In parts of India, women in certain families have the tradition of cutting off the hair, elaborate braids and dreadlocks, then giving the hair to their female children who then braid it into their own hair. These ladies have hair from their ancestors on their heads that are hundreds of years old. A good friend of mine from India before she died had her hair in this fashion. I was given one of her braids by her family and I treasure it.
Interesting how we might, as a society, see keeping the hair of the deceased in a locket as weird, but not the hair or teeth of our children from their first haircut or lost tooth.
Not even just keeping them as a mother, my mom intends to send me away to adulthood (my first job/apartment) with my baby book and several photos of myself. I think its totally appropriate for a mother or family member to have but I feel weird keeping so much of myself in my apartment just to show off to visitors.
When my step-mother died, we found baby teeth in her jewelry box from the 1980's. Since there are 3 girls, we don't know who's is who's. Since I ended up with the box, I inherited all of the teeth. LOL
I found a mourning wreath (yes, a HAIR WREATH, and yes, it looks like it has several different people's hair!!!) in a local antique store. You have no idea how excited I was when I saw it. It hangs in my living room now, and it's one of my most prized possessions.
How lucky you are!!! I've started making flowers and stuff out of my own hair and would like to start a family wreath. These were made in the Victorian ages as a sort of family tree before cameras were mainstream. Quite often they were in a horseshoe shape with the open end up. When a family member passed away their flower or dragonfly or whatever made of their hair was placed in the top open section as a distinction of honor. I've heard it was generally for a year but I suppose it could remain there until the next family member passed away. When it was time to change them out the old object was artfully added to the body of the horseshoe along with the other members who had already passed. Cool, huh??
Actually, it could be a wedding wreath. It wasn't unusual for members of the wedding party to donate their hair and have it put into a wreath or bouquet as a gift.
When one of my cats passed away almost 2 years ago, I would always find her hair floating around in the weirdest places. When I would be sitting at my desk and notice her hair in a notebook or on my clothes, I would pick them up and put them in an old chapstick tin because I couldn't brush them away. I think mourning jewelry is beautiful. When you love someone or an animal, even the hair becomes sentimental to most people after they pass. It's a piece of them that will never disappear. I would love to have a piece of mourning jewelry that I wouldn't wear, but likely display. It's very unique.
I have a black wedding band that I have worn since I have been widowed and I also have a silver vial with some of my husband's ashes in it that I wear all the time. I always laugh when I think about that because my husband hated jewelry.
I have my ex boyfriend's wisdom teeth in a jar in my room. I was going to wrap one and put it on a necklace, but then we broke up.... Was thinking about getting rid of them, but its so cool to say that "I have my ex boyfriend's teeth in a jar in my room"
Morgan Dunnington I actually want my me and fiancée's wisdom teeth for wedding jewelry. Instead of a useless diamond ring, we'd find some crafter to artistically fuse together our teeth and turn it into a decorative gem for two piercings and then put the piercings somewhere on our bodies where when we express intimacy our rings touch (maybe our lips/chins perhaps? When we kiss? Who knows). That way, the jewelry's gems have actual meaning, we will always be apart of each other, annnnnd I won't ever have to lose my wedding "ring". Ever since watching this video it's been a weird desire of mine xD. Have no idea how to present this idea to a actual boyfriend. But maybe he'll be just as weird as I am and will find this such a cool idea, your boyfriend didn't seem to mind :P
ShartimusPrime There are some people on Etsy and stuff who make mini-me's of your dog or cat if you send them a bunch of pet hair. You could see if they do humans.
My mother once told me that her grandmother (on her father's side) showed her a couple of lockets she had. Each contained a little lock of hair from one of the infants she lost. She had 13 children in total, but two of them died in infancy. This was in the beginning of the 1900s. My mother said she was a bit horrified that her grandmother had such things. But, as I learned later on in life, that that was a very common practice back in the day. Just a little memento of a loved and lost one. Her father was born in 1917 and he was a middle child. It was also quite common to lose a child in those days. Infant mortality was still fairly high. I never knew my great grandmother, she died before I was born. It would have been nice to know her, I would have liked to have talked to her, but she only spoke French, and no one ever taught me the language.
My daughter has a handwritten letter from the tooth fairy. When she was 7 her two baby teeth molars became infected. They were removed in a hospital setting and disposed of as hazardous materials. At the hospital pharmacy, along with her antibiotics, she received her letter. The tooth fairy assured her that she received the baby teeth. ♥️
the saddest cartoon that I ever saw was of two horses standing at Heaven's Pearly Gates about to enter. They are looking over their shoulders at their back ends. The caption reads "It's one of the great mysteries, that all horses enter heaven missing part of their tail". Here's why it got me choked up; because in equestrian tradition when a horse dies, before it is buried the owner ( or whoever loved it the most) takes a pair of scissors and cuts a swath of it's tail off to keep and commemorate their beloved horse. Sadly I have strands of horse tails in a number of places in my home , barn, and vehicle. Folks do weave them into braided bracelets, or even give them to ceramicists to become the carbon trails of a piece of Raku pottery. This tradition is a sad part of the equestrian culture and remains current in practice.
Where I'm form, it was customary when girls lose her pearl (first tooth) her parents would make a necklace out of it. It was a simple gold chain with the tooth filed in a more rounded fashion. That chain would be the first piece of jewerly she'd be gifted. Then the rest of the teeth would be given to the tooth fairy... Actually Tiny Mouse Perez, but it's the same thing. It grew out of style in the 50s.. Now it's unheard of. I still have my grandma's pearl chain and it really helped me during my mourning process.
One of my best friends just passed away from an extremely aggressive form of leukemia, I am going to wear a lock of her hair in a locket around my neck...so i always have her with me...i'll never forget the impact she had on my life and look forward to the day i can see her again.
When I was 12 years old my beloved dog was hit by a car and killed. He was only 2, the puppy I’d always wanted and genuinely my best friend. In my grief when I was told he died, I went to his kennel and collected his fur on a piece of sticky tape. Kept it on my bedroom wall next to my pillow for YEARS
My mum passed away in July and i didn't get to visit her when she passed, i asked the funeral director for a lock of her and it's so precious to me, im so glad i have itm
I save all my cats whiskers, and when i brush them i save some fur so i can weave it into yarn and make something with it. also when a cat of mine dies i clip a few pieces of my favorite parts of the coat and tuck it away with some whiskers in a special little box.
I do, too! I have dozens of whiskers from all the cats i/we've had and have. There are a few that I put into a plushie kitty. You can also make felt from brushed cat fur.
I have a sterling silver heart necklace that has the ashes of my late great aunt in it but every one still refers to it with her name when speaking of it.
I sent you a message on instagram about this, but I figured I'd put it here as well. I wanted to thank you for this video. I was at my grandmothers side in the hospital yesterday. We all knew in our hearts it was going to be her last day. She was in the "comfort care" room. Before leaving for the last time, I worked up the courage to ask my mother and uncle if I could get a lock of her hair to put in a locket. I got enough to give to all of her grandchildren. I'm so relieved I did. She took her final peaceful breaths at 3:30 this morning. Without having watched this video months ago, I never would have thought to do so. Thank you.
I've been kicking myself for the last two years for not clipping a lock of my Mom's hair when she died. I was the only one of her children who saw her body in the hospital room minutes after she died on July 25, 2013 ... and was the one who closed her eyes. I wish I had my brains about me to clip her hair. I would have loved to have it in a piece of mourning jewelry, like those I collect from the Georgian and early Victorian eras. Sigh .. ah well. Hindsight and all that jazz.
