[Katherine Swift]

This question comes through email by Nicole:

Hi I am new to resins so any and all info would be great! But In my free time Im a doula and a placenta encapsulator….. Yes, its weird but lots of people find great benefits 😉 anyway I saw recently another doula was creating keepsake jewelry with the dried placenta(it is dried into a fine powder) it looked like she shaped the powder into a mold like a heart or butterfly, then encased that in a clear resin…. I have a few clients who may be interested in this. So what could I shape the powder with first that wouldnt cause it to clump? And then what would I put it in to put into a pendant? And I also saw she was encasing breastmilk in shape of a heart? I assumed freezing it first in a mild then sealing in a glue? And then putting into the resin? I know this may sound out there but I figure you could help better with your knowledge of your product and how it dries and cures….. I asked her to teach me and she says its a secret….
Im in no competition with her since she lives on other side of the world 🙂 and I love learning new things so any info on what you have that will work with one or both of those kind of projects. I came across your blog it has some great stuff I hope to read more of it as I start using these products thanks in advance! And if you ever send out small samples so I can make sure it will work with my material that Im encasing would be very helpful 🙂

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Nicole,

The first thing youre going to have to do is dry your biological specimens.  I dont necessarily have any personal experience with drying either one of these items, but I can tell you that they need to be very dry.  You can see what I did for drying sand in this tutorial:  https://resinobsession.com/Resin-Tutorials/248/Seashell-resin-jewelry-and-magnets.html

Once your powder is dry, it should be fine to encase in resin.  It may darken once it comes in contact with the resin.  If you dont mind that, you can cast a small form with the resin and powder, then recast that into a larger resin mold.

If you want to form the powder without mixing it into the resin, I would suggest using a clear drying glue and the powder together.  Once it is dry, then coat it with a layer of our resin gloss sealer spray.  https://resinobsession.com/ItemPage/5510/CastinCraft-Gloss-Resin-Sealer-Spray-760-UPS-Ground-Shipping.html  Then place it into your resin castings.

[alison]

 I saw someone had put breast milk into a vial which was then encased in resin. This was done in liquid form. Im not really sure how long it will stay good for?? 

[Rhonda]

Encasing the milk in a tube, and then in resin….  Well….

You can watch the milk curdle and separate, maybe mold. 

Better to take a few drops and let it dry, scrape it up and pulverize it, then take the powder and mix it with the clear drying glue, let dry and encase in resin.  It Is easier if you have a vacuum drying machine or a dehumidifying machine for drying fruit, then you can do a larger amount, if needed, and its faster. Also, just letting milk dry on its own may not get all the liquid out of it and milk has fats which dont evaporate. If not thoroughly mixed with the glue, dried and sprayed with the sealer and thoroughly dried, the resin may not set.

[laura]

I think I have figured this out!

It works much better for me to mix the liquid milk with modpodge or white glue and then dry that together. It is not only easier, but has a much better texture and is whiter than drying the milk first. I dried a small amount on a plastic lid, then tore off a piece and formed it by hand (the texture is similar to plastic wrap) into a loose circle. This was my inclusion for a big-hole bead. It turned out amazing!

I think you could cast this milk/glue mixture into a tiny mold, as long as you were willing to do it in several layers. Or you can form it by hand. The dried mix is quite malleable. You cold also fold many layers together and then cut out a shape.

Drying first and then mixing with glue does work, but it was much harder for me to work with and had more of a gritty rather than liquid look. Milk definitely needs to be sealed. It turned dark orange in maybe a week.

Placenta seems to work fine with no sealer. Mine did sink. I’m not sure if it always sinks or if it depends on how fine it was ground.

[amanda]

How do you seal the milk and what do you seal it with? Im almost done my breastfeeding journy and would like to make a keepsake for my girls shadow boxes.

[Katherine Swift]

I have no personal experience sealing breast milk for inclusion in resin. Laura in a post above shared how she has had her best results.

