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Wednesday 23 February 2011

A Budgie Keepsake - Mango’s Last Feather

You may have noticed from my last blog post that I have recently been making a few items of Budgie keepsake jewellery by encapsulating the bird feathers within resin necklaces. Well a few days ago I received the following message from Laura who received the necklace. It is extremely moving and really makes me appreciate how my jewellery helps people with their loss.

“We had only owned Mango a few short years before her sudden death, she had many years left in her and the entire incident has come as a complete shock. She was the most beautiful of birds, with stunning markings, even on the back of her head her feathers were in such an alignment it looked like she had a smiley face!

Budgie Mango's Smile
Budgie Mango's Smile

Christmas 2009 Mango was diagnosed with psittacosis and we undertook months of treatment and quarantine, we were one of the lucky ones and came out the other end fit as a fiddle thankfully. After the ordeal she went back to being her normal self, making lots of beeping sounds and like a typical Kakariki caught up on baths - drenching everyone and everything around her. She was a beautiful flier, completely silent, great for causing mischief! By far her favourite thing was to sit out in summer and soak up the rays, the sun really brought out her colours.

Budgie Mango at the window
Budgie Mango at the window

Loosing her has been a big hurdle and very hard to deal with, on the evening of her death we removed some feathers from her cage and kept them separate. We contacted many jewellery makers and finally found Mick, we were very grateful he was open to giving it ago and seeing if we could preserve her last feather forever.

Bird Feather Keepsake Necklace
Bird Feather Keepsake Necklace

The necklace has turned out beautiful, far better than we expected, the entire necklace has a glow about it, we spent quite a while just starring at it, it was an emotional moment seeing it for the first time.We can't thank Mick enough for what he has done, being able to carry around the feather has helped with our emotions and grief immensely and it feels like a real healing charm.

Thank you Mick for keeping our little girl alive in such a graceful way.” (Laura Feb 2011.)

If you would like to find out more about my jewellery and the different ways of preserving those precious items, please visit my Keepsake Jewellery website page.

12 comments:

  1. What a beautiful piece of work helping the memory of a stunning bird live on.

    Beautiful and heart-wrenching feedback too.

    Laura xxx

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  2. What a wonderful letter. It is a rare pleasure to know that your work touches people so much!

    Congratulations Mick - the necklace is stunning and I can't believe how beautiful that feather looks.

    Ali x

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  3. Thanks Ali and Laura, The feather looks amazing doesn't it and yes, there is no better feeling knowing that I have helped somebody in doing what I love.

    Mick

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  4. How lovely, and what a totally stunning bird. What a wonderful feeling to have helped these poor people with their grief.

    Lynda

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  5. Thanks Lynda and yes it is a lovely feeling!

    Mick

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  6. Beautiful bird, beautiful letter and a very beautiful keepsake.

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  7. Thnaks Rachael and thank you for following my blog!

    Mick

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  8. Very creative - this is a piece of art!

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  9. oh, my, gosh! This is amazing... you are amazing!

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  10. Many thanks for your very kind words! They were a real pleasure to make as I knew how important they were to their owner.

    Mick

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Thank you for your comments. I do appreciate the time and trouble taken to comment and will publish as soon as possible.