My baby girl passed in 1993. She was 6 mo. old, and I really wish I had asked for a lock of her hair. Out of all my children, a lock of her hair is the only one I’m missing.
I feel like that about my husbands hair.. although he passed in my living room after being on hospice care for a week with cancer.. I actually thought about it since I kept putting off the funeral home coming to get him.. for 12 hours. I washed him, trimmed his hair, snipped a bit, clipped his nails, lotioned him.. ect.. but after 7 years of chemo.. and brain surgery.. he had recently buzzed his hair. His hair was so beautiful and long when we found the brain tumors... I so wish I had kept some when he cut the rest off after surgery... bc the half inch I got was laid on for a week when he wasn't awake and had thinned 😭 I suppose after reading your thoughts, I should be glad I have any. I hope you are well.
+Vera Jankiewicz it really is very special. If you check out www.perfectmemorials.com they have a bunch of items to remember your departed by. It's worth a look around perhaps 😊
I would love to have my little girl's baby teeth preserved like that, and can easily imagine myself wearing mourning jewelry made of hair. Pretty sure it's expensive to get the cremated remains ones but I would be okay with that too. I would actually like everyone to bring back the mourning clothes, especially the veil. There are times when you just don't want everyone to be able to see how devastated you are, how puffed your eyes are, and so forth. And I admit it, I think the Victorian mourning gowns and veils were beautiful.
My Mom passed away on Christmas Day and I bought a little pendent and the funeral director put a few locks of her hair in it for me, it came on the day of her funeral, yesterday.
My grandmother died in 2014 after a year long battle with Plasma Cell Leukemia. I took some hair out of her brush to keep. I'm kicking myself now because I didn't actually clip a lock of hair from her head. But I think I opted not to, not only because my grandmother had the most beautiful, baby fine, snow white hair, but because I didn't want to freak anyone out. Especially my mother, because she was already so heartbroken over losing her mom and I didn't want to upset her any further. I did, however, after the funeral, split the hair I got in half, kept some for myself and put the other half in a locket and gave it to my mom for Mothers Day. She completely broke down and gave me a hug. She really appreciated it. I essentially gave her part of her mother back on Mother's Day. ❤
With incredibly impressive timing, I had the dubious pleasure of watching my cat hork up some love in time with Caitlin acting out the same thing. Brava! Masterpiece performance! I liked your performance better. Fewer paper towels :D I still have my mother's whole braid in a tin, and clippings from my father's hair that was taken at the funeral home. It's a comfort to have them, though I'm not sure what I'll do with them, or when. Love your work, keep up the awesome videos!
My dad passed away in December and he was a redhead just like me. The fact that he passed his hair colour to me was always a special part of our relationship. My heart hurts that I didn't think to ask the funeral home for a lock of his hair when he died, so if I could go back I definitely would. I do take comfort looking at my own hair and going, "Yep, just like dad's." ❤
when my mom-in-law died, I did her hair. She had been ill for sometime and hadn't had a haircut in several years. I took my scissors, 4 envelops, and pink ribbon with me. After I cut her hair, I divided the hair into 4 strands and wrapped the pink ribbon around it and placed each one in an envelope. When I left the funeral home, I gave each of her children an envelope. My husband had his in his desk.
I'm an archivist and I have found several envelopes with hair from the 19th century over the years that family members sent each other. Initially I was quite disgusted, especially because I knew that the hair was cut from a dead body, not a living person, but this channel is helping me to get past this. Letters with the hair reveald the intention to make a medallion out of it, but even in the past, some people couldn't stop procrastinating.
I work at the Folger Shakespeare Library and we have a bracelet made of Edwin Booth's hair! He gave it to his mother. It's one of the first things I shout-out on our tours. :)
before his suicide, my sweetestheart made me a paintbrush using a chopstick, some thread & a lock of his hair. i thought he was just being eccentric & creatively loving. i currently wear a locket a silversmith friend gave me with another lock of his hair that includes a skull fragment. 💜💀💜
My father passed away very suddenly last November and I felt super lost without him. We decided to cremate him and so I decided to put some of his ashes into a necklace I bought online. So many people compliment it and ask me where I get it and when I explain to them that it has my fathers ashes in it and so thats why I bought it on a cremation website people get so freaked out, I wish it was more of a common thing or at least that people wouldnt get so freaked out by the thought of wearing jewelry with a loved ones ashes in it. It makes me feel happy and I never take it off and I can always feel it and feel close to my father because of it.
That's a brilliant idea. Was planning on getting memorial tattoos for my parents when they pass already. My brother and I don't really get along, but I have a feeling that he might be on board with this plan. Thanks man!
Why choose? I'd love to have all of them! I've always thought mourning jewellery was a fantastic way to remember a loved one, so I'm very pleased to see it slowly making its way back into the modern death and grieving culture.
+Ashley Casey I personally don't think it's messed up. It's just that other people do. I collect teeth, I was just stating that other people might think its weird that I like teeth.
In my family we keep the hair of all the women. We have hair inside a creepy gothic looking that dates back to my great aunt... Funny thing is, I absolutely love it.
When I lost my cat, my best friend, to a sudden and traumatic illness, one of the hardest things I had to do was clean her bed (I wanted to use it for a new cat I was going to adopt). I started pulling her fur off of the fabric, and decided to put some strands in a small glass pendant, because I couldn't bear to just throw it all away - I have never worn the pendant, but simply going through that ritual and keeping something that was "her" was therapeutic for me. The pendant sits next to her urn.
I have my son's hair when he lost it from chemo! I've been watching your videos about death to help me through my own fear... I would definitely wear dead hair jewelry..., because well... Why not!
I absolutely love mourning jewellery. If it weren't so expensive, I'd buy every memento mori ring I find in antique stores. I love the idea of mourning rings.
Ironically just a few short hours after having finished watching all of your previously posted videos. I had an unavoidable sit down with my neighbor, her husband recently died and was cremated. We talked and landed on the topic of his remains. My question is are there any specific laws on what you can and cannot do with the remains? She seems to think that there is and she's having issues deciding where to lay her husband to rest. I suggested all the places he loved and if she wanted to there is jewellery that can incorporate the remains as well. Thank you for your positivity and openness. (Side note: I think I've been converted to the "death positive" side given the fact that while traipsing around on fb it had a link to "bizarre" post mortem photography and my only reaction was "how is that bizarre?"
i would keep a lock of my lovers hair. it would have more meaning behind it for me because i always braid his hair and style it and basically take care of it for him.
I asked my dad to give me some of his hair before he died from stage 4 cancer. After he passed, I had beads made for a bracelet that contained his hair and another bead that contained the dried flowers from the day of his burial.
I wear a necklace filled with my grandmothers ashes everyday, it calms me down a lot. I wore it during my first ever job interview, got the job btw, and I don't think I would've been able to do it without her with me. It feels like she's there with me again when I'm wearing it. I've met a lot of people that think it's gross or creepy but it's all I have left of her, we didn't have a great relationship until the couple months leading up to her death. She passed when I was 12 and through out my childhood I had that attitude where you don't want anything to do with your relatives, it got worse when my nana got diagnosed with alzheimers and phone calls became really difficult because it was the same conversation everyday so I just stopped calling. She died with me holding her hand and she couldn't talk, couldn't eat, couldn't drink, she spent her last days screaming from pain that even morphine couldn't help and those painful memories are all I have left aside from my necklace, and I don't wanna remember her like that. I wouldn't wanna be remembered for my screaming and helplessness. No one really seems to understand that though. The necklace means so much to me and nothing will ever make me regret getting it no matter how much others don't seem to understand why I keep it.
