I make beautiful casts of skulls and bones, immortalizing nature in handmade jewelry. I collect animal skulls, insects, and seedpods from areas of countryside in Cornwall, England. Mesmerized by nature, intricate detail and beauty in the macabre, I am inspired to create three-dimensional jewelry, transforming these natural objects into solid silver jewelry combined with precious stones, so that people can treasure them forever. I wanted to show the beautiful nature, by casting a bird skeleton parts in precious metal; I remove the grotesque and enhance the beauty I see within them.
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I wanted to keep every little detail from the original form within the unique jewelry. My jewelry is created using an extensive mold making process, combined with wax injection and lost wax investment casting. This is a very intricate process that allows me to achieve this incredible detail, even on the sparrow's feet the scales and talons are visible, the vole skull even has teeth on the underside of the jaw.
As a result, the forms and details I achieve are irregular amongst the handmade. Each cool jewelry piece is so finely detailed; it needs to be properly viewed under and magnifying glass. Each initial cast takes around 30 hours to mold, perfect, cast and polish. Although the process is long and there is a lot of refining involved, I believe it is worth it for the final result.
More info: Etsy | bethanyrobinson.co.uk
Black bird skull. Photo credit: Jo clement
Odd pair of sparrows foot earrings and bird skull necklace
Sparrows foot pendant through the eye socket of a sheep skull. Photo credit: Jo Clement
Bird skull and vole skull
Sparrows feet clutching agate stones
Two sparrow foot pendants
Mouse pelvis in solid silver
Nature, seed collection
Bird skull pendant. Photo credit: Jo clement