Holiday Jewellery

Ash Vials

Ash Vials

Earlier in the year, a friend of mine’s father had passed away due to heart complications similar to that of my late father’s. She asked me to make her three little ash vials to use as a locket to keep her father’s ashes. This was a difficult project for me, not just in technique but also emotionally as it brought back some of the emotions that I felt when I lost my own father. Technically this was a difficult project as I had to come up a way in which the vials could close up and seal. I did that by adding a double latch on either side of the vials. The vials also had to have holes at the top so that the chain could be thread through the vials as opposed to having a bale system. All in all this was a tricky project but because I had to make THREE at the same, it was even more difficult as they had to look exactly the same.

I am very grateful for having done this project because I learnt a new trick to help me cut off tube that is perfectly flat and perpendicular at the bottom. Here is how it is done:

1.       After prepping a piece of tube (soldered and straight) , near the ugly end (part that was used to pull through the draw plate) wrap a piece of masking tape around the tube to get a more or less perpendicular mark and cut off

2.       Take the piece of tape off of the tube and place the untouched opposite end of the tube in your rotary motor like you would a burr or drill bit.

3.       Start spinning the piece of tube and take your 400 buff stick and place it flat against the end that was just cut off

4.       Let the tube spin against the buff stick until you can see that it is 100% perpendicular when placing it against your set square.

5.       Now you can use your Vernier gauge to mark off the exact measurement that you need and cut off tube as normal.  

After completing this, another client approached me for a similar request. This time the customer requested a round vial that had an etched pattern on the surface. I enjoyed making this vial as it allowed me to experiment some more with etching. I ended up with a gorgeous little vial that sealed off in an air tight manner using a permanent locking system involving a rivet. After the ashes are poured into the little container, the plug lid would be pushed into the tube hole at the top and a hole had to be drilled right through the top tube and the plug lid. A rivet was then put into this hole and sealed off permanently This of course meant that I had to handle dead people's ashes. FUN

before etching

after etching

final design