My beloved son died at the age of 4 from cancer. And this woman is exactly who I want to help immortalize the little things that I have left of him. Thank you so much for all of your informative and hilarious videos. I'm madly in love with your channel! Thanks again! Sammy M. 6-99/8-03 Mommy loves you
i want to be a hair dresser so i already do cut hair and love it! so i would 100% wear a loved ones hair but not my moms she is super against that but i did see a stand at this weird thing going on by my library and this lady would use horse hair to make stuff in picture frames to remember your horse and i think she might've done some humans that were her kids i think
Horse hair jewelry is really common for remembrance for a passed on horse. As for a lot of horse owners we don't get the same way to mourn them as majority of human deaths and other animal deaths, since they're such large animals conventional means are just difficult and expensive. Its easier to just cut a lock of hair from their mane after they've been green dreamed (medical euthanasia) or shot and send it away to a professional than it is to have them cremated and kept with you or buried. Most horse remains go to abattoirs or veterinary clinics for cremation and in lot of circumstances aren't generally given back to you but disposed of. So its how we equestrians mourn our beloved horses. Be it a necklace, bracelet or even a frame that holds their halter (like a collar but for horses) and a picture of them or something else that holds meaning. If one of my horses were to pass on this would be my means of mourning, both are my world and if I had nothing left of them, I'd be pretty devastated. Having a keepsake like this would keep them close forever even though they're gone forever.
Now this is something I can get behind! Something appealing to the eyes yet doesn't just take up space on your mantel. Jewelry with hair, ashes, teeth, it all sounds fantastic.
I have a locket with my dogs hair and a picture and wore it everyday for the first 3 to 4 months after his passing. I think it's lovely and feel like it helped me come to accept the loss I was feeling
I make mourning jewelry with hair and ashes and they always end up being my most cherished projects. I love connecting with people and being trusted to hear the stories of those they've lost and in turn create something so meaningful and cathartic for them. I love that it's coming back into style.
Hey, I just found your channel this morning and binge-watch all of your videos from 1 till this one and I have to say I enjoyed it greatly and you have even showed me some new things and got me thinking about all the options you never hear about when it comes to death as Death has always been fascinating to me. I am at the moment seeking a job in the funeral service living in northern Ireland I though the laws qualification and licencing requirements would be allot like the US but i found there to be none when it comes to the qualification or licencing they don't even have a collage or school it seems that its is done "in-house" training in the family business's. I just found it interesting could be a good idea for a video on how places around the world get qualified to deal with this sort of service. once again thank you very much for your videos.
As a jeweller I love this. It really brings the closeness between the symbolic nature of jewellery and the loved one whom either commissioned it for you or you commissioned it in mind of. I'd be stoked to make this kind of jewellery!
I was a cancer survivor..when my hair fell of..i gathered it and put it nicely in a box..everynow and then when i look at the box..i feel so proud for finishing the painful chemo
I saved a bit of my father's hair! There was no...particular reason for doing this other than, why not? It helped me feel a tiny bit connected to someone I couldn't physically see and touch anymore. So I totally understand the hair thing.
Hair, teeth, ashes, carved bone fragments.... If I could get my hands on my deceased husband's tattoo, I'd find a way to utilize that for something, maybe an awesome lining for one of my corsets so he'd always be close to his favorite portion of my anatomy.... My HEART, you pervs! What did you think I was talking about?!?! His tattoo is a perfect Metallica star in red and black. Tanned properly, I hear that human skin is one of the most soft and resilient leathers EVER! I hope someone immortalizes my ink in this way because I designed all four of them!
Funny story when I lost my first tooth I made my mom glue it into a locket. She had told me I could put it under my pillow and the tooth fairy would bring me money and I simply looked up at her and said, "I'll loose more teeth. I want to keep it."
My grandmother had a mourning wreath that began as a brooch. When a relative died they added their hair to the jewelry. When it became too large it was then used as wreath hung on the door for a year after a loved one died
I have a lock of hair from my grandmother and each of my cats and dogs that have passed away. Can’t help myself, it’s nice to have a part of the ones I love.
The Clarke Museum in Eureka, California has had an interesting display of woven hair and mourning tokens in years gone by. Is the reason my personal directives require that my hair and gold crowns be removed before cremation. My hair has been waist length for years... My daughter is aware of this and will receive them. The hair is intended to make a wig or a hair piece and the gold crowns turned into rings. I still have the baby teeth of both children, intending to have them strung as a necklace. They have become mixed and I can't tell one child's from another.
My mom passed away on June 13th. Her funeral will be in August. I have been watching Ask a Mortician for a few years now and I am so grateful for this episode. I remembered watching Caitlin's interview with Angela when it was uploaded. My mom and I loved shopping for jewelry and gemstones so I have very fond memories of looking at jewelry pieces and sorting through our jewelry boxes together. I plan to order a custom piece from Angela. I am so grateful to Caitlin for this channel. My mom didn't want to talk about her mortality and was in denial of the terminal illness that eventually took her. This channel helped me think about and process my mother's mortality and death even when she refused to talk about it.
I asked you about mourning jewellery on one of your older videos, so I'm going to pretend this was in answer to my question! ;) I bought a vintage book on how to make the patterns for hair mourning jewellery, but I'm still looking for the "...doll-sized curling iron" that it says I need! No luck so far.
Could you do a no heat curl method maybe? Get the hair damp and wrap it around a small round object, like a smooth pencil or whatever diameter you need and then rubber band the ends to it until it dries? Just a thought, i hope it helps!
I know this is comment is almost 3 years late, but I just wanted to say I absolutely love the idea of mourning jewelry. When my dad died in November of 2016(shortly before I discovered your channel), I was familiar with the Victorian era practice of keeping locks of hair of a loved one and turning it into jewelry, and I asked the mortician to cut some of my father's hair, so I could have it while at his viewing. Needless to say I got a few strange looks from family members, but the dietician kindly obliged without batting an eyelash. I bought a small, silver necklace designed for holding ashes or hair that I wore daily for about a year, but it only held a few strands, so I still have a good bit that I keep tucked away. Since then, and in a large part, thanks to your videos, I have grown exponentially in my quest for death positivity and acceptance, and have been considering making a few mementos for both myself and other family members using my father's hair... And my family has also become more accepting of my "death knowledge," so I have kind of become a bit of a consultant when questions regarding death arise. So basically, thank you so much for helping both myself, and anyone else with questions about death learn!!!
I have a cremation pendant with my dad's ashes. I went with a minimalist piece so I can wear it whenever/wherever and you don't know what it is. It's a way to keep remember him and keep him with me when I need his memory the most.
I collect my cat's claws and whiskers, as they're shed. I did at one point send my best friend a heavy gold plated locket (with my hair and a couple of my cat's whiskers and maybe a claw or two in it) and rose gold chain, but I've sent weirder things. I once collected my menstrual blood and dried it in the sun, then crumbled it into a chunky soil-like substance and gifted it to him in a dime baggy. I think it was for Christmas. When I told him he was getting something personal, of me, he said, "You sending blood?" Knows me too well.
@TheLady OMG, I also collect my cats' whiskers and claws. I just tape 'em up on the side of a book shelf because there's just so many of them. I should TOTALLY have a keepsake made out of them.
