Sending Inclusions Without A Kit such as breastmilk, cremation ashes, locks of hair and fur or umbilical cord reaching us safely is very important. If you’re near Newport, South Wales please get in touch to drop it off in person (by appointment only). All elements must be sent by Special Delivery for UK clients, or by a tracked service if you’re outside the UK. You MUST give us the tracking number so we can watch out for the kit and guarantee someone will be at the shop to receive it!

Unfortunately, we aren’t able to take any responsibility for the post, please see our Delivery Terms and Conditions for more information, so please bring your elements in person if you can’t bear it being lost. ALWAYS remember to put your own address on the back so if there are any issues with delivery it can be returned to you. Remember, don’t send it all in case it is lost, so you have more to post to us if need be!

Thanks
Nikki & The Tree of Opals Team

All orders include the cost of the sending kits, and the cost for sending without a kit is the same as waiting for a kit due to the extra admin time. Please make sure that all of your items are marked with your full order name and order number, and that you include a print-out with your order details. If you don’t have a printer, write the name of the items you’ve ordered, colours etc.

Don’t send it all in case it’s lost in the post or we need you to send more!

Please scroll to the bottom of the page for posting/return in person instructions. You can order directly through a funeral home or crematorium and they can make all the arrangements for you and send in your loved one’s hair or ashes.

Please note, you MUST send Special Delivery if you’re in the UK

Don’t send it all in case it’s lost in the post or we need you to send more!

Cremation Ashes Jewellery

adult and pet ashes

• Label all bags and pots with your full name and order number in Sharpie (click here)
• We promise to return any amount that is unused
• The best thing to use is a small sample pot like this (click)
• Chemists like Superdrug often sell travel kits with small 5ml plastic screw top pots which are ideal, also clean lip balm tins are great if you wash one first with washing up liquid (dish soap).
• Double bag in a good quality small plastic Ziploc style snack bags
• Quarter of a teaspoon/a large pinch is plenty for most pieces (half a teaspoon for a family order and we can always request more if necessary)
• Ashes from two or more people and pets can be combined in a pot or in two different pots (we don’t charge extra to use a little of both in one piece)
• Tip: Sit in the middle of a made bed so you can pick up any specks of ash that fall

Please do not order if you are unable to access your loved one’s ashes due to family wishes or have sealed containers/urns. We are unable to cancel an order because an urn is sealed shut so please check first. A crematorium or funeral home may be able to help you unseal an urn and take out the ashes needed and you may be able to order directly through them

baby ashes
If you are sending in your baby’s ashes we require even less, just a tiny pinch per piece, at most a quarter of a teaspoon. See our baby memorial jewellery page here for more info and a gallery, watch Meg’s video above and perhaps ask a friend to be with you.

Don’t send it all in case it’s lost in the post or we need you to send more!

Breastmilk

Sending Inclusions Without A Kit for breastmilk – please send us around 30ml (an ounce) in breastmilk storage bags double bagged and both labelled with your full name and order number.  You may find it easiest to hand express into a small clean bowl or directly into the bag.  Once we receive your milk we will transfer it into our storage tubes. We ask you to send more without a kit because the bags tend to leak!

Alternatively you can remove milk of any age from the freezer (even ten year old milk works fine) and allow to defrost a little until slushy.  Spoon the right amount into a fresh bag and you can refreeze the rest of your milk for soap etc.  Always keep some milk back in your freezer in case this gets lost. If you’re very low supply please retain one filled tube in your own freezer.

If sending additional elements (cord/hair) put these in the short pots with your order number and full name and add to a third bag.

Pop it straight to the Post Office if possible, or if you can’t post straight away put it in the freezer until you’re ready to send but it’s best to post straight away unless it’s a bank holiday.

Don’t send it all in case it’s lost in the post or we need you to send more!

Lock of Hair and Fur Jewellery

• We promise to return any amount that is unused
• Tie the hair/fur with a little bit of cotton to keep it together and curl it into the pot
• Please don’t fold the hair in tinfoil, don’t use sticky tape/Post-It notes as the hair will kink or stick and be unsuitable for use
• To check quantity, send a picture using a penny for scale on our Facebook page or by email to info.treeofopals@gmail.com
• Hair/fur from two or more people and pets can be combined, but let us know their names in advance so we can send two or more pots (we don’t charge extra to use a little of both in one piece)
• Tip: Sit in the middle of a made bed so you can pick up any strands of hair that fall

Children

With a comb, part the hair at the back of the head and pick up a very thin slice of hair to cut so as not to get a bald patch, this YouTube video gives a great explanation (click here). Then cut a few of the strands at the root for short hair or 10cm for long hair. You can send us some of your baby’s first curl or hair from the first haircut. If your child is having a haircut, ask the hairdresser to remove some hair as if they were doing a colour strand test (they will know what that means) instead of sending the split ends, it’s easier for us to work with if possible. The ideal length is between 2cm and 10cm (1-4″) but we can work with very short hair… please browse the galleries on all of our lock of hair pieces. If your child’s hair is white blonde, it may or may not be visible in the resin, please see this gallery of light and grey hair.

