Jane's Story: A memorial ring for her dog, Bill

A few months ago, we made a very special memorial ring to remember a dear dog named Bill. From the moment Jane reached out to us, we knew this was an especially significant commission; Jane has kindly shared her and Bill's story, and we'll warn you that it may bring a tear or two to your eye - it certainly has ours.
It's quite amazing making jewellery that holds such sentiment and meaning, learning that the pieces we make can bring such consolation to people is even more so. Thank you, Jane, for entrusting us to make such a precious piece.

 

"I wanted to commission a sandcast ring to commemorate the loss of my dog, Bill.

I got Bill twelve years ago, as a nine-week-old pointer puppy. I’d never had my own dog before and to be honest I don’t think I was entirely prepared for what I was taking on in a notoriously tricky to train, high energy, stubborn breed that I had no experience with whatsoever. He was chaotic, destructive, inexhaustible and when compared to the amount of time and money put into it, really quite untrainable.

It took a long time to realise that what he actually was, was a direct reflection of the life I’d brought him into. I was in a bad place mentally, in a relationship that was draining everything out of me with a partner who wasn’t stable and working a job that I absolutely hated. That realisation came when Bill was about a year old and from then on, I set about fixing it for him: he deserved better. I realised he couldn’t be all he could be if I wasn’t all I could be. The relationship ended and Bill and I moved back home; I found my dream job, I made friends, and the entire time he was there with me. I wouldn’t have befriended people without him, I wouldn’t even have left the house if I didn’t know I had to take him out. 

For twelve years he was my best friend, my compass and my motivation. I got help for my mental health, put the time and effort into bettering myself for the sake of both of us and let him inspire me to live the kind of life he’d be proud of. He’s the reason I’m here and the reason I’m glad I exist.

 

I’ve followed Justin Duance on social media for a very long time, I was always fascinated by the idea of the sandcast rings and how unique they are. A few years ago, Bill had a massive health scare, and we almost lost him at the age of nine. That was when the thought of losing him really hit me and I realised I had no clue what I would do in terms of memorialising him.

About six months later when he was well again, we took him to the beach. It was his favourite place, and that was when I had the realisation that I could get one of those sandcast rings I loved to remember him when his time eventually comes.

I wasn’t actually aware that I could have some of his ashes mixed in with the sand during the casting process, but I’d been looking at other memorial/ashes jewellery and decided to ask if it’s something that could be done because an off the shelf ‘pet ashes ring’ definitely wasn’t something I wanted - Bill was very unique and he deserved to have something equally unique.

 

I wanted everything about the ring to be Bill, so that when I look at it, it sort of feels like he’s there. He was a really beautiful brown but when the sun caught his hair he would look almost coppery in colour so the rose gold was the best choice for metal. I’d chosen to go with gemstones in colours that made me think of him; brown because he was brown and I’ll always associate the colour with warmth because of him, pink because on our road to being better we would regularly walk for hours as the sun went down and the sky turned pink. Orange because of his orange eyes, but also because he had a real love for the colour - all the toys that were his favourites happened to be orange. But mostly there was significance in a poem called ‘The Orange’ by Wendy Cope. He was my orange. Every snippet of clarity I had was with him and he showed me how to be happy. Incidentally the rest of his ashes live in a massive marmalade jar - fitting for such an orange dog.

His ashes were mixed with sand from Redcar beach, our local beach where Bill spent many hours living his absolute best life. We had him euthanised on a Friday and the weekend before we took him for his last beach trip. He loved it despite not being anywhere near as mobile as he was last time he went. Before leaving, we gathered the sand that formed his last ever beach paw print, and that was sent down to Cornwall with him to make the ring. It felt fitting that something symbolising the way he lived his life and the special impact he had on mine would forever be cast in a ring to remember him.

I was pretty daunted by making the initial contact with Justin Duance Jewellery and sending the first email, but from there onwards it was a really beautiful journey. It was all done over email and every single person I spoke to was so caring and took such pride in what they were doing. Knowing that part of Bill was on his way to Cornwall was a bit frightening but knowing who would be looking after him through his last adventure was incredibly comforting and I’m very grateful that the commission was so easy but also so very human. I don’t think I could face sending him off to a faceless place, but knowing he’d be welcomed and cared for when he arrived was lovely. It may just be a small bit of ash and some sand, but the heartache behind it and the care bestowed upon it was as equal in every way to all I could have hoped for.

I love everything about my ring; it’s the most perfect thing to represent Bill. I love how when it arrived, I actually felt I had him back. One thing that really stands out to me is the star formation around one of the gems - I have no idea if that’s what normally happens or if it is an intentional feature, but one of the orange sapphires is set within a perfect six-pointed star. I love it so much!

I rarely take my ring off. Going for a walk is still taking Bill for a walk now. He’s been back to the beach; he’s been on holiday. He’s with me like he always was and there’s a massive comfort in knowing he’s there - particularly when I don’t feel comfortable, or I’m having a bad day, I can look at my ring and know that I can do it because he showed me how to."

 

If Jane's story has inspired you to have a piece of memorial jewellery made, please get in touch. We can mix ashes and beach sand together to make any of our sandcast pieces - as well as adding gemstones and engravings to further personalise your memorial jewellery.