I actually have a friend who uses her own menstrual blood as paint. She has some lovely, very Geogia O'Keefe inspired paintings from it. You should do that and send it to your friend!
Disgusting. There's nothing cute about giving your boyfriend or anyone else dried menstrual blood. Did you give him dehydrated shit, too? Have some class.
First of all, I love your channel! I've been a subscriber for a long time, and your videos are always super interesting. I read some stuff about Post-Mortem-Photography today, and I really got into it. I immediately thought of your channel, and I looked up if you ever talked about this, but I couldn't find anything. Idk if I just couldn't find it. If not, I thought it would be an interesting little topic. Greetings from Germany! :)
I just got my cat's ashes in a memorial necklace made and it's beautiful and I love it. They are clearly ashes in a glass vile which my mom wasn't entirely a fan of, but I love it. I've always found mourning jewellery fascinating.
I have a braids of my grandmother's hair and my aunt's hair from when they cut their in the 1930s as bobbed hair became fashionable. The most incredible displays of hair art can be seen in the Pioneer Museum in Salt Lake City, not only jewelry but elaborate centerpieces and flowers. To some it is macabre but I find having a reminder of departed loved ones very comforting.
When my husband dies one day, I would love to have a broach or pendant with his hair in it...but he's bald...so the hair will have to come from his back. lol
When I viewed my Gram's (unembaled) body the day after she passed, the ony thing I could think to do was touch her hair. During the height of Covid, she couldn't go get her hair set like she'd done every week for decades. She was 99 & still sharp as anything I miss her every day & wish I'd taken a snippet of her beautiful, soft white hair.
A friend of mine was a tailoring apprentice and when his mentor passed away; he got a memorial tattoo and had some of the cremated remains mixed in with the ink and incorporated into the piece. Seemed to heal quite well. Do you have thoughts about cremated remains being used in tattooing? Perhaps an episode on memorial tattooing?
Valkyrie Jacobson-Strand I have totally heard of this! And the most common issue I've seen people have is the sanitary issue, but aren't cremated remains usually fairly sterile for the lack of a better word....
I just ran into this video. I lost my husband suddenly on Sept 5, 2020. I am currently wearing a pendant with some of his cremains in it. I understand why mourning jewelry was/is a thing. It brings comfort to know that a part of that person is with you at all times. The rest of his cremains will be mixed with an eco-friendly concrete and made into an artificial reef (he was an avid scuba diver). Thank you for sharing this history and the meaning behind such an interesting practice.
I have my great-grandmother's "mourning watch fob". It was made int he style of mourning jewelry out of her hair, but she was not dead at the time. I do not know if she made it herself or had it made for my great-grandfather. It was made pre WW I.
This may be weird but If I ever married, I would actually want me and fiancée's wisdom teeth for wedding jewelry. Instead of a useless diamond ring, we'd find some crafter to artistically fuse together our teeth and turn it into a decorative gem for two piercings and then put the piercings somewhere on our bodies where when we express intimacy our rings touch (maybe our lips/chins perhaps? When we kiss? Who knows). That way, the jewelry's gems have actual meaning, we will always be apart of each other, annnnnd I won't ever have to lose my wedding "ring". Ever since watching this video it's been a weird desire of mine xD. Have no idea how to present this idea to a actual boyfriend. But maybe he'll be just as weird as I am and will find this such a cool idea. :P
I think it's an extraordinary idea. You will find your soul mate when you least expect it. When you do, that person will love this idea because they will love you. . . Unconditionally!❤
I love mourning jewelry. It can be so intricate and beautiful, not to mention personal. You literally have a part of your deceased loved one with you all the time. I've been collecting hair from loved ones and pets for a long time and intend to be buried with them. I've also been thinking about all of the long hair that I shed all over the house. I know how to crochet and am pretty artsy, so I may start collecting my hair in jar so that I can make my own hair jewelry.
What to do with cremains. A woman whose very lazy husband died, received his ashes back from the crematorium. After the next big snowstorm, she scattered his ashes over the driveway, saying, "At last, you lazy loafer, you'll do some work!"
I have 2 pieces made by Angela - a ring with my baby son's hair (he was stillborn) and a pendant with my kitty Sally's whiskers. I love them - very special pieces.
Loved this! My wife has a huge collection of mourning jewelry, pictures, all kinds of items. She has a viewing of all her items at a civil war mansion during October. She had no idea there were videos on RUclips about this.
In parts of India, women in certain families have the tradition of cutting off the hair, elaborate braids and dreadlocks, then giving the hair to their female children who then braid it into their own hair. These ladies have hair from their ancestors on their heads that are hundreds of years old. A good friend of mine from India before she died had her hair in this fashion. I was given one of her braids by her family and I treasure it.
Kitty Fantastic what is this practice called so I can look it up? Thank you
That is awesome.
Wow! What an interesting tradition, to always have a piece of your family with you
That’s fucking weird
I saw your comment years ago but still think of it often. How lovely for you to have her hair.
Interesting how we might, as a society, see keeping the hair of the deceased in a locket as weird, but not the hair or teeth of our children from their first haircut or lost tooth.
I like that lady!
Dorothy Kovacs my mom keeps my baby teeth in her purse for some reason
@Lauren Crofford Oh, that's funny. Moms: gotta love 'em!
Not even just keeping them as a mother, my mom intends to send me away to adulthood (my first job/apartment) with my baby book and several photos of myself. I think its totally appropriate for a mother or family member to have but I feel weird keeping so much of myself in my apartment just to show off to visitors.
When my step-mother died, we found baby teeth in her jewelry box from the 1980's. Since there are 3 girls, we don't know who's is who's. Since I ended up with the box, I inherited all of the teeth. LOL
I found a mourning wreath (yes, a HAIR WREATH, and yes, it looks like it has several different people's hair!!!) in a local antique store. You have no idea how excited I was when I saw it. It hangs in my living room now, and it's one of my most prized possessions.
Krombopulos Michael do you have any pictures? that's so interesting!
How lucky you are!!! I've started making flowers and stuff out of my own hair and would like to start a family wreath. These were made in the Victorian ages as a sort of family tree before cameras were mainstream. Quite often they were in a horseshoe shape with the open end up. When a family member passed away their flower or dragonfly or whatever made of their hair was placed in the top open section as a distinction of honor. I've heard it was generally for a year but I suppose it could remain there until the next family member passed away. When it was time to change them out the old object was artfully added to the body of the horseshoe along with the other members who had already passed. Cool, huh??
I looked them up and they're quite beautiful.
Benis can we see a photo please?
Actually, it could be a wedding wreath. It wasn't unusual for members of the wedding party to donate their hair and have it put into a wreath or bouquet as a gift.
When one of my cats passed away almost 2 years ago, I would always find her hair floating around in the weirdest places. When I would be sitting at my desk and notice her hair in a notebook or on my clothes, I would pick them up and put them in an old chapstick tin because I couldn't brush them away. I think mourning jewelry is beautiful. When you love someone or an animal, even the hair becomes sentimental to most people after they pass. It's a piece of them that will never disappear. I would love to have a piece of mourning jewelry that I wouldn't wear, but likely display. It's very unique.
I don't have any pets with hair that long, but I know the hair I DO have everywhere is extremely pervasive, lol :) no matter how clean you are.
I know it's been two years since you've commented, but you could felt something with enough cat hair
I have a shed whisker from my Spooky girl. 💕
Great idea! My condolences on your beloved kitty💔😿 It's so difficult to lose them😿💔
@@mikaylastrong7622 I keep my cats whiskers too🐱🐈
Best cat hairball reenactment ever.