[Jessica]

What is the breast milk to mod podge ratio? How long did you let it sit until completely solid?

[Faith]

Hi, I was reading this thread but I’ve got a question. What do you mean by sealing the milk? How to seal it?

[Katherine Swift]

The idea of sealing the milk is so that it won’t look like a liquid when mixed with the resin.

[Meagan]

How do you seal it though? Does mixing it with glue seal it or is there something else you do to it?

[Katherine Swift]

I have no personal experience sealing breast milk for inclusion in resin. Laura in a post above shared how she has had her best results.

[Laura]

Hello, I too would like to know how to seal the milk. Laura’s description was great but she doesn’t mention how she seals the milk. I wonder if it’s a spray sealer? Also laura did you burn off your milk before working with it? I’ve seen people mentioning this too.
Thank you. I’m called Laura too 🙂

[Nym Pseudo]

I found a great little guide over at this address: https://boobshalffull.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/milk-and-casting-resin-tutorial/

My wife is interested in it, so I’m going to try to make this happen for her 🙂

[laura]

This is Laura from above. Apparently, I wasn’t clear enough.

This is my technique for a swirl effect with breast milk.
1. Mix a small amount of milk with a small amount of mod podge or white glue. Sorry, I don’t have any ratios, I just mixed some of each.
2. Spread in a thin layer on a plastic lid (easy to peel off this). You can put it in a dehydrator on a low temp if you have one, but a thin layer dries pretty quickly either way.
3. Paint a coat of glue or mod podge over the dried milk/glue combo for a better seal. Then peel off the lid and coat the back side as well. If you will be cutting it into smaller pieces it wouldn’t hurt of seal the edges as well. I have never tried a spray sealer, but it would probably be easier!
4. Your inclusion is ready!

I put strips into a charm bead mold and am very happy with the results.

By sealing, I mean to create a barrier between the milk and the resin, as it turns dark orange within a couple of weeks when they touch each other. In my first post, the sealing and drying were all one step. After several months, my previous bead had some slight yellowing. Since the milk I “preserved” at the same time and the other resin I poured at the same time did not discolor, I’m guessing it’s a chemical reaction between the milk and the resin. So for these instructions, I added an additional seal coat.

I don’t know how to do all the other effects. All I have so far is the swirl. It is possible to dry the milk first, grind it into a powder, mix it with glue, and put it in a tiny mold, but it hasn’t worked especially well for me. Remember, you can’t mix the powder directly with resin because of the color change.

I think the key might be some chemical or maybe a glue, that acts as a catalyst to make the milk something that can be cast and then coated in resin. I recently saw a video where the maker said she added this mystery ingredient to the milk and let it sit in the fridge for a week, and then it was ready. Another said the milk was chemically hardened. I don’t know enough chemistry to figure out what the secret is. I have one technique that works, so I guess I’ll stick with it!

[Beanie]

Hey Laura, How is your modpodge/breastmilk/resin looking now a year on? Has it discoloured in any way? Is there any way we could see photos please? Do you have any updated technics.? Really interested to hear! Thank you.

[Katherine Swift]

Thanks so much for the update Laura. It’s a topic I have no experience with. Your comments are very helpful!

[Nicole]

Hi! I saw this post and just wanted to share my experience, I decided (after seeing several VERY expensive options to send my breast milk out to get it encapsulated in resin) to try my hand at it. And I have one successful piece still haha (my children are one and two so the piece is about 2 years old now) the main thing is to properly prepare the milk BEFORE trying to encapsulate it in resin because unfortunately it turns brown over time. I used 2 different molds and I boiled the milk before pouting it into the first, smaller, heart mold.I tried mixing it with resin before pouring it in and I tried putting down a layer of resin, then milk then resin…. the latter idea did not work for me. Mixing the milk with resin is what turned out favorable results! I then took my smaller heart piece and placed it into a square mold, but only filled the square mold with enough colored resin to cover barely 1/2 of the heart/breast milk piece. So it was kind of a 3d piece…. if that makes any sense! I still cherish that piece to this day as a reminder of my kiddos as young babies 🙂 I hope you find something that works for you!

