HANDCRAFTED ASHES JEWELLERY - WHY TRULY HANDMADE MATTERS

Memorial jewellery isn't a new concept, it dates back to at least the 16th century, although using jewellery to remember those who have passed has its roots in ancient times. Memorial jewellery became very popular during the reign of Victoria and has evolved into the memorial jewellery and ashes jewellery more common today. A way for people to keep a loved one close, these pieces are more than just jewellery, they carry stories, memories, and deep emotional significance. But not all ashes jewellery is created in the same way, and understanding how a piece is made can help you choose something that truly reflects the love it represents. This is where handcrafted jewellery like ours stands apart.

WHAT IS ASHES JEWELLERY?

Ashes jewellery, also known as cremation jewellery, incorporates a small amount of cremation ashes into a wearable piece of jewellery, such as a ring, necklace or bracelet. It allows you to carry a tangible connection to someone you’ve lost, in a way that feels personal and comforting. There are lots of companies offering ashes jewellery, but the process behind each piece can vary significantly.

HANDMADE VS HAND FINISHED

A key difference in the world of memorial jewellery lies in how pieces are produced. Many jewellers, big and small use pre-made settings called blanks. These are mass-produced, identical components that simply require a setting to be filled with resin and ashes. Where care needs to be taken though is that these pieces are often described as handmade, whereas the reality is that the craftsmanship is limited to hand finishing.

Truly handmade ashes jewellery begins from raw materials. Every piece created from scratch. Melting the precious metal, getting it to a workable form, shaping the design, creating the setting. So much work is done before the ashes are introduced. This approach transforms the jewellery from a mere product into a carefully crafted work of art.

At Hold upon Heart, the vast majority of our cremation ashes jewellery is truly handmade and therefore unique. We do also offer a handful of simpler designs that are provided for us by a highly trusted memorial jewellery manufacturer. These pieces we are able to produce much faster, as the hand-finishing process is significantly shorter and easier. We make sure it is very clear whether a product is truly handmade, or hand-finished - look for these badges.

HOW WE CREATE OUR HANDCRAFTED ASHES JEWELLERY

Creating a fully handmade piece is a detailed and time-intensive journey. Each stage requires precision, patience, and skill, gained through years of practice. Below I'll walk you through the process of making our Encaptured memorial jewellery.

STAGE ONE - MELTING METAL
Unless I'm in a rush and order in pre-rolled metal sheet, these days most of my designs begin with raw precious metal, which is melted down and prepared for shaping by giving it a good wallop with my flatting press. The resulting squished metal nugget is then annealed (jeweller-talk for heating until it glows cherry red), pickled, and sanded to remove all fire-scale.

STAGE TWO - ROLLING
The metal is then rolled to the correct thickness. This sounds easy enough but in reality its a long-winded affair that requires repeated annealing and sanding. I work with sheet varying from 2.5mm to 1mm thick, and roll each of my melted nuggets through my rolling mill many times to get to the thickness I need. Unfortunately you can't skip the annealing, as the metal work hardens quickly after each roll, and annealing is what returns the metal to a softened workable state. This means you can't avoid the sanding stages either, as heating the metal causes it to oxidise, which needs to be removed before the metal is worked again.

3. PIERCING THE DESIGN

Once I have my metal sheet, I usually etch my design onto it using my laser, then hand pierce this using my piercing saw. The piece is then refined using various files and burrs. This is where true individuality begins to take shape, as no two pieces of hand made jewellery are ever identical.

4. CONSTRUCTION

At this point, any assembly or soldering is carried out. Soldering is something of a dark art, and it takes a lot of practice to learn how to hold things securely so that your piece turns out as intended. Once soldered the piece is pickled to remove fire-scale, and solder joins are sanded and cleaned up until they look seamless.

5. POLISHING

Before the ashes are added, the piece is polished to a high shine, ensuring a beautiful finish. This usually involves a stage of sanding through coarse to fine grits. Any oxidisation that is needed to highlight the design happens at this point, before the piece is polished with a cutting compound, and finally buffed with another compound to give a high mirror shine.

6. ENGRAVING

Any text that needs engraving is added at this stage. We use a laser engraver to personalise our jewellery as this delivers crisp and deep engraving that will not wear away under normal use.

7. SETTING THE ASHES

For my Encaptured Collection, its at this point that in the ashes are incorporated into the design. I use several layers of resin to add colour pigment, crushed opal and ashes to the piece. I then add a layer of slow-curing epoxy resin to top the setting, as experience has shown me that this delivers a much higher quality finish than the fast curing UV resins.

8. FINISHING THE RESIN

This is a step a lot of memorial jewellers miss out. I am very fussy and don't like the look of resin spilled over the edges of metal settings, or high domes on pieces. I prefer to cut my resin back to deliver a perfectly flush finish. This creates a much higher quality look to the finished piece, but is of course, rather tricky to achieve, and its taken me years of experimenting with different compounds, brushes and processes to get to a point where I'm really happy with the glass-like polish I now achieve on my resin pieces.

9. FINAL POLISH

Once I'm happy with the finish on the resin, its time for another polish to remove any fine marks picked up during the making process. This can be time consuming as our pieces are usually finished to a very high mirror finish.

10. PACKING

Finally its time for me to pack the piece and send it on its way. That's right, I pack ech piece I have made personally still. Its important to me that I have this last chance to check each piece over and ensure I'm happy with it, before sending it on its way.

So you can see why handmade ashes jewellery takes longer

Because every step is done by hand, handmade memorial jewellery takes more time to create than mass-produced alternatives. This isn’t simply about production speed, it’s about intention. Each piece is made individually, not in batches. Materials are worked from their raw state and attention is given to every detail, not just the final assembly. This slower process allows for a higher level of care, resulting in a piece that feels truly personal.

THE VALUE OF CRAFTMANSHIP IN MEMORIAL JEWELLERY

When choosing ashes jewellery, you’re not just selecting a design, you’re choosing how that piece comes into existence. Handcrafted jewellery offers uniqueness and authenticity, as no two pieces are exactly alike. It offers longevity as each piece is built with skill and techniques that have been carefully thought out to create a piece that will last. Finally it offers connection, in that the time and care invested in creating the piece reflects the importance of the ashes and love that the piece holds.

SO WHICH SHOULD YOU CHOOSE - HANDMADE OR HANDFINISHED?

There is no single “right” choice when it comes to memorial jewellery. For some, a simpler or faster option may feel appropriate. For others, the idea of a piece being made entirely by hand, from the first melt to the final polish, adds an extra layer of meaning.

What is important is that you understand the difference so you are able to make an informed decision. Unfortunately, a lot of memorial jewellers simply handfinishing mass-produced blanks, call their pieces handmade, which is something of a stretch and ultimately misleading. 

A FINAL THOUGHT

Ashes jewellery is deeply personal. It represents love, memory, and connection.

When a piece is handcrafted from the very beginning, that story becomes part of the jewellery itself, not just in what it holds, but in how it was made.

And sometimes, that extra time and care is exactly what makes it so special.