I agree, very accurate. Lol
ThePwnzerWillDie Thank you! I work hard at my cat impression craft.
Ask A Mortician The Meow would be pleased and proud! Out of curiosity...did you have any mourning jewelry created from The Meow? If so, what?
have him grow a rat tail.
Pubes. Definitely pubes.
I have a black wedding band that I have worn since I have been widowed and I also have a silver vial with some of my husband's ashes in it that I wear all the time. I always laugh when I think about that because my husband hated jewelry.
I love it!! If you see this, pls tell how the ring was made? Respectfully would love to know!
@@codybarry8204 purchased online.
I have a necklace with my fathers ashes in it, and it actually helped me after he passed. It was nice to know he (even just a piece of him) was close.
There seems to be a temporal problem with that sentence. How did it make you feel before he died?
@@michaelschmidt4199 that comment was 3 years old, I was a child, revised comment better for you?
I have my ex boyfriend's wisdom teeth in a jar in my room. I was going to wrap one and put it on a necklace, but then we broke up.... Was thinking about getting rid of them, but its so cool to say that "I have my ex boyfriend's teeth in a jar in my room"
Morgan Dunnington I actually want my me and fiancée's wisdom teeth for wedding jewelry. Instead of a useless diamond ring, we'd find some crafter to artistically fuse together our teeth and turn it into a decorative gem for two piercings and then put the piercings somewhere on our bodies where when we express intimacy our rings touch (maybe our lips/chins perhaps? When we kiss? Who knows). That way, the jewelry's gems have actual meaning, we will always be apart of each other, annnnnd I won't ever have to lose my wedding "ring".
Ever since watching this video it's been a weird desire of mine xD. Have no idea how to present this idea to a actual boyfriend. But maybe he'll be just as weird as I am and will find this such a cool idea, your boyfriend didn't seem to mind :P
I whole heartily agree that having your ex boyfriends teeth in a jar is truly badass as hell
Someone would totally buy them to make something with. Or keep them! It's weird but cool.
Surprised he didn't ask for them back 😄
Is he still alive?
Okay, so now I want my action figure made out of my ashes and made with my actual hair.
ShartimusPrime There are some people on Etsy and stuff who make mini-me's of your dog or cat if you send them a bunch of pet hair. You could see if they do humans.
i know how to root hair and make wigs for dolls. i could do that.
That sounds like a powerful version of a voodoo doll. Be careful please
@@desi69blood I really don't think a voodoo doll can do much to someone who is already dead and cremated.
ShartimusPrime
Nobody will want to keep that trash.
My mother once told me that her grandmother (on her father's side) showed her a couple of lockets she had. Each contained a little lock of hair from one of the infants she lost. She had 13 children in total, but two of them died in infancy. This was in the beginning of the 1900s. My mother said she was a bit horrified that her grandmother had such things.
But, as I learned later on in life, that that was a very common practice back in the day. Just a little memento of a loved and lost one. Her father was born in 1917 and he was a middle child. It was also quite common to lose a child in those days. Infant mortality was still fairly high.
I never knew my great grandmother, she died before I was born. It would have been nice to know her, I would have liked to have talked to her, but she only spoke French, and no one ever taught me the language.
My daughter has a handwritten letter from the tooth fairy. When she was 7 her two baby teeth molars became infected. They were removed in a hospital setting and disposed of as hazardous materials. At the hospital pharmacy, along with her antibiotics, she received her letter. The tooth fairy assured her that she received the baby teeth. ♥️
the saddest cartoon that I ever saw was of two horses standing at Heaven's Pearly Gates about to enter. They are looking over their shoulders at their back ends. The caption reads "It's one of the great mysteries, that all horses enter heaven missing part of their tail". Here's why it got me choked up; because in equestrian tradition when a horse dies, before it is buried the owner ( or whoever loved it the most) takes a pair of scissors and cuts a swath of it's tail off to keep and commemorate their beloved horse. Sadly I have strands of horse tails in a number of places in my home , barn, and vehicle. Folks do weave them into braided bracelets, or even give them to ceramicists to become the carbon trails of a piece of Raku pottery. This tradition is a sad part of the equestrian culture and remains current in practice.
Where I'm form, it was customary when girls lose her pearl (first tooth) her parents would make a necklace out of it. It was a simple gold chain with the tooth filed in a more rounded fashion. That chain would be the first piece of jewerly she'd be gifted. Then the rest of the teeth would be given to the tooth fairy... Actually Tiny Mouse Perez, but it's the same thing. It grew out of style in the 50s.. Now it's unheard of. I still have my grandma's pearl chain and it really helped me during my mourning process.
One of my best friends just passed away from an extremely aggressive form of leukemia, I am going to wear a lock of her hair in a locket around my neck...so i always have her with me...i'll never forget the impact she had on my life and look forward to the day i can see her again.
When I was 12 years old my beloved dog was hit by a car and killed. He was only 2, the puppy I’d always wanted and genuinely my best friend. In my grief when I was told he died, I went to his kennel and collected his fur on a piece of sticky tape. Kept it on my bedroom wall next to my pillow for YEARS
My mum passed away in July and i didn't get to visit her when she passed, i asked the funeral director for a lock of her and it's so precious to me, im so glad i have itm
I save all my cats whiskers, and when i brush them i save some fur so i can weave it into yarn and make something with it. also when a cat of mine dies i clip a few pieces of my favorite parts of the coat and tuck it away with some whiskers in a special little box.
Same here
I do, too! I have dozens of whiskers from all the cats i/we've had and have.
There are a few that I put into a plushie kitty. You can also make felt from brushed cat fur.
I kept all my cats whiskers. I have two small jars, each a little differently decorated.
Her videos have made me feel and look at death in a totally different way and now I feel I have lost fear of it, thank you so much
I have a sterling silver heart necklace that has the ashes of my late great aunt in it but every one still refers to it with her name when speaking of it.
I sent you a message on instagram about this, but I figured I'd put it here as well. I wanted to thank you for this video. I was at my grandmothers side in the hospital yesterday. We all knew in our hearts it was going to be her last day. She was in the "comfort care" room. Before leaving for the last time, I worked up the courage to ask my mother and uncle if I could get a lock of her hair to put in a locket. I got enough to give to all of her grandchildren. I'm so relieved I did. She took her final peaceful breaths at 3:30 this morning. Without having watched this video months ago, I never would have thought to do so. Thank you.
I've been kicking myself for the last two years for not clipping a lock of my Mom's hair when she died. I was the only one of her children who saw her body in the hospital room minutes after she died on July 25, 2013 ... and was the one who closed her eyes. I wish I had my brains about me to clip her hair. I would have loved to have it in a piece of mourning jewelry, like those I collect from the Georgian and early Victorian eras. Sigh .. ah well. Hindsight and all that jazz.
Franny Zawadzki I'm sorry for your loss...do you have a hair brush of hers? Maybe collect some strands from that
Reading this comment, I'm now kicking myself for not doing the same with my mom.
I thought the same when my Mom passed! My only regret😔
My baby girl passed in 1993. She was 6 mo. old, and I really wish I had asked for a lock of her hair. Out of all my children, a lock of her hair is the only one I’m missing.
