Best way to make keepsake with a pinch of sand

January 5, 2024 12:43 PM

I have a tiny amount of beach sand from somewhere sentimental (think "couple of ml"). I would like to share half of it with a friend. What's the best way to make a keepsake in order to preserve such a small amount of sand?

Could I make a resin paperweight? (I have never worked with resin before, and I don't have enough material to risk much trial & error.) Can I get a little capsule for a keychain?

Can I get my local glassblower to embed it in glass, or will it just melt and disappear?

Thanks for any brainstorming ideas, or firsthand experiences!

posted by wenestvedt to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (16 answers total)

Tiny little cork bottle?
different colors
with loop for chain
oooooh, all the shapes
posted by Glinn at 12:50 PM on January 5 [5 favorites]

I've seen those little glass jars with a cork used for this. Put the sand inside, glue the cork in, and presto! Keepsake. I'm sure there are key chains or pendants with a similar style.
posted by XtineHutch at 12:50 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]

little jars often available at dollar stores in the craft aisle
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:58 PM on January 5

Etsy has something called "locket bottles" that might work.
posted by Don Pepino at 1:17 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Currently, I have the sand in one of those little bottles, and it's about half-full. They're cute, for sure!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:28 PM on January 5

Take a close up, magnified look at the sand. Often the sand will have very small shells or other details that will make it really especially interesting. If this is the case, you could get one of those containers that has a small domed magnifying lens in the top.
posted by effluvia at 1:29 PM on January 5 [9 favorites]

What about a glass locket? I have one like this that I keep a couple small pressed flower petals in.
posted by OrangeDisk at 1:43 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]

If you're going to make something like the resin paperweight just use regular sand for your prototypes and then when you're happy with the results do it for real with the actual sand.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:46 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]

If you want something a little more refined-looking, look for lockets or pendants for (cremation) ashes.
posted by praemunire at 1:53 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]

We've been playing with UV resin and a little kit like this could absolutely help you make you something special out of a few ml of sand. I'd be tempted to dye the resin a very very light blue/aqua swirl in the sand and set in the little frames. If the person isn't a jewelry wearer, it could be made into a suncatcher or key chain.
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 3:01 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]

Another "please, practice this before using your own sand" idea: photo, postcard, or custom artwork landscapes of the sentimental spot, with your keepsake sand permanently dusted on a tiny portion. (Where you/you & your friend were standing when the memory was made? Having written that -- caveat, may veer too close to "Footprints" territory.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:41 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]

I would say put it in something that resembles a tiny hourglass to symbolize the passage of time and remembrance of "the days that are no more."
posted by jamjam at 3:49 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]

A block of resin with a central very small hourglass void that contains the sand would be ideal.
posted by jamjam at 3:52 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]

If cost is no issue, there are places that will embed ashes into jewelry that seem to involve setting it in resin?

(On the really fancy - and expensive - end, you can also get ashes turned into an artificial diamond; which would not work with your sand, what with it being mostly silica instead of mostly carbon, in addition to it not being what sounds like you are looking for. But I mention it to clarify that the other cremation jewelry is not-this.)
posted by eviemath at 7:40 PM on January 5

Cheap-cheerful: Eppendorf! Speak to your mol.biol. oppo.
Brass class: raw brass seal EDC medicine tablet storage box cremation bottle perfume holder ash wish vial pendant charm etsy
posted by BobTheScientist at 3:54 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

There's a type of modern trading card called a relic card, where a piece of material is embedded inside the card. Usually it's a piece of a game-used jersey worn by the baseball player or whatever, but by now companies have started gluing pretty much anything that can fit on a 2.5 inch x 3.5 inch card, including little plastic capsules of sand.

Personally I'd heat seal a bit of sand between clear plastic sheets and sandwich that between printed pieces of cardboard, with a die-cut area to frame the sand. This should be within reach of someone who does scrapbooking, or there are custom card makers who do this sort of thing.

The standard trading card form factor means there's a lot of preservation, storage, and display products available. I'd use what's called a one-touch holder, which is a little acrylic frame with a magnetic closure.
posted by Small Dollar at 5:45 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]