Meet mama Emily and gorgeous little baby Billy. This is the story of Billy’s first piece of jewellery – the plastic wristband she was given at birth at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Emily and I met in 2014 at Unwrap Etsy, a David Jones Christmas market. Her partner surprised her with a Negative/Positive necklace – which in itself is a cute little story!
Late last year, Emily got back in touch with a special project. She wanted to set her daughter’s hospital wristband into a piece of jewellery.
Right from the beginning, I could tell that she was exactly the kind of person I loved designing for. As we chatted over coffee and she showed me her jewellery, it was clear that none of these pieces were just accessories. From worn leather bracelets with secret messages to rings marked with visible records of their everyday journeys, each piece was beautiful, loved and perfect in its imperfection.
I felt pretty honoured to add another piece to her collection!
I engaged a local artist to set Billy’s bracelet in a clear resin block.
It may sound strange to some of you, but I found this process so much more nerve wracking than working in precious metals. While gold and silver can be manipulated, reworked and replaced if necessary, we only had one wristband, and one shot to get this right!
Having never worked in resin, I had some trouble accepting the bubbles in the material, the lightly lifted ink imprints and dimples in the smooth surface. It wasn’t perfect. But as Emily said, “neither is child birth”.
In the end, I’m honoured to have been able to work with Emily to always keep baby Billy close to her heart!
And finally, if you’re curious about the Christmas story I mentioned earlier, here is a message I received from Emily’s partner after he surprised her with a Negative/Positive necklace in 2014!
“I love it!” She shouted with delight.
“But how did you know?”
“Because I pay attention,” I replied.
Anyway, your jewellery is superb. We both think so.
And your necklace went down much better than the ice cream maker attachment for the KitchenAid as originally requested.
We will both check your website regularly to see what new and interesting things you have. And thank you again for your wonderful service.
Two thumbs up.
Now I’m off to buy an ice cream maker.
Cheers,
Rob
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