I get a lot of people asking if I can make jewellery with a loved ones ashes.
I can physically do it. But I rather not. It’s not my specialty. My specialty is making commemorative jewellery from old jewellery.
There are smiths out there that have found ingenious ways to create memorial jewellery with ashes and I would suggest using their services.
For example, Morgan from North Faun Jewellery (see her instagram here). Her process sounds beautiful and practised. From her website:
…the cremains undergo a unique journey in which they are combined with powdered diamonds, clear glass, and a few other bits of magic in a high-heat process. The cremation gem is then set beneath it's glass or natural gemstone within the setting that's been created just for you.
In the process of becoming a solid memorial stone, the ashes that you've sent will become a deeper, darker colour than when they are "dry", and the colours that appear once they are solidified into a gem have a wide range: from near-white, cream, tan, brown, grey, and black. Some may even have tiny flecks of blue, green, or other colours within them…
Read more here.
There are also a lot of glass artists who can incorporate ashes into glass jewellery, ornaments, bowls, etc.