[Bethie]

So I tried this out on Saturday night. I mixed the resin and boiled breast milk together and poured into the mold. Its been curing for 36 hours now and its still sticky. Did I do something wrong? This is my first time I’ve ever used resin.

[Katherine Swift]

Resin hates moisture. It is probably the extra moisture from the milk. That’s why I suggest trying to use dried breast milk.

[Bethie]

Makes sense. I think I’m going to throw some in the dehydrator and go from there.

[Laura]

This is so interesting! I’m going to give it a go. It’s such a shame so many people aren’t keen to share their secrets.

(Yet another Laura ; )

[Nikki]

Lovely to hear of you all experimenting. I’m afraid there’s no global secret, each artist has their own method. Once you have some pieces that have been white for a few months you could start to make them for friends and family but bear in mind that a piece can yellow slowly over the course of a year so it’s not a good idea to sell them just in case. You can have a lot of fun making breastmilk jewellery but a lot of heartache too.

As for our community sharing the secret, I’m afraid we have all worked so hard that we can’t just give away a process that takes years to refine. Lots of us act as mentors and help each other along individually though. With a million babies born every day and only beginning to scratch the surface of the artistic possibilities here it’s not about competition, it’s about pride in our own work.

[Melissa]

Nikki,
I’ve been trying to make breast milk jewelry as well but I am so close I refuse to give up.
Are you willing to privately email me and be my mentor? <3 I would greatly appreciate any hints or tips you are willing to give me to get this to work!
Melissa

[Paula McNorton]

Hi Nikki, if your willing to mentor or if anyone is willing to mentor me I would be so very grateful….

[Samantha]

Hi Nikki,

I really appreciate your response on this thread. I have been wanting for the past year to make myself some breastmilk jewelry but since I have never even made any jewelry before I at a lose as to where to even begin. I understand that it can take a very long time to perfect this process but do you have any tips on how to get started/ literature to read that can be helpful to someone just starting out making jewelry ?

[Sandhya]

Hi Nikki,
I would like to make BM jewellery with my own breastmilk. I have tried few process over time my jewellery is changing its color. Kindly mentor me. Thanks in advance!

[Kys]

What a delightful thread to come across in my googling, I’m wanting to make a breastfeeding momento for my 3yo who is stubborn to wean. I’ve never even worked with resin before so feel totally blind going into this so if anyone is willing to share any more hints or tips even privately i would be so blessed.

[Kate]

I too am really keen to experiment making my own. I honestly find it a little disheartening those who have found a method are so unwilling to share.

Both of my babies have been heavily supplemented by donors. I’m hoping to make them a piece of jewelry as a thank you for nourishing my babies. While it would be great to be able to afford to buy all 14 of them pieces, I need to make my own for costs sake, in additon to wanting to give back something I made as they have given me something of theirs so precious.

If anyone figured out a process that doesn’t lead to yellowing I would love some help.
Thank you

[Kate]

A friend recently asked it I could do this for her. I haven’t tried yet but I’m thinking of either making the milk into a plastic (casein) and then putting it into resin or dehydrating the milk before reconstituting it with alcohol. Tiny amounts of alcohol inks work with Elichem Total Cast (which I think it the best on the market) so in theory it should work.
Link to making milk into plastic can be found on Google (we did it at school) or there is one here:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-milk-plastic/
Not sure if either will work but it’s worth a shot.
Kate xx

[Marissa]

Hello-

I am freaking out a little bit because I just bought mod podge (as suggested by the guy at Michael’s) to preserve my placenta from my baby boy that I just lost a couple weeks ago. I have one bezel that is open but the other with my favorite piece in it is enclosed and I am worried that it will mess up. If anyone knows how this stuff works, PLEASE HELP <3

[Katherine Swift]

Have you dried the placenta first? The ModPodge will make a good seal, but only if it is dried first.

