How To Make Breast Milk Jewelry

How To Make Breastmilk Jewelry- Breastmilk is incredible. For many newborns, it is the first form of nourishment they receive. The journey breastfeeding can last for a few months to a few years. Many people want to commemorate this incredible bond with breastmilk jewelry. We were curious about how this is made and how it works so we went to the best and spoke to Anna from Keepsake Mom to tell us how to make breastmilk jewelry and how she creates her incredible pieces. Learn how to make breastmilk jewelry and more about Anna’s incredible business.

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Tell us a bit about yourself and your passions.

I graduated from medical school and emigrated from Ukraine in 2004. With my interest in medicine, along with my medical and health sciences background, I became a diagnostic medical sonographer. I was working in ultrasound. My favorite part of the job was looking at the images and sharing in the excitement of the expectant mothers. I couldn’t wait to have children of my own and experience it all firsthand, which I eventually did. Today, I have three beautiful children and I breastfed them all.

I love jewelry. Growing up, I was always interested in beads and sparkly things. I remember spending hours playing with my mother’s costume jewelry. This fascination with all things sparkly never left me. I went from playing with jewelry as a child to making jewelry for myself to wear as an adult, as well as for my family and close friends.

I’m passionate about family. My family is incredibly important to me. It’s part of what sparked all this in the first place. This importance continues to be reflected in our business. We know that family is the single most significant influence in a child’s life. We work hard to welcome and include family members ,spouses, partners, parents, siblings, and friends in all our offerings and efforts.

What is breast milk jewelry?

Breastmilk jewelry is made with stones created from a mother’s breast milk. And it’s the most personalized piece of jewelry you can imagine. Since every mother’s milk is different, every piece of jewelry we make is completely unique. We create rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. Each piece is a memento of the amazing connection a mother forms with her child. It’s a beautiful keepsake of such a special time, and it also makes a wonderful gift.

For me personally, breastmilk jewelry has helped encapsulate the journey that I experienced with my own children. It is encompassing its challenges, joys, and indescribable love. I may be a tiny bit biased here, but I can’t help but feel that each piece of breast milk jewelry really is the perfect combination of beauty and meaning, reflecting every mother’s deeply personal experience through a universal symbol of love and connection.

Explain to our families how this can be a life-long keepsake.

Our pieces fit into a long tradition both of jewelry celebrating motherhood and of baby keepsakes, from locks of hair and lost teeth to baby blankets and first shoes. Few experiences are as magical for parents as watching their newborn develop. Baby keepsakes preserve this beautiful time and help us feel connected to our children, and to each other. Each piece of breastmilk jewelry is a treasure that you will not only cherish for the rest of your life, but that you will also be able to pass down to your children.

What inspired you to start KeepsakeMom?

Seven years ago, when I was breastfeeding our second child, I was introduced to breastmilk jewelry. A lady was adding breast milk to acrylic resin, creating breastmilk stones, and she had been doing this for over 10 years. I was fascinated by this. I started playing with my milk, reducing it, trying different techniques to neutralize it, and mixing and casting the dried milk with acrylic resin to create breastmilk stones. That was the beginning and yes, it did help me to commemorate my journeys, all three of them, each of which was deeply profound but each with its own set of struggles.

You have this incredible business, tell us how each piece is customized for each mother.

Because each piece of breastmilk jewelry is created with an individual mother’s milk, it’s the most personalized type of jewelry imaginable. Not only is it a beautiful piece of wearable art, but it’s also a deeply meaningful memento of an all-too-fleeting phase of motherhood—and of the enduring love between a mother and child. And even though each stone is already one-of-a-kind, we offer countless ways to customize it even further, by adding metallic flakes, birth colors, shimmers, or special additions like names, dates, hand and footprints, and locks of hair.

Breastmilk jewelry is a keepsake. Tell us the steps on how breastmilk jewelry is made.

Firstly, we start with two tablespoons of your breast milk and add trace amounts of a preservative to help inhibit enzymatic activity and to prevent bacterial and fungal growth.

We then gently reduce the milk until the breast milk becomes a paste.

We then dry this paste and grind the dried flakes with a small mortar and pestle in order to get the fine, powdery consistency that we need for the acrylic resin casting process, where we use specialized molds to craft beautiful breastmilk stones by hand.

Lastly we place each breastmilk stone into a setting of the client’s choice, creating a totally personalized piece of jewelry that can be gifted, worn, cherished, and handed down to future generations.

Because the possibilities are endless, and because every piece is so unique and so meaningful, it’s a truly rewarding way to help both mothers and their families preserve these precious memories.

Tell us how the amount of protein, breastfeeding stage or fat content can alter the appearance of breastmilk.

The color, density, and hue of each mother’s milk is different. Some breast milk contains more protein, which makes the milk whiter and gives your breastmilk stone or centerpiece a brighter, whiter color. Some milk has a higher fat content, giving it a richer quality and lending your piece a creamier appearance. If your milk is more watery, it may yield a stone or centerpiece with a lighter, more translucent look. And if the milk is high in sugar, the breastmilk stone or centerpiece might well look denser and more opaque.

The composition of your breast milk also depends on the particular stage of your breastfeeding. When you first start to produce milk for your newborn child, it is high in fat and protein. As your baby grows, the composition of your milk changes with your child’s changing needs. Then, as you start feeding your baby solid foods, your breast milk becomes more watery, containing less protein since your baby is now getting that protein elsewhere.

After we cure and dry each individual mother’s breast milk, we turn it into a powder that reflects the same hues and colors as the original milk. That’s why your individual breastmilk stone may come out a slightly different shade of white than the color of the pieces you see when you place your order.

You may even see some “specks” in your stone from the heavier proteins in your milk. All these little variations are what makes your breastmilk jewelry so unique and personal, and showcasing them is one of our favorite parts of this entire process. No two pieces are ever the same.

Breastmilk Jewelry is about bonding families. Tell us where our audience can find you at KeepsakeMom and a little about the ordering process.

They can check out our work and follow along with our journey by visiting our KeepsakeMom website at www.keepsakemom.com. We are continually developing and adding to it, including a new blog we recently started and post to regularly. Regarding the ordering process, all you need to do is choose the piece that’s right for you—one that reflects your personal style and the bond that you share with your baby—and we’ll take care of the rest. We will send you a breastmilk kit containing a labeled, leakproof storage bag, a set of instructions, and a padded, prepaid return envelope so that shipping is free. You just need to add your milk and drop the envelope in the mailbox. In 6 weeks, your beautiful jewelry will be at your doorstep.