CUSTOM JEWELLERY
At Bushprints we will be happy to quote you for a custom jewellery design. To date we have made personal pet's paws from a client's photograph, extra large or specially shaped pieces, and one-off footprints of specified animals not included in the current range. Contact us and let you know what you're interested in, and we'll get right back to you with a quote. Many one-off requests have eventually lead to additions to our range!
Long-Necked Turtle bathplug
Long necked turtles thrive where Jane lives. The hatchlings, the size of 50c pieces, are a feature of the pathway near the lake by her house. I wanted to make her a glamorous piece of jewellery for her birthday ... she chose a bathplug.
Komodo Dragon footprint pendant
An interesting recent request was for a pendant of a Komodo Dragon's footprint. My research showed a rather fleshy footpad with numerous ‘rings ‘ close to the powerful claws. Hollie supplied a print of her resident Komodo dragon, and these together with other photos, gave me enough to draw the footprint. The design was glued onto a silver plate and cut out with a jeweller's saw.
A Cape Porcupine called Oliver
Oliver's carer sent me a photograph of his foot and an image of his footprint track. It was a pleasure to make this pendant.
Tasmanian Devil Ring
This ring request from the UK was for Tasmanian devil footprints tracking around a ring. So the footprints had to alternate left and right.
The real challenge was enamelling the tiny claws!
I also had to make sure the ring size was perfect - any upsize could elongate the prints.
Bettong Necklace
A Bettong is a very tiny Macropod (literally big foot - the Kangaroo family). Despite their small size they have long hind feet and the print is very similar in shape to most kangaroos, wallabies, and their relatives. This request was from a person who works with these animals and so I tried to diffentiate the footprint from the onesMacropods already featured by Bushprints.
African Elephant Charm
One lover of wildlife animals recently travelled to Africa, saw the African elephant in it's natural enviroment and commisioned a charm to commemorate the experience. She wanted to include the trunk, specifically the 'fingers' at the end of the trunk - projecting out a bit, as well as the footprint.
We start by determining her vision - the trunk, coiled around a footprint, with the tip of the trunk displaying the 'fingers'.
African elephants have two 'fingers' at the tip of their trunk that allow for fine dexterity, fine enough to pick up a single blade of grass.
Turtle Track Ring
This animal-themed jewellery request was from a wildlife enthusiast who wanted the track of the Green Turtle running around a ring band. I loved the idea, and the piece worked well (although with a lot of drilling and fine piercing!) Here are a few images showing the process and the finished piece.
Rhino Footprint
This custom rhino print is definitely on the list for me to add permanently to the collection! Requested by an animal lover with a special interest in African wildlife.
finished piece included in a bracelet
rhino track in Africa
a magnificent animal!
the first rough cut out
sketching ideas for the piece
these are big feet! the white rhino feet are larger than the black rhino
Ring of four Australian animal footprints for a wildlife lover
This ring request was for 4 Australian animal footprints to be displayed on a simple band ring, with the prints recessed and enamelled in black.
First I needed the ring size so I could space and size the footprints appropriately. I drew these on a flat piece of paper that would be the size of the ring once it was rounded.
In order to recess the prints, I needed to have an inner and an outer ring. Then I had to cut the shapes onto the outer ring, using my hand-drawn paper template. I could not make a flat band as the footprints would have become distorted once the ring was curved into shape.
Next step, fitting in the inner ring and soldering both rings together.
Finally, polishing the ring and enamelling the recessed footprints.
The animal prints included the wombat, koala, kangaroo and platypus.
Antarctica - Whale Tail Memento
Stage 1: The design phase
This charm was requested by a recent traveller to Antarctica to commemorate seeing "the Blue, Orca, Fin, Sperm and Humpback whales….It was unbelievable".
I needed to incorporate Antarctica and a whale fluke. The map of Antarctica is quite a tricky shape, so I decided to surround it in a strong circle.
Design A was chosen by the client
Playing with designs
Design B
Design C
Stage 2: The manufacture
Cutting out Antarctica - I wanted to make it thick enough to show the ice shelves
Forming the 3-D whale fluke
Putting it altogether
The finished piece
King Penguin commission
King Penguins are well known for incubating their eggs on top of their feet, so I wanted to incorporate an egg shape into the foot print design while emphasising the foot's elongated shape
Koala tie clip and cufflinks
The koala tie pin was designed by a woman for her fiancee and gifted along with the cufflinks as an engagement memento. The couple are both from Austria, have visited Australia and are huge koala supporters.
"Playing Card" design of much beloved pets
This request was for a memento of two pets - a cat and a dog.
Unlike cats, dogs do not have retractable claws.
So the dog's paw is in the bottom half of the piece shows the claws clearly visible, while the cat's claws are retracted. As per the drawing, the bottom segment was matted while the top was polished to a shine to differentiate the two parts of the piece.
I started off by playing on the idea of dog-tags which evolved into the playing card idea.
Spotted Tail Quoll
The Spotted Tail Quoll was added to our range thanks to requests from women working in various animal sanctuaries which are involved in the conservation of these lovely creatures.