There’s a good chance that you know you can make other food like smoothies and butter from your breast milk. You may have even known that you can make soap from breast milk.
But you may not have known that there is another trend concerning breast milk that is starting to take off and gain popularity: making your breast milk jewelry.
You can send some of your fresh breast milk to a company to fashion a breast milk ring or breast milk necklace for you, but why not make your own breast milk jewelry? After all, you made the milk and worked for that milk supply.
Why not see it through and get your own breast milk jewelry kit? You may be surprised about the easy instructions on how to make breast milk jewelry, even if you’re not crafty.
Why make breast milk jewelry?
Breast milk is also known as liquid gold, and women work hard to produce it.
An excellent way to honor and commemorate your time on your breastfeeding journey is to make a breast milk ring or necklace.
Sometimes women choose to make breastmilk jewelry because they struggled with breastfeeding, and they want a piece to wear to remember their struggle and determination through it.
The number of US women who breastfeed may have increased in the onset but some nursing moms stop breastfeeding at six months. Regardless of the circumstance, these moms put a tremendous amount of work and dedication into it, and deserve to reward themselves with a keepsake, whether that’s by making rings, necklaces, bracelets, or earrings.
Sometimes a woman makes breastmilk jewelry to remember the special and unique journey she shared with her baby while breastfeeding. After all, it doesn’t last forever.
Much like any journey, it eventually comes to an end. Having a beautiful and meaningful jewelry piece to remember it by is both sentimental and a fashion statement!
What does breast milk jewelry look like?
A breast milk ring, for example, typically consists of breastmilk gemstone in a jewelry setting. The band can be made of any metal materials you prefer.
Making your own jewelry adds to the creativity and personality that you can put into the preserved breast milk jewelry.
How to make breast milk jewelry
Making a breast milk ring to honor your breastfeeding journey may sound intimidating, but even moms who aren’t crafty at all have sworn by how simple it is.
The entire process is laid out with detailed instructions, and although there is a bit of a learning curve, if you make sure you have enough materials available to complete the job and take your time, creating your keepsake piece won’t be too difficult.
The following are some of the steps involved in making breastmilk jewelry. This article will focus on creating a ring, but other pieces can be made. The steps are similar, regardless of what sort of piece you’re making.
Also, remember that this is a general explanation of the process, and some companies may vary slightly in their instructions when they send the breast milk jewelry kit to you.
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Preserving breast milk
Preserving breast milk is the process of turning your breastmilk into a fine powder. This is great because you can use expired milk or fresh breast milk. It doesn’t matter.
Suppose you’ve got some milk in your freezer that should have been used a month ago, and you can no longer feed it to the baby; it will still make perfect breastmilk jewelry. You can also make personal care products using breast milk. Look up recipes for breast milk soap and breast milk lotion.
1. Reserve breast milk
You don’t need a lot of breast milk to make your breast milk jewelry. Most breast milk jewelry kits recommend using around only 5 ml of your breast milk.
2. Make a paste
Using a double boiler, you mix your milk with a powder included in the kit. Keep stirring and mixing until you have a thick paste consistency.
This may take a few minutes, but it’s essential not to quit mixing too soon.
No double boiler? No problem
If you don’t have this kitchen apparatus, don’t worry. You don’t need to go out and buy one.
You can use a pot and a glass bowl. The pot is full of boiling water, and place the bowl above it. Make sure that the bowl can handle the extreme heat (dishwasher safe). You don’t want to crack a bowl!
3. Set it and forget it
Once you have a thick gloop made, spread it out evenly in a thin layer on a piece of parchment paper. Then put it in a dry and cool place and walk away.
The wait time for this process is usually around 48 hours, but make sure to read the instructions on the kit and wait for however long it advises.
Don’t get impatient. You’ll have your piece of beautiful jewelry soon enough!
4. Back to powder
The next step is grinding the dried paste into fine dust. You can use a mortar and pestle, a small tack hammer, a rolling pin, or even the back of a spoon. Make sure you get it down to as fine a powder as possible.
5. Mix and mold
In the kit that you get, you should have a hardener and a resin package. This is important, as you can’t make your jewelry pieces without it.
Mix two parts resin with just one part of the hardener, and then add a tiny amount of your breast milk.
6. Get creative!
Some kits come with gold or silver leaf flecks that you can add to your mixture to give it a bit of flair.
You can experiment in all sorts of ways until you get the look you like most. Or you can leave the stone for the ring blank and focus on the milk alone.
Once you get the look you like, pour the mixture into the mold and let it set for about 24 hours.
You can involve other family members, like your spouse or kids, and combine your creative ideas to create a masterpiece.
7. Putting the stone in the jewelry setting
Once you’ve waited for the resin to cure, you can pop it out of the mold with your fingers. Just be gentle with it, so you don’t chip it or damage it.
Now it’s time to mount the stone into the setting.
Before setting the stone, some people recommend sanding or finishing it with a fine grit nail file to give it a more shimmery and finished look and to get rid of any lumps or bumps that may have occurred in the curing process.
Once you are ready to set the stone, push it down into the setting and then push the prongs up around it with a spoon to secure them tightly. Double check that the stone is secure, and then you’re ready to wear your new breastmilk ring.
How long does breast milk jewelry last
Your ring or other pieces of breastmilk jewelry can last a lifetime if properly cared for. Following the directions on whichever kit you purchase will help ensure that your jewelry stays intact so that you can properly honor your breastfeeding journey.
However, there are some tips and things you should know about caring for your piece that will help to preserve it for years and years to come.
1. Treat it like any other piece of fine jewelry
Just because you made it does not mean it doesn’t deserve an equal amount of care as expensive stones and metals that you did not create.
Be fully prepared to put forth the effort to maintain your stone’s beauty and setting for the rest of your life if you want to preserve your breastfeeding memento properly.
2. Avoid sunlight
Breastmilk often turns a creamy color over time in a ring. Mothers are often concerned about the quality of the piece they create and yellowing. To avoid this and keep it from happening, watch that you don’t expose it to too much direct sunlight.
3. No alcohol
To preserve the quality of your purchase, work, and creation, remove your ring before showering, washing your hands, or using rubbing alcohol. Alcohol can compromise the integrity of your stone.
Breastmilk jewelry, a nice way for a mother to honor herself
Moms who breastfeed go on an extraordinary and beautiful journey with their babies. As a sign of that dedication and commitment, some give themselves the gift of a homemade piece of jewelry using breast milk.
You can find the kits for sale on Amazon.
No matter how you get the kit, you owe it to yourself to give yourself a gift for all the hard work you did breastfeeding.