I feel like that about my husbands hair.. although he passed in my living room after being on hospice care for a week with cancer.. I actually thought about it since I kept putting off the funeral home coming to get him.. for 12 hours. I washed him, trimmed his hair, snipped a bit, clipped his nails, lotioned him.. ect.. but after 7 years of chemo.. and brain surgery.. he had recently buzzed his hair. His hair was so beautiful and long when we found the brain tumors... I so wish I had kept some when he cut the rest off after surgery... bc the half inch I got was laid on for a week when he wasn't awake and had thinned 😭 I suppose after reading your thoughts, I should be glad I have any. I hope you are well.
I have my dads ashes in a tree of life locket.
I wish I had something like that from my dad.
+Vera Jankiewicz it really is very special. If you check out www.perfectmemorials.com they have a bunch of items to remember your departed by. It's worth a look around perhaps 😊
+Evynn Rose Thanks, I just checked out that website! I didn't even know stuff like that existed! I will keeps this in mind....thanks again
I got my necklace on there as well that place is a life saver.
Evynn Rose has my cats and 1/2
I would love to have my little girl's baby teeth preserved like that, and can easily imagine myself wearing mourning jewelry made of hair. Pretty sure it's expensive to get the cremated remains ones but I would be okay with that too. I would actually like everyone to bring back the mourning clothes, especially the veil. There are times when you just don't want everyone to be able to see how devastated you are, how puffed your eyes are, and so forth. And I admit it, I think the Victorian mourning gowns and veils were beautiful.
if you like the fashion, wear it. we only live once. why let others tell us what to wear? especially when we are in mourning.
My Mom passed away on Christmas Day and I bought a little pendent and the funeral director put a few locks of her hair in it for me, it came on the day of her funeral, yesterday.
So sorry for your loss!
Well, that's something I won't be leaving my wife.
tetsubo57 LOL
good one! xD
Lmao
My grandmother died in 2014 after a year long battle with Plasma Cell Leukemia. I took some hair out of her brush to keep. I'm kicking myself now because I didn't actually clip a lock of hair from her head. But I think I opted not to, not only because my grandmother had the most beautiful, baby fine, snow white hair, but because I didn't want to freak anyone out. Especially my mother, because she was already so heartbroken over losing her mom and I didn't want to upset her any further. I did, however, after the funeral, split the hair I got in half, kept some for myself and put the other half in a locket and gave it to my mom for Mothers Day. She completely broke down and gave me a hug. She really appreciated it. I essentially gave her part of her mother back on Mother's Day. ❤
With incredibly impressive timing, I had the dubious pleasure of watching my cat hork up some love in time with Caitlin acting out the same thing. Brava! Masterpiece performance! I liked your performance better. Fewer paper towels :D
I still have my mother's whole braid in a tin, and clippings from my father's hair that was taken at the funeral home. It's a comfort to have them, though I'm not sure what I'll do with them, or when.
Love your work, keep up the awesome videos!
My dad passed away in December and he was a redhead just like me. The fact that he passed his hair colour to me was always a special part of our relationship. My heart hurts that I didn't think to ask the funeral home for a lock of his hair when he died, so if I could go back I definitely would. I do take comfort looking at my own hair and going, "Yep, just like dad's." ❤
when my mom-in-law died, I did her hair. She had been ill for sometime and hadn't had a haircut in several years. I took my scissors, 4 envelops, and pink ribbon with me. After I cut her hair, I divided the hair into 4 strands and wrapped the pink ribbon around it and placed each one in an envelope. When I left the funeral home, I gave each of her children an envelope. My husband had his in his desk.
How lovely.
I'm an archivist and I have found several envelopes with hair from the 19th century over the years that family members sent each other. Initially I was quite disgusted, especially because I knew that the hair was cut from a dead body, not a living person, but this channel is helping me to get past this. Letters with the hair reveald the intention to make a medallion out of it, but even in the past, some people couldn't stop procrastinating.
I work at the Folger Shakespeare Library and we have a bracelet made of Edwin Booth's hair! He gave it to his mother. It's one of the first things I shout-out on our tours. :)
before his suicide, my sweetestheart made me a paintbrush using a chopstick, some thread & a lock of his hair.
i thought he was just being eccentric & creatively loving.
i currently wear a locket a silversmith friend gave me with another lock of his hair that includes a skull fragment.
💜💀💜
My father passed away very suddenly last November and I felt super lost without him. We decided to cremate him and so I decided to put some of his ashes into a necklace I bought online. So many people compliment it and ask me where I get it and when I explain to them that it has my fathers ashes in it and so thats why I bought it on a cremation website people get so freaked out, I wish it was more of a common thing or at least that people wouldnt get so freaked out by the thought of wearing jewelry with a loved ones ashes in it. It makes me feel happy and I never take it off and I can always feel it and feel close to my father because of it.
I have the cremains of a loved one in the ink of a tattoo.That way I'll never lose him.
I know this was four years ago but that's so cool :000
My husband does tattoos and he's planning on doing this same thing with our infant son's ashes.
That's a brilliant idea. Was planning on getting memorial tattoos for my parents when they pass already. My brother and I don't really get along, but I have a feeling that he might be on board with this plan. Thanks man!
@@Lorelaiv9 I am so sorry for your loss.
@@tabbyeq2185 Thx!
Why choose? I'd love to have all of them! I've always thought mourning jewellery was a fantastic way to remember a loved one, so I'm very pleased to see it slowly making its way back into the modern death and grieving culture.
It might sound messed up... but I LOVE teeth.
Sarah Lyn It doesn't :P
+Sarah Lyn I mean most cultures throughout history (esp indigenous ones) made a practice of turning teeth and bone into jewelry... so.
Ashley Casey I mean, I already knew that... so.
Sarah Lyn then why you think that's messed up? Inconsistency!
+Ashley Casey I personally don't think it's messed up. It's just that other people do. I collect teeth, I was just stating that other people might think its weird that I like teeth.
In my family we keep the hair of all the women. We have hair inside a creepy gothic looking that dates back to my great aunt... Funny thing is, I absolutely love it.
I told my husband that I'd like to keep his skull. He seemed ok with it. >__>
Now, IF ONLY, I could find a man like that! I am half way kidding.
Foxy Lovelace 😆
That is cute but sadly Caitlin destroyed my dream of having my husband skull :(
When I lost my cat, my best friend, to a sudden and traumatic illness, one of the hardest things I had to do was clean her bed (I wanted to use it for a new cat I was going to adopt). I started pulling her fur off of the fabric, and decided to put some strands in a small glass pendant, because I couldn't bear to just throw it all away - I have never worn the pendant, but simply going through that ritual and keeping something that was "her" was therapeutic for me. The pendant sits next to her urn.
You're videos are the best combinations: informative, funny and death.
I have all the baby teeth of my kids! In a jar! Now I'm inspired to do something cool!
I have my son's hair when he lost it from chemo! I've been watching your videos about death to help me through my own fear... I would definitely wear dead hair jewelry..., because well... Why not!
I absolutely love mourning jewellery. If it weren't so expensive, I'd buy every memento mori ring I find in antique stores. I love the idea of mourning rings.
Ironically just a few short hours after having finished watching all of your previously posted videos. I had an unavoidable sit down with my neighbor, her husband recently died and was cremated. We talked and landed on the topic of his remains.
My question is are there any specific laws on what you can and cannot do with the remains?
She seems to think that there is and she's having issues deciding where to lay her husband to rest. I suggested all the places he loved and if she wanted to there is jewellery that can incorporate the remains as well. Thank you for your positivity and openness. (Side note: I think I've been converted to the "death positive" side given the fact that while traipsing around on fb it had a link to "bizarre" post mortem photography and my only reaction was "how is that bizarre?"