stillborn baby hair
We have instructions on our baby memorial jewellery page that help you to know what to ask for at the hospital if your baby has passed away. You can ask your midwife or the people who are caring for your baby before or after passing to gently snip some of your baby’s hair, making sure that they can take enough for you to send some for jewellery and are able to keep some back. They will often offer to do this for your memory box but it can help to remind them. 

fur

If your companion is with the vet after being put to sleep, you can ask them to take an amount for you. Show them this page if you like, so they know you need enough to keep back and enough to send us.

horse hair
We are happy to work with mane or tail but will only need a few short strands, the finer they are the easier they are to work with. 5cm is the ideal length and remember, if it won’t fit in the pot, it won’t fit in the jewellery so you may need to send shorter or fewer strands in the sending kits. If possible please wipe each strand with an alcohol wipe or a little vodka on a cotton wool ball, or pop a note in with your kit to say you would prefer us to do that for you. It keeps the hair looking its best inside the resin. If your horse’s hair is white/blonde/grey, it may or may not be visible in the resin, please see this gallery of light and grey hair.

Don’t send it all in case it’s lost in the post or we need you to send more!

Umbilical Cord and Placenta

• We promise to return any amount that is unused
• An orange seed size amount is plenty of cord stump for most pieces (or half a capsule of placenta powder)
• Cord/placenta from two or more babies should be sent in different labelled pots, please let us know their names before we send the kit so we can (we don’t charge extra to use a little of both in one piece)
• Tip: Sit in the middle of a made bed so you can pick up any specks of cord that fall
• Tip: do not send the cord clip, use a pair of scissors to carefully cut a little off for us

  

  

  

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stillborn baby umbilical cord cord and placenta
We have more instructions on our baby memorial jewellery page that help you to know what to ask for. It’s important that anything we work with doesn’t have formadehyde or other chemicals on it, and that cord and placenta are frozen ASAP. You can show your midwife the page and gallery or the people who are caring for your baby after they have passed away. It’s important that you please ask for this before they use chemicals because we would have to decline your order if they have which can be devastating, because drying the piece would be harmful to you. Once you have umbilical cord/placenta dried please follow the instructions above.

Don’t send it all in case it’s lost in the post or we need you to send more!

Blood

• We promise to return any amount that is unused
• Please dry some blood within a few hours if possible to prevent the growth of bacteria and spoiling.
• You can add the blood to a plate and allow to dry naturally somewhere it can’t be knocked over, or use a dehydrator if you have one
• The dried flecks can be scraped into a small sealable bag, preferably with a silica gel sachet to prevent moisture
• Blood from two or more people should be sent in different labelled pots, please let us know their names before we send the kit so we can (we don’t charge extra to use a little of both in one piece)
• Here’s our page on blood jewellery if you’d like to know more

stillborn baby blood
We have more instructions on our baby memorial jewellery page that help you to know what to ask for. It’s important that anything we work with doesn’t have formadehyde or other chemicals on it, and that cord and placenta are frozen ASAP. You can show your midwife the page and gallery or the people who are caring for your baby after they have passed away. It’s important that you please ask for this before they use chemicals because we would have to decline your order if they have which can be devastating, because drying the piece would be harmful to you. Once you have blood dried please follow the instructions above.

Don’t send it all in case it’s lost in the post or we need you to send more!

 

Posting Back Your Kit

• All responsibility for sending lies with you, but we’re happy to advise
• There is always a risk of items getting lost in the post so please only send a portion of your elements (e.g. half a lock of hair) and keep the other half
• It is your responsibility to provide us with the tracking number and also check your account to make sure we have received it
• Please don’t be too enthusiastic with the sticky tape. You don’t need to tape up any pots and tubes and you only need to cover the flap of the box where the lid tucks in. Wrapping the entire parcel with duct tape or packing tape is not only unnecessary, it takes us a long time to remove and could mean damage to your kit!
• Tip: designate what you’re sending as “Jewellery Making Item” (you may struggle if you are too specific about what you’re sending!) Cremation ashes are allowed to be sent in the UK but some Post Office workers haven’t been trained to accept it.

Within UK
UK kits no longer include a stamp, you MUST send the kit to us with Special Delivery at your own cost (around £8), then please give us the tracking number! It means we can both track the package until it reaches us safely. Royal Mail have information here for posting ashes, hair and cord within the UK

International Sending Kits

International kits do not contain a stamp either, you will need to cover postage your end. Please choose whichever service you would like to use. For customs you are sending “jewellery making items”, which is the truth, but you may struggle to find a suitable provider if you are more specific. You may use a tracked service, recommended, and we ask that you give us the tracking link with your chosen carrier. If you’re not sure how, just give us the tracking number and the name of the provider and we can check. Please do not give a value of more than one dollar etc otherwise we will decline the parcel and it will be returned to you. Your elements are extremely sentimental but not expensive!

USA – You don’t need to spend more than around $17USD with USPS and if the service costs more than that feel free to contact us to double check. There is no need to be spending a hundred dollars for fast shipping.

All responsibility for sending lies with our clients