Fur and Ashes Rainbow Bridge Bead Tutorial with iridescent flecks – making bereavement and cremation jewellery using a mould technique. This technique is ideal for our bead cores here which are solid sterling silver and fit on European bracelets as large hole beads. Clients send in photos of our beads on their well-known brand bracelets.
The bead cores are really easy to fit, you don’t need glue, and they cover a wide sanding area making your bead look more professional than using glue-in bead inserts (also known as grommets or charm bead findings). The ashes/hair kit option for the bead core comes with a bead mould, so you can make a couple of beads then choose your favourite to add a bead core to.
Fur and Ashes Rainbow Bridge Bead Tutorial Video
@keepsakersupplies♬ original sound – Keepsaker Supplies
Here’s the transcript. After your first order you’ll receive a reasonable 15%* off future purchases. We have several courses here including some free to help you learn more about making bereavement and cremation jewelry such as a cremation ring.
You’ll need the following supplies
one of our DIY ashes bead kits
the ashes/hair version of the kits contain:
- a bead setting – this is one of Over The Rainbow Bridge cores
- medium bead mould
- vinyl gloves
- resin sparkle mix (you can use eyeshadow for a custom colour!)
- a dust mask
- label backing paper
- some sandpaper
- 3 cocktail sticks
- 10g UV resin – you can also use epoxy resin instead of UV resin and a UV lamp for these pieces but you will need to wait for the resin to cure which can take days
You’ll also need your client’s cremation ashes and/or fur for this piece. We ask them to only send half a teaspoonful of ashes or a small pinch of fur! That way, if it’s lost in the post they can send a little more.
Tools and Equipment
-
- green/blue/purple iridescent flecks
- LED UV torch** or a good UV lamp for professionals
- a tiny measuring spoon
- tweezers
- 200g bottle of Padico Star Drop
- side cutting pliers
- carbide burr bit
- a wooden doming block or a folded cloth
- a doming punch set or you can use the ball bearing included with the bead core and
- small hammer, both methods are shown in depth in this video:
colour.
These are my cat, Husky’s ashes and fur and they have really large pieces of bone in the ash. Some crematoria have older cremulators, the machines which grind the bones into powder, and you can get bigger pieces which I don’t think look as nice in jewellery. You can grind the ashes a little more in a pestle and mortar if you want to.
Making an ashes and fur bead
Put a line of UV resin on label backing paper then place some of the fur on top. Carefully transfer it to the empty bead mould with tweezers or the cocktail stick, then carefully place it in a line around the mould. Be cautious not to poke the mould or it will leave dents in your finished pieces.
Fill with clear resin and remove any large air bubbles and make sure the fur is placed nicely. Fur can be tricky as it encapsulates air bubbles very easily; that’s what it’s meant to do. Take your time, be kind to yourself that you’re learning and don’t strive for perfection. You’ll do a wonderful job and create something beautiful for yourself or your clients.
Once the clear resin is added, take some more time to make sure the fur is placed how you want it. Next you can add the iridescent flecks on top and poke them in, behind the fur. Placement isn’t too important, and with a black background you’re going to get a lot of visible colour. A little goes a very long way with these new iridescent flecks!
Beachball Resin Technique for Beads
Finally, add a bit of the black and the ashes on top of each bead mould. Mix into the clear resin on top. Then use the cocktail stick to push it where you want. I like it to be only around the centre, then I drag some out to the edges in some places in spokes. This is the beachball resin technique. If you make a UV resin bead opaque (especially with black!) there’s a chance the light can’t penetrate all the way to the core and the coloured resin might remain liquid inside.
Now remove the excess resin from around the top and perhaps squeeze a little more out. The more you take out, the less there is to cut and file away later. But if you take out too much you might have a gap in the bead and have to fill it or start again. It takes practice to get the perfect amount of resin in a mould.
Cure the beads under the UV lamp for 99 seconds on a low heat then allow them to cool before repeating again twice to make sure they’re completely cured.
To finish the bead, remove the excess resin from the pouring spouts with side cutting pliers. I then like to use a carbide burr bit in a rotary tool like a Dremel, to remove excess resin from the top. There’s a link to the one I used in the description, for sale on KeepsakerSupplies.com along with everything else I’m using in this tutorial.
Give them a rinse and dry them before sending a proof photo to your client. Once you know they’re happy with the bead you can add a bead core. Today I’m using a wooden doming block to stabilise the bead and using a doming punch set to flare the core.
Finishing a Memorial Bead
You can use the 6mm ball bearing if you don’t have a doming punch and rest the bead on a piece of fabric. I have another video showing you how to do this but the doming punches are much easier to use and give more consistent results. The long core, part A, should show a little above the back washer, part B, so there’s some silver to secure the core in place. If your bead is too thick, there might not be enough to flare over
But if your bead is too thin, there might be too much silver to flare easily so make sure you’re using a compatible mould.
Work your way up from a 5 doming punch to a 7mms until the core is secure in the bead and doesn’t twist. Your bead is finished.
Now relax and do some crafting. Don’t forget, this tutorial just one of over 120 lessons on our Advanced Breastmilk Jewellery Course. We also have two free keepsake jewellery making courses (breastmilk and memorial jewellery) click here to register and take our courses!
Nikki Kamminga
**Which UV Lamp To Use for Cremation Ash Jewellery
I’m using a 48w Sun3 lamp with a low heat setting but any UV lamp or torch will do when making memorial and keepsake resin jewellery. I don’t recommend you use daylight unless it’s very bright and sunny and you work in extremely thin layers. If you add too much pigment to cremation ring it won’t cure, I’ve had beads that you can crush in your fingertips made by new artists that added too much resin sparkle mix.
Please note, this Fur and Ashes Rainbow Bridge Bead Tutorial blog contains affiliate links, meaning I receive a small income based on your purchases from Amazon and Etsy etc. This affiliate income is really helpful to me to support my family and if you’d like to know how I set it all up please see my affiliate page here.
Nikki
*terms apply – some products aren’t included such as settings and findings, sorry.
