Mourning and Memorial Jewelry and Methods of Manufacture

Abstract

Mourning and memorial jewelry items and methods for manufacturing the same are described. The methods utilize metal implant materials from deceased individuals to create items of jewelry for retention and use by survivors. The overall method includes a planning process that discerns the type of metal implants available and identifies the type of jewelry desired. The planning process establishes a preferred method for manufacture, based on the size and shape of the available implant objects, as well as the desired item of jewelry. The jewelry items are either unitary pieces of jewelry or jewelry “stones”. The preferred method for transforming the implant object into the item of jewelry will involve machining, annealing or forging, and/or melting and casting. The preferred method is implemented and results in either the finished item of jewelry or a metallic “stone” that may be set into a jewelry setting.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method for creating an item of mourning/memorial jewelry, comprising the steps of:
 determining the characteristics of available implant materials from a deceased individual;   identifying a range of jewelry types and sizes capable of being produced from the available implant materials;   selecting a unitary piece of jewelry type and size to be created from the range of jewelry types and sizes capable of being produced;   selecting one or more implant material objects from which to produce the item of mourning/memorial jewelry;   selecting a preferred manufacturing process based on selected jewelry type and size, and upon a metal composition of the available implant materials, the preferred manufacturing process selected from a groups consisting of:
 a machining process; 
 an annealing/forging process; and 
 a melting/casting process; 
   carrying out the selected preferred manufacturing process using the selected one or more implant material objects;   finishing the mourning/memorial item of jewelry for use.