Keeping your horse’s mane and tail after your horse dies is an accepted and honored tradition that goes back to ancient times.
I have a necklace I made myself with my dog's claw embedded in resin. I'd definitely wear mourning jewelry...
Mortician woman has the best sense of humor online.
i would keep a lock of my lovers hair. it would have more meaning behind it for me because i always braid his hair and style it and basically take care of it for him.
same, I thought I was weird lol
I asked my dad to give me some of his hair before he died from stage 4 cancer. After he passed, I had beads made for a bracelet that contained his hair and another bead that contained the dried flowers from the day of his burial.
I wear a necklace filled with my grandmothers ashes everyday, it calms me down a lot. I wore it during my first ever job interview, got the job btw, and I don't think I would've been able to do it without her with me. It feels like she's there with me again when I'm wearing it. I've met a lot of people that think it's gross or creepy but it's all I have left of her, we didn't have a great relationship until the couple months leading up to her death. She passed when I was 12 and through out my childhood I had that attitude where you don't want anything to do with your relatives, it got worse when my nana got diagnosed with alzheimers and phone calls became really difficult because it was the same conversation everyday so I just stopped calling. She died with me holding her hand and she couldn't talk, couldn't eat, couldn't drink, she spent her last days screaming from pain that even morphine couldn't help and those painful memories are all I have left aside from my necklace, and I don't wanna remember her like that. I wouldn't wanna be remembered for my screaming and helplessness. No one really seems to understand that though. The necklace means so much to me and nothing will ever make me regret getting it no matter how much others don't seem to understand why I keep it.
My beloved son died at the age of 4 from cancer. And this woman is exactly who I want to help immortalize the little things that I have left of him. Thank you so much for all of your informative and hilarious videos. I'm madly in love with your channel! Thanks again!
Sammy M.
6-99/8-03
Mommy loves you
i want to be a hair dresser so i already do cut hair and love it! so i would 100% wear a loved ones hair but not my moms she is super against that
but i did see a stand at this weird thing going on by my library and this lady would use horse hair to make stuff in picture frames to remember your horse and i think she might've done some humans that were her kids i think
Horse hair jewelry is really common for remembrance for a passed on horse. As for a lot of horse owners we don't get the same way to mourn them as majority of human deaths and other animal deaths, since they're such large animals conventional means are just difficult and expensive.
Its easier to just cut a lock of hair from their mane after they've been green dreamed (medical euthanasia) or shot and send it away to a professional than it is to have them cremated and kept with you or buried. Most horse remains go to abattoirs or veterinary clinics for cremation and in lot of circumstances aren't generally given back to you but disposed of. So its how we equestrians mourn our beloved horses. Be it a necklace, bracelet or even a frame that holds their halter (like a collar but for horses) and a picture of them or something else that holds meaning. If one of my horses were to pass on this would be my means of mourning, both are my world and if I had nothing left of them, I'd be pretty devastated. Having a keepsake like this would keep them close forever even though they're gone forever.
Now this is something I can get behind! Something appealing to the eyes yet doesn't just take up space on your mantel. Jewelry with hair, ashes, teeth, it all sounds fantastic.
Caitlin, your "voices" slay me especially when they pop up in unexpected places. Hahahaheehee
I have a locket with my dogs hair and a picture and wore it everyday for the first 3 to 4 months after his passing. I think it's lovely and feel like it helped me come to accept the loss I was feeling
Your necklace is just out of focus enough to look like a tattoo
No hate, it looks cool
lol at first i thought it was one
I make mourning jewelry with hair and ashes and they always end up being my most cherished projects. I love connecting with people and being trusted to hear the stories of those they've lost and in turn create something so meaningful and cathartic for them. I love that it's coming back into style.
Hey, I just found your channel this morning and binge-watch all of your videos from 1 till this one and I have to say I enjoyed it greatly and you have even showed me some new things and got me thinking about all the options you never hear about when it comes to death as Death has always been fascinating to me. I am at the moment seeking a job in the funeral service living in northern Ireland I though the laws qualification and licencing requirements would be allot like the US but i found there to be none when it comes to the qualification or licencing they don't even have a collage or school it seems that its is done "in-house" training in the family business's. I just found it interesting could be a good idea for a video on how places around the world get qualified to deal with this sort of service. once again thank you very much for your videos.
As a jeweller I love this. It really brings the closeness between the symbolic nature of jewellery and the loved one whom either commissioned it for you or you commissioned it in mind of. I'd be stoked to make this kind of jewellery!
This is really fascinating.
I would absolutely wear mourning jewelry..such a personal, beautiful practice.
You should make video of a tour around the funeral home you work at that would be cool!
haven't slept in two days because I've been watching you non stop
I totally encourage having a variety of healthy methods to mourn like these, and a black wreath on the front door.
I was a cancer survivor..when my hair fell of..i gathered it and put it nicely in a box..everynow and then when i look at the box..i feel so proud for finishing the painful chemo
I saved a bit of my father's hair! There was no...particular reason for doing this other than, why not? It helped me feel a tiny bit connected to someone I couldn't physically see and touch anymore. So I totally understand the hair thing.
Hair, teeth, ashes, carved bone fragments.... If I could get my hands on my deceased husband's tattoo, I'd find a way to utilize that for something, maybe an awesome lining for one of my corsets so he'd always be close to his favorite portion of my anatomy.... My HEART, you pervs! What did you think I was talking about?!?! His tattoo is a perfect Metallica star in red and black. Tanned properly, I hear that human skin is one of the most soft and resilient leathers EVER! I hope someone immortalizes my ink in this way because I designed all four of them!
Funny story when I lost my first tooth I made my mom glue it into a locket. She had told me I could put it under my pillow and the tooth fairy would bring me money and I simply looked up at her and said, "I'll loose more teeth. I want to keep it."
My grandmother had a mourning wreath that began as a brooch. When a relative died they added their hair to the jewelry. When it became too large it was then used as wreath hung on the door for a year after a loved one died
Tell your jeweler friend Angela not to let her kids see this video XD
The toothfairy shall live on XD
The little one still believes, but my 11 year old is wise now (and probably ready for braces soon). :)
I have a lock of hair from my grandmother and each of my cats and dogs that have passed away. Can’t help myself, it’s nice to have a part of the ones I love.
The Clarke Museum in Eureka, California has had an interesting display of woven hair and mourning tokens in years gone by. Is the reason my personal directives require that my hair and gold crowns be removed before cremation. My hair has been waist length for years...
My daughter is aware of this and will receive them. The hair is intended to make a wig or a hair piece and the gold crowns turned into rings.
I still have the baby teeth of both children, intending to have them strung as a necklace. They have become mixed and I can't tell one child's from another.
My mom passed away on June 13th. Her funeral will be in August. I have been watching Ask a Mortician for a few years now and I am so grateful for this episode. I remembered watching Caitlin's interview with Angela when it was uploaded. My mom and I loved shopping for jewelry and gemstones so I have very fond memories of looking at jewelry pieces and sorting through our jewelry boxes together. I plan to order a custom piece from Angela. I am so grateful to Caitlin for this channel. My mom didn't want to talk about her mortality and was in denial of the terminal illness that eventually took her. This channel helped me think about and process my mother's mortality and death even when she refused to talk about it.
I asked you about mourning jewellery on one of your older videos, so I'm going to pretend this was in answer to my question! ;)
I bought a vintage book on how to make the patterns for hair mourning jewellery, but I'm still looking for the "...doll-sized curling iron" that it says I need! No luck so far.
