The bond between a mother and her child is the strongest and most sacred of all.
People have been known to capture their treasured memories in so many ways—from photographs to turning ashes of a loved one into diamonds, to snipping a lock of someone’s hair and wearing it in a locket around their neck.
A Chennai-based artist, Sangita Mehta, has been helping mothers turn their breast milk into pretty pieces of jewellery and keepsakes and you’ll be surprised at how appealing they look!
Sangita never thought to be a jewellery maker. She was working with an MNC in Chennai. She liked artwork so was making some keepsakes and gift items as a hobby.
Sangita was already doing 3D casting for people; She got the idea to make jewellery from Breastmilk from her US-based friend. "It's quite popular abroad but new in India," says Sangita.
After a year of research, It took her almost a year to find out the perfect formula for her task. Now she makes jewellery professionally. She makes keychains, cufflinks, fridge magnets and photo frames with breast milk.
Sangita requires about 10-15ml of breast milk for her work. Once the customer contacts her, she sends an inclusion set with detailed instructions. The customer then hand-expresses the milk and couriers it.
"I preserve it with food grade preservatives. Once it becomes semi-solid, I mould it and leave it to set for seven to 10 days at room temperature, and it becomes stone-like," says Sangita. It is then encased in glass and attached to metal jewellery.
Sangita says she would like to expand her work at the international level.
