In Memoriam

{making}

Mourning Jewelry
    Unless you are a historian or reenactor (or really into the macabre) you may have never heard of mourning jewelry.  I first encountered it as a Civil War reenactor while researching the 1860's.  The Victorian era was probably the height of mourning jewelry (as it was also probably the height of ritual mourning), but mourning jewelry had been around for more than a century before that.  "This is all quite interesting," you may be saying to yourself right now, "but what exactly is mourning jewelry?".  Mourning jewelry was a way of remembering a deceased loved one, to have something of them remain (especially in times before photography).  A Google image search will give you many good examples of mourning jewelry, often made with hair from the deceased (although they may also simply be black or a painting  of a tomb or willow, etc.) and ranging from simple to elaborate.  You will see broaches and rings, even bracelets woven with strands of hair.  There is also lots of good information and histories of mourning jewelry, but here's a little timeline of some of the highlights in the history of mourning jewelry:
15th C. - England - Earliest known example of a mourning ring.  The ring was decorated with a skull, worm and the name.
17th C. - Skulls popular motifs for mourning rings (early mourning jewelry was almost exclusively rings
17th and 18th C. - Mourning rings have become a status symbol.  Wills would detail the design and distribution for these rings)
19th C. - Using hair becomes prominent.  First in rings and then in broaches and other adornments
19th C. - Jet Mining increases along with its use in mourning jewelry.  Queen Victoria decreed that jet be the only jewelry worn at court for 1 year after Prince Albert's death.  Jet jewelry is the only acceptable jewelry for those observing the first stage of mourning (not just in the British court) with hair jewelry being acceptable in the later stages of formal mourning.
1860's - During the American Civil War soldiers often left locks of hair behind when they went off to war.  If the soldier died it would be made into mourning jewelry.
Early 20th C. - Mourning jewelry falls out of fashion

    When our precious Pomeranian {Gigi} died a few weeks ago it was difficult for both my husband and I.  We had known she didn't have too long to live as she had been diagnosed with advanced congestive heart disease shortly before, but she had been given some medications and had seemed to really respond to them and do a lot better and we thought maybe she would make it longer than we thought even, but then after a couple really good and happy weeks for her she took a sudden turn for the worse and was gone the next day.  After her death I found some clumps of her hair around the house and decided I wanted to make some mourning/memorial jewelry.  I had originally thought to make a necklace for myself and a key chain for my husband, but then I realized I wanted mine to be a key chain as well.  A key chain I would use everyday, a necklace I wouldn't necessarily be wearing every day.   So, off to Hobby Lobby I went to look for bezels and resin to make these key chains.  They have a bunch of different bezels/pendants to choose from and I almost chose teardrop shaped ones since it was for "mourning", but in the long run I decided the heart was better.  I also got little "G" charms and key rings.  I thought I only had 2 clumps of her hair plus some left on her brush.

  Fortunately I found a whole pile of hair that had gotten left by the tub in our back bathroom after her last bath and trim, because my first attempt didn't work out how I wanted it.

I realized I needed something to hold the hair flatter in the bezel.  I got some wallet sized "self sealing laminating pouches" and cut it to fit the hearts and put the hair between the layers.  However the next 3 attempts I must not have mixed the resin just right because it never hardened all the way (ironically the resin in my first attempt hardened perfectly).  Finally after buying yet another pair of heart bezels (I think I bought 6 hearts in total) I finally got it right,  The resin hardened, and I added the "G"'s and key rings.

  And I love that I have a little bit of her with me everywhere I go.

Even if your pet is years from death and even with the issues I had with it, I would recomend this project (or something similar) to anyone.  Just make sure you mix the resin carefully...