Could you do a no heat curl method maybe? Get the hair damp and wrap it around a small round object, like a smooth pencil or whatever diameter you need and then rubber band the ends to it until it dries? Just a thought, i hope it helps!
I am so glad there's still incredible people who do mourning jewelry!
Just found your channel!! love you!! 😄
I know this is comment is almost 3 years late, but I just wanted to say I absolutely love the idea of mourning jewelry. When my dad died in November of 2016(shortly before I discovered your channel), I was familiar with the Victorian era practice of keeping locks of hair of a loved one and turning it into jewelry, and I asked the mortician to cut some of my father's hair, so I could have it while at his viewing.
Needless to say I got a few strange looks from family members, but the dietician kindly obliged without batting an eyelash. I bought a small, silver necklace designed for holding ashes or hair that I wore daily for about a year, but it only held a few strands, so I still have a good bit that I keep tucked away.
Since then, and in a large part, thanks to your videos, I have grown exponentially in my quest for death positivity and acceptance, and have been considering making a few mementos for both myself and other family members using my father's hair... And my family has also become more accepting of my "death knowledge," so I have kind of become a bit of a consultant when questions regarding death arise.
So basically, thank you so much for helping both myself, and anyone else with questions about death learn!!!
My husbands ashes are in a gorgeous silver tube with a dragonfly on it. :)
I have a cremation pendant with my dad's ashes. I went with a minimalist piece so I can wear it whenever/wherever and you don't know what it is. It's a way to keep remember him and keep him with me when I need his memory the most.
I collect my cat's claws and whiskers, as they're shed. I did at one point send my best friend a heavy gold plated locket (with my hair and a couple of my cat's whiskers and maybe a claw or two in it) and rose gold chain, but I've sent weirder things. I once collected my menstrual blood and dried it in the sun, then crumbled it into a chunky soil-like substance and gifted it to him in a dime baggy. I think it was for Christmas. When I told him he was getting something personal, of me, he said, "You sending blood?" Knows me too well.
TheLady I was interested until you mention the menstrual blood
@TheLady OMG, I also collect my cats' whiskers and claws. I just tape 'em up on the side of a book shelf because there's just so many of them. I should TOTALLY have a keepsake made out of them.
I actually have a friend who uses her own menstrual blood as paint. She has some lovely, very Geogia O'Keefe inspired paintings from it. You should do that and send it to your friend!
Disgusting. There's nothing cute about giving your boyfriend or anyone else dried menstrual blood. Did you give him dehydrated shit, too? Have some class.
@Devon Trop Aw man, that's too artsy bourgeoisie even for my taste. Sherwin Williams is about my limit...
The imitation of the hairball was hilarious
First of all, I love your channel! I've been a subscriber for a long time, and your videos are always super interesting. I read some stuff about Post-Mortem-Photography today, and I really got into it. I immediately thought of your channel, and I looked up if you ever talked about this, but I couldn't find anything. Idk if I just couldn't find it. If not, I thought it would be an interesting little topic. Greetings from Germany! :)
I just got my cat's ashes in a memorial necklace made and it's beautiful and I love it. They are clearly ashes in a glass vile which my mom wasn't entirely a fan of, but I love it. I've always found mourning jewellery fascinating.
I'm the Queen so.... No!
I have a braids of my grandmother's hair and my aunt's hair from when they cut their in the 1930s as bobbed hair became fashionable. The most incredible displays of hair art can be seen in the Pioneer Museum in Salt Lake City, not only jewelry but elaborate centerpieces and flowers. To some it is macabre but I find having a reminder of departed loved ones very comforting.
When my husband dies one day, I would love to have a broach or pendant with his hair in it...but he's bald...so the hair will have to come from his back. lol
Some other options I've heard about were dirt from the grave site, and crushed dried flowers from the funeral. So try that 🤔
One can even somehow use a drop of blood and somehow put it into a tiny unbreakable container one can wear on a necklace.
When I viewed my Gram's (unembaled) body the day after she passed, the ony thing I could think to do was touch her hair. During the height of Covid, she couldn't go get her hair set like she'd done every week for decades. She was 99 & still sharp as anything I miss her every day & wish I'd taken a snippet of her beautiful, soft white hair.
A friend of mine was a tailoring apprentice and when his mentor passed away; he got a memorial tattoo and had some of the cremated remains mixed in with the ink and incorporated into the piece. Seemed to heal quite well.
Do you have thoughts about cremated remains being used in tattooing? Perhaps an episode on memorial tattooing?
Valkyrie Jacobson-Strand I have totally heard of this! And the most common issue I've seen people have is the sanitary issue, but aren't cremated remains usually fairly sterile for the lack of a better word....
I just ran into this video. I lost my husband suddenly on Sept 5, 2020. I am currently wearing a pendant with some of his cremains in it. I understand why mourning jewelry was/is a thing. It brings comfort to know that a part of that person is with you at all times. The rest of his cremains will be mixed with an eco-friendly concrete and made into an artificial reef (he was an avid scuba diver). Thank you for sharing this history and the meaning behind such an interesting practice.
the tooth ring is the most Victorian thing i saw in this video...all of the jewelry was beautiful, of course, but that ring was THE SHIT!
I have my great-grandmother's "mourning watch fob". It was made int he style of mourning jewelry out of her hair, but she was not dead at the time. I do not know if she made it herself or had it made for my great-grandfather. It was made pre WW I.
This may be weird but If I ever married, I would actually want me and fiancée's wisdom teeth for wedding jewelry. Instead of a useless diamond ring, we'd find some crafter to artistically fuse together our teeth and turn it into a decorative gem for two piercings and then put the piercings somewhere on our bodies where when we express intimacy our rings touch (maybe our lips/chins perhaps? When we kiss? Who knows). That way, the jewelry's gems have actual meaning, we will always be apart of each other, annnnnd I won't ever have to lose my wedding "ring".
Ever since watching this video it's been a weird desire of mine xD. Have no idea how to present this idea to a actual boyfriend. But maybe he'll be just as weird as I am and will find this such a cool idea. :P
That's sweet of you. I love that idea
I think it's an extraordinary idea.
You will find your soul mate when you least expect it. When you do, that person will love this idea because they will love you. . .
Unconditionally!❤
I love mourning jewelry. It can be so intricate and beautiful, not to mention personal. You literally have a part of your deceased loved one with you all the time. I've been collecting hair from loved ones and pets for a long time and intend to be buried with them. I've also been thinking about all of the long hair that I shed all over the house. I know how to crochet and am pretty artsy, so I may start collecting my hair in jar so that I can make my own hair jewelry.
I was going to make one of these with my boyfriends hair(even thou he is still alive) I know I am weird.
I recently stumbled onto your channel from viewing post mortem photos from years ago and I love your videos!
What to do with cremains. A woman whose very lazy husband died, received his ashes back from the crematorium. After the next big snowstorm, she scattered his ashes over the driveway, saying, "At last, you lazy loafer, you'll do some work!"
I loved the Angela lady!
I have 2 pieces made by Angela - a ring with my baby son's hair (he was stillborn) and a pendant with my kitty Sally's whiskers. I love them - very special pieces.
Loved this! My wife has a huge collection of mourning jewelry, pictures, all kinds of items. She has a viewing of all her items at a civil war mansion during October. She had no idea there were videos on RUclips about this.
My cat has many long years ahead of him, but he is like a child to me. When he passes, I'll make his cute little fangs into earrings
I love the new way of using cremated remains to make lab-grown diamonds.
Love that it’s coming back.