[April]

You will need to slice and dehydrate the placenta first. It will need to be dehyrated at standard 160°F for about 12-18 hrs. You can then snap, break, or grind into flakes.

[Minette]

Hi. I’ve seen a lot of youtube videos about casting breast milk. Just I want to know, what’s the effect in the finished product if I’ll cast the resin with my liquid form breast milk?

[Katherine Swift]

Liquid breast milk will spoil in resin. You will need to dry it first.

[Greg]

I’m hearing that you need to boil the milk first so the pc will not turn bad I’m going to try it today both methods dried milk into powder then mix with resin/hardner thats from Amazon brand is easycast clear casting epoxy I will also try the boiled milk as well to see what works best

[Katherine Swift]

Please share how it works out for you!

[Laura]

Check out the Tree of Opals blog. Nic has been generously sharing her secrets.

[Bernadett]

Not too sure about the Tree of Opals tutorial. Optiphen Plus cannot be the right preservative for milk… Research, before buying. Also, the tutorial doesn’t get into detail on how to get rid of the water content… Freeze drying is not easy at home, but a food dehydrator will produce a very yellow or even brown powder… An overhood could be great, but not all mums have access to a proper lab…

[Melissa Cossette]

Hi everyone just came across this thread ( sorry i am french trying my best here)
I also would live to make resin breast milk jewellery . Here is a story that migjt (or not) help out .
When my baby was only a few weeks old i had to manually get some milk out of my breast in the middle of the night. I used a glass cup and poured some milk into it and forgot it there for quite some time ( days and days..you know, new baby)
Anyhow few weeks later i take the cup and the milk was all dry and shinny in there and on the sides of the cup . I think i could of just scratch that and use that powder in resin or sealed with mod podge . Worth the try i guess !

[preety maggo]

hi, iam from india and i wanted to start a business in breast milk jewellery but i am clueless about how can i start and where to start. can any one help me in details with step by step instructions here. plz help me grow

[Natalie]

I’ve been trying to do this with breast milk for the past few months, all pieces are turning out great by dehydrating the milk then powdering before mixing with resin. However I’m struggling with it being tacky to touch and not being shiny. Do I need to dehydrate further to you think? Also sometimes the milk powder doesn’t mix completely and then sits at the bottom of the mold… any tips would be greatly appreciated

[K]

So from what I’m gathering, the best method seems to be drying the milk in one form or another, then sealing the powder in glue, then preserving the dried glue/milk combo in resin. Is this right? Also is it possible to use pearl powder that’s meant for baking in this mix?
Thanks 🙂

[Kat]

I’m somewhat experienced with resin and the milk +pva/midge podge sounds like the easiest,most viable option. You can mix water with pva so milk will be fine, and once it’s dried it can be coated in UV resin to seal it (if necessary) and then into normal epoxy. I’m just finishing weaning my youngest so I’m gonna give this a bash over the weekend. I’ll let you guys know how it goes.

[Michelle]

Holly of http://hollyday.co has a kit to make your own breastmilk jewelry. Perhaps using this kit would help in making your milk into resin items

[Shutch]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-dUFeEOD19Y

I know this is an old post but just in case people are still searching or wondering.

[kalai]

Hi Shutch

The video is no longer available. Could you please mention the procedure here?

[Mitzi]

I encapsulate placenta and also make keepsake jewelry with the placenta. I’ve been working on a method for months to make breast milk jewelry.
I am honestly beyond frustrated.
I thought freeze drying out would work but it’s still yellowing and I fear will eventually mold.
Each time I find someone to tutor me it talks through. I offer to pay them for the technique but it seems everyone is pretty tight lipped.
I may only be doing placenta jewelry since this effort is about tapped out.
🙁

[Chelsea Cameron]

Hi,

I think I have figured out how to make breastmilk jewelry with resin. After much trial and error, I have several pieces that are a year old and have not yellowed or discolored. I’m sharing this info for people who want to make for themselves not for a business.

