Move over George Washington, there’s a new baby in town!!!
I was inspired to make these precious coins by the many requests from moms and dads to use their own baby’s feet on the pendants. I wanted to come up with a way to do it that didn’t cost a fortune.
I played around with resin on silver and gold using prints of baby hands and feet. While they looked beautiful, I wasn’t crazy about them because the resin eventually turns yellow, and I also wanted the jewelry to be able to stand up to sweat and showering.
It’s possible to inscribe pretty much anything on to metal; with a 50K machine, but yuk! Not only is it expensive, but I’m not a fan of the look.
Then I got sidetracked…..
I took a Precious Metal Clay class a few months back. I wanted to find out what all the hype was about. PMC is a silver that, originally was extracted from 35mm film and then mixed with an organic binder (made up of paper and water) to make a clay. After fired it is .999 pure silver. I’m not sure how much of the clay is actually made from film these days with all the digital picture taking going on, but it’s a great medium to work with, and it also comes in gold.
Just one day into the class, I realized it was the perfect way to get any baby hand or feet prints inscribed onto a pendant. I love the look of the finished pieces. They are elegant yet a bit rustic, and can be as rough or as finished as desired. Being a diamonds and pearl girl, I like the super shiney polished look.
I took several photos I had and turned them into pencil drawings. I then transfered them onto the wet clay. I think I’ve made about 50 or so mug shots of Lovebug so far - I’m pretty addicted. They look like ancient coins, so I’m calling them “baby COINS”. Here are a few…
This pic is Lovebug at about a month old. He is still in the NICU, and it’s the first time I saw him open his eyes.
This next photo is Lovebug’s first morning home. You can kind of see the cord coming out of his blanket - he came home on a heart monitor which scared the crap out of me. I would have rather - at the time - him stayed in the hospital than come home on a monitor.
Off the monitor and sleeping in his crib after a day out on the town.
This was taken a few months ago at the beach.
baby COINS retail starting at $69…. The sizes range from 1/2″ in diameter to 3/4″.
Check it!