span of 6 months, IF lucky! Breastmilk needs to be preserved, that means killing off the ability for the substance to multiply and form of growth, It is not until this process is done that you can start your trial and error with methods. Or you will stand no chance at succeeding. Another frustrating thing I often come across is new artists selling their pieces only after weeks and some times months after "finding a method", as a future seller I suggest waiting a minimum of 6 months to see what color the piece turns before you even think about selling, even longer. Remember, just because your milk held up for 5 months it doesn't mean that another mothers milk will exceed this as a keepsake, every mothers milk is different, some fattier or more watery than others. I can not stress enough that if you want a keepsake that is going to last, PLEASE use a reputable seller. Most of us ship world wide now with the thanks to import licenses making it a safe and fail proof way of shipping your special inclusions If you for some reason want to make the item yourself there are plenty of people out there that offer DIY kits, but again PLEASE make sure that this is from a reputable seller that is also a professional artist. I have seen some DIY kits purchased from etsy that are no more than wax added to breast milk and added to a glass vial pendant, this will go bad after a period of time and the amount of milk in the keepsake is no more than 5ml and the rest made up of wax, be smart, shop around, if it looks too good to be true then it is. So if you are wanting a keepsake that will last, spend the money on a professional to do it right the first time, trust me, the amount of money that you will spend on trying different methods and DIY kits that may not hold up, you can invest into a nice piece of jewellery that you can trust will last ( always follow the care instructions supplied with your item so you do not void any warranty) If you would like to invest in a piece of our jewellery you may contact us via the custom form below  
5 Comments
|
|
RSS Feed