Pretty paws!
California-based jeweler Kim Foskett casts pets’ paws in sterling silver to create personalized pendants.
Clients supply paw prints either with a clay mold kit Foskett sends to them or opt to digitally scan ink prints.
One of her clients keeps a charm bracelet, adding prints of each animal she rescues.
Foskett started making the charms because she wanted to preserve her own dog’s paw prints.
“Soon, everyone wanted one,” says the designer, who has one dog, three cats, a rabbit, chickens and three horses.
Paw print pieces, $50-$125 at lilybud.com
On the nose!
Kaleen Wolfe, a designer based in Pennsylvania, creates custom silver necklaces bearing the nose prints of cats and dogs. To make the pendants, she sends customers silicone molds and instructions to take a sniffly impression of their pets. Sometimes, if the impatient animal twists out of the mold, the owners choose to go with that slightly smudged semiprofile because it captures the pet’s personality. “They are a little mushed to one side, but they can be quite cute,’’ explains Wolfe, who crafts each one by hand and engraves a name on the back.
Nose print necklaces, $210 to $290 at uncommongoods.com
Hair style!
It’s a common practice among equestrians to save snippets of hair from horses they own. Florida artist Lisa Sheryle Phipps has taken it to a new level, braiding strands plucked from horses’ tails with suede, and fashioning them into colorful bracelets that secure with a magnetic clasp. “It’s very in vogue now to wear different pieces to reflect your animals,’’ says Phipps. “People wear multiple bracelets to show how many horses they have.’’
Custom horsehair bracelets, $90 to $120 at chicverte.com
Sweet tooth!
When a client’s border collie passed away, San Francisco jeweler Stacey Lorinczi had a vet pull the dog’s incisor so she could replicate it in rose gold. “The vet said ‘it was the strangest request I had ever gotten,’’’ recalls the jeweler. But it wasn’t too far-out for Lorinczi; she’s also immortalized cat’s claws in gold.
Tooth and claw necklaces, from $1,200 at lorinczi.com