Dead Good Jewellery, who also trades by the name Nicola Hebson's Curiosity shop at festivals, brings you art-to-wear taxidermy and homage to nature jewellery , oddities, art and postcards of her taxidermy dioramas. Nicola is based close to the forest of Bowland, Lancashire in the United Kingdom. Foraged nature finds including real bones, mushrooms, plants, and naturally deceased insects are used throughout - all of which are sustainably sourced, found whilst hiking on local moors, farmland, roadkill finds and on her allotment. Each piece of jewellery is truly one of a kind and is as unique as the person buying it ! read more below :
❥ I am a one woman show, i uphold my small business by myself in my tiny studio at home in Lancashire, UK. I have been established since 2011. Its my passion to create Art-to-wear jewellery that is as unique as yourself. Rest assured if you ever purchase a piece from me, it is the only one of its kind.
❥ All of my jewellery designs are created by my own hands. EVERY piece is a one off - a unique creation - I make them from my intuition, with care and love. And most of my creations have a story to go with them of how they came to be! Each piece is waiting to meet it's new guardian.
❥ Since being a young girl i have been fascinated with the circle of life and death in nature and i have perpetually noticed the beauty within decay. The mysterious concept of death has always been my greatest inspiration.
❥Instead of fearing death i try to see it in a different perspective, its just the next stage into the unknown, its inevitable for ALL human beings. As some of my jewellery pieces use morbid materials such and bones, donated human teeth, dead animal parts from roadkill and real naturally deceased insects i liken them to a sort of wearable ’memento Mori’, which symbolically translates as ‘’remember that you have to die. ‘’ I make my pieces beautiful and dark at the same time - hence the name- DeadGoodJewellery. I hope the juxtaposed elements in my work bring the wearer a sense of peace! Because death, just like life, is a gift.
❥“If death causes you no pain when you are dead, it’s foolish to allow the fear of it to cause you pain now.” – Epicurus
❥ I use a wide range of materials in my work such as Roadkill animals i have found whilst out cycling, foraged bones from long hikes, animals found dead on people's property, farm donations, dead rats from my allotment neighbours, responsibly sourced crystals, found dead insects (found in old buildings and on windowsills, sheds and outhouses) , dried mushrooms , lichen, moss, stones as well as repurposed found objects and copper and steel salvaged from skips and dumps. Everything i use is sustainably and legally obtained.
❥ I process all roadkill and bones myself in my art studio. I use a variation of maceration buckets, composting and rot pots. I bury the leftover animal remains i have no use for in my plots and in my compost heap on my allotment to feed the plants, they love it! They especially love left over bone dust from my carvings. After months of natural decay i retrieve the bones from where i buried them and clean them up to use in my art using the sun, soap and then H202 for whitening. I never use bleach or boil as this is damaging to the bones. Nature is my perfect assistant! Any bones i wont use i leave in the ground. Any time i come across bones in nature i leave some behind for critters to chew on, so they can get their calcium!
❥ I use bio based crystal resin in my work which is a safer and more environmentally friendly alternative to standard resin.
Me foraging for heather and fern deep in the forest of bowland near where i am based. No doubt i have a backpack full of bones too!