So why would I start a memorial jewelry business? Especially when I didn’t even know how to make jewerly or what lampwork beads were? Well the main purpose of my first jewellery was definitely not decorative, it was to be comforted and to be able to keep my son with me, always! In 2007, Christmas day, I lost my oldest son in a ski accident. Tal Hofstra 1983-2007. He had planned to travel to South
America with his younger brother in 2008. His brother was still going on this trip and wanted to be able to take a little of Tal with him. Through a lot of ideas, trial and error, we came up with beads. I went and took a day course at A.R.T. glass studio in Edmonton and well….. That was it, I knew exactly how Tal would be traveling to South America that year. And so started my passion in Lampwork beads and helping families through one of the hardest things in life, “death”. Everyone’s memorial jewelry is very personal, it is a comfort to wear, and a tribute to whom it was made from. Wearing my first memorial bead I had made, I knew it would be comforting and now I find that it is so much more than that, they are calming, full inspiration and even motivation. The one thing that all the memorial beads have in common, whether they are made form a pet or a person, is love. I believe that the perfect gift has found me at the perfect time in my life, I feel very blessed to have this gift and to be able to share it with others. Memorial beads are handmade glass beads which contain ashes, sealed within the glass, it can also contain a tiny lock of hair or threads from a favorite piece of clothing. Beads can be made, so the ashes are visible or not. All my beads are handcrafted by myself and no two beads are identical.