First I take the liquid breastmilk and flash pasteurize it in a double boiler. Then I drip it onto wax paper and put it in the dehydrator for about 10 hours. My dehydrator does not have settings it’s just a plug in I think it’s around 150 degrees. I then scrape the flakes into a pestel and grind it up, if it is greasy from a high fat content sprinkle on arrowroot powder until it becomes more powdery, I was never able to get it to a complete powder, it was still a little greasy and had small clumps that I would just continue to work with a wooden stir stick into smaller pieces. I would then mix a very small amount into the resin, like 1/64 of a tsp. I would then add 1/32 tsp of mother of pearl powder to give it a shimmer. I think all breastmilk jewelry even the very expensive professional ones contain only very small amounts of breastmilk but if all that matters to you is that your piece contain some of your breastmilk then this method should work for you. If your resin is scotch tape sticky after 72 hours of curing use a clear high gloss acrylic to seal the top. I don’t know how to post a picture directly so I will post a link to my Facebook account with pictures. https://m.facebook.com/chelsea.bailey.180?ref=bookmarks Not sure if this link will take you to my profile. I have a couple posts with pictures.

[Sarah m]

Hi! I am so happy I stumbled upon this! My best friend has asked me to make a keepsake for her by encasing her breast milk into resin. I read through all of these post and I’m extremely thankful! I do have a question about dehydrating the milk. It is possibly to do this without a dehydrator?
Again I can’t stress enough how thankful am for all this info!

[Ashley]

Do you use any sort of preservative chemical? How do you get it so nicely into jewelry such as the tree pendant. Would love to make myself a tree pendant for my second baby I am currently nursing.

[Chelsea Cameron]

Sarah- I do not know how to go about it without a dehydrator. You could try using your oven set at 100 degrees, checking it often so it doesn’t burn. When the drops are starting to lift and flake off the parchment paper it is done.

I should have also added that during the flash pasteurize once the ice bath is complete, use a pipette to gather milk around the fatty layer that has formed at the top. Then drip onto parchment paper to dehydrate. I have only need to use arrowroot powder one time when I had a sample with a very high fat content.

Ashley- I do not use any chemicals to preserve, once I have flashed pasteurize I use very clean handling of the milk before it is mixed into the resin. I know the breastmilk community will claim that my method will mold and not produce long lasting jewelry but the first necklace I made is almost a year and half old and shows no signs of molding or yellowing. All resin will eventually start to yellow over time.

I just used a small wooden stir stick and a wooden toothpick to drip the resin into the tree pendant cut outs – I’m not going to lie it is very tedious.

[Prasanna]

Hi Preety,
I would like to make one BM jewelry for myself. Pls advise me on the complete process. Your ideas will be highly appreciated.

[Victoria Coxwell]

Hello, My name is Tori. I was wondering where do you get the resin to do so. It has me so confused

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Tori, you can buy resin in our store: https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/resin/clear

[Kate b]

hi!
Does epoxy resin bond to itself to serve as a glue to attach to a metal ring? Looking to attach resin stone to a metal ring. Thanks!

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Kate,

Yes, it works well for this.

[Aillene]

Wow this thread has been very useful for years now ☺ I am glad that I was able to stumble upon this thread. I will definitely try the process that you’ll all suggested. I dont really mind if it turns yellow as it comes with its purity☺. Thanks again everyone

[cassie]

My husband is having an issue with using breast milk and a preservation powder he got off the internet. I’m not sure what type of resin and hardner he is using but he drys the milk and preservation powder then grinds it up in a mortar and pestle. He then mixes it with some glitter powder and the resin and hardner. The jewlery is coming out solid but soft enough it can bend. Could the fat content be part of the issue? Or that the milk isn’t dry enough? Also it doesn’t mix well like the glitter does and it looks like there are white granules mixed in. Can I use a mold if I were to mix milk and the mod podge?

[Naomi]

Hi, are your pieces still white after all this time?
No rotting, moulding or yellowing visible?

[Author]

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