WATCH: A Victoria artist is creating pieces with more than just a mother’s love. She’s making her jewelry out of breast milk and other very personal materials. Aaron Guillen reports.
A memory of motherhood is what inspires one Victoria woman to create her hand-crafted jewelry.
“I loved breastfeeding, it was an amazing journey,” says Sandra McMullen, owner of Sacred Life Jewelry.
She made herself a necklace with a golden tree encasing a stone with her breast milk and children’s hair for her 40th birthday.
“People will bring me their breast milk,” says the jeweler.
“Part of it is my own magic so I can’t really give away all my secrets.”
Part of the process in making the jewelry is dehydrating the milk, turning it into a powder, then into a stone for the final creation.
It takes three weeks to make a single piece.
And other moms can’t get enough.
Dana Walters has a ring made with her own breast milk.
“Every time I look at it, it reminds me of how far we’ve come in that journey,” says Walters, mother of one-year-old Fox.
“It always reminds me of him and the special time that we shared during those first moments of his life.”
Walters plans to buy another ring soon, but there’s a five-month waitlist for those wanting a personalized work of art.
And for McMullin, creating her jewelry isn’t easy.
She’s allergic to resin, a key ingredient in making the jewelry.
She has to use a gas mask and gloves for every single piece.
“[The allergy] developed over time,” says McMullen.
“My eyes were swelling shut almost. I thought maybe it was a food allergy. But, now I’m prepared.”
The next plan is to build a website to organize each custom order, which not only includes breast milk, but also cremated ashes, fur, and placenta.
“Anything you can really think of can go into jewelry,” says McMullen.
Until then, she’ll continue to craft her one-of-a-kind pieces, one at a time.
Aaron Guillen
