How to Preserve Breastmilk for Jewelry

So you want to make your breastmilk into jewelry. You desire your breastmilk jewelry to be a keepsake you will keep forever or even sell to customers. It is possible to preserve your breastmilk and develop it into jewelry that is marketable to your fans and customers as a rare keepsake.

This post details how to preserve and prepare breastmilk for jewelry with a view to making you a master breastmilk crafter. Just be sure to follow the steps outlined closely and you won’t go wrong in the entire process.

how to preserve breastmilk for jewelry

How to Preserve Breastmilk for Jewelry

If you won’t be using freshly expressed breastmilk for jewelry making right away, then your best bet is to preserve it. And the best preservation method is refrigeration.

If you’re not exactly sure about when you will need the breastmilk, then keep it in the freezer. Frozen breastmilk can retain its natural state for 6 months to 1 year.

How to Preserve Breastmilk as Jewelry

If you would like to preserve your breastmilk in the form of your preferred jewelry, that’s quite possible. Read on to learn how to to do that.

Basic items needed for breastmilk jewelry-making

There are basic items you must get ready and handy to turn your breastmilk into jewelry. The following are some of the items:

  • Double boiler or stove
  • Parchment paper
  • Breastmilk preservation powder
  • Spatula or small spoon
  • Saucepan

You must get these items in place before you begin the preparation process for developing your breastmilk into usable or sellable jewelry. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty.

How to prepare your breastmilk for jewelry-making

Place some tiny amount of water in the saucepan and place it on the boiler, with medium heat. Once the water is heating up in the pan, draw up 5ml of your fresh breastmilk – you can use a plastic syringe to measure exactly 5ml of your substance since anything more or less may not preserve exactly the way it ought to – and you don’t want to spoil the process.

After you have drawn out 5ml of your breastmilk in the syringe, put it aside and wait for the water you have placed in your pan to boil. After you get the water boiling, inject the entire breastmilk measurement into the top pan. You must be aware that the milk will get hot after some minutes as soon as you begin to stir it. You will notice that the edges of the breastmilk in the hot pan begin to bubble and some form of milk film may appear.

The reason it is important to heat up the milk is to kill any bacteria and stabilize it enough to absorb the breastmilk preservation powder when it is added. You must be aware that the time it takes for different breastmilk to heat up differs – depending on whether it is watery or has high-fat content. After the milk is heated up and quite ready, tear and pour the entire packet of breastmilk preservation powder into it and begin to stir it immediately.

You can turn down the heat of your boiler once the powder is emptied into the hot breastmilk on the pan and you begin to stir. Be sure to scrape the edges and bottom of the pan to get the mixture well together as you continue stirring. As soon as you do this, you will observe a growing change in color in your breastmilk.

The amount of time it takes to see an observable color change depends on the uniqueness of the breastmilk – that of some people is water while that of others contain high-fat content – making it longer to heat up than the normal breastmilk.

Whatever the case, keep on stirring to thicken the mixture until it becomes almost like clay – until you achieve a porcelain clay texture. Sometimes, a particular breastmilk may result in a dough consistency that is almost chunky. Whatever solid-state you achieve is fine since this is almost the result of different breastmilk. Once you have a dough-like consistency or something like porcelain clay, you are good to go. Just put off the heat from under the saucepan.

Remember you have parchment paper, right? So spread your breastmilk dough as thinly as possible on the sheet and allow it to remain there for 24 hours. Ensure that you spread it to normal room temperature where it can be ventilated properly since the moisture in it needs to evaporate away.

How to grind your breastmilk dough

After allowing your breastmilk dough to dry for 18-24 hours, the next thing on the agenda is to grind it into powder. You need a mortar and pestle that are made of white stone or marble – using a metal or wood mortar and pestle may get the resultant powder colored, and that won’t be good for the ultimate jewelry.

Once your milk lump is fully dried, remove it from its parchment paper sheet and put it into the mortar for grinding. You may crush it with your fingers first to release any remaining moisture before beginning to grind. You may grind in any circular or digging motion to ensure that the substance is fully ground into powder. Once it is as smooth as powder, spread it out on a parchment sheet and allow it to air-dry for another 24-48 hours at normal room temperature.

After the stipulated hours, you can grind it once again for up to 30 minutes until it becomes smooth powder. When fully done, you are free to infuse it with resin to make the final keepsake opaque and less chunky. Now, pour the breastmilk powder into a container that is very airtight and wait for the next step.

Cast your breastmilk resin jewelry

Get your mold ready – and glove, eyewear as well as mask if you think you really need them – and then measure out resins into two equal measurements in two cups. A measurement of 2.5ml will be good for both cups.

Then go ahead to empty the resin in one cup into the other cup before mixing the resin; during the mixing process, you will see bubbles coming to the surface. When done mixing, leave the resin for 3 minutes so that the bubbles can escape fully.

The next step is the inclusion process. Whether inclusions, embellishments, or pigments, be sure to add only a tiny amount to the resin mixture each time and check if you will need to add more. With time, you will begin to observe the breastmilk powder melting into the resin after you blend it well with your spoon or spatula.

The next state is the casting – here, you pour the inclusion resin infusion into your molds gently – and you can fire up a lighter over the resin to remove any remaining bubbles. Leave the filled mold to cure by placing it in a secure place for 24 hours or more.

After this time, you can demold the resin infusion to obtain your jewelry which can be affixed with glue to make it easy to hold or wear. There you are with breastmilk preserved in jewelry.