Dead gorgeous

The 27-year-old from Aldridge creates precious trinkets from lifeless animals, blending taxidermy with jewellery-making to produce some wonderful treasures.

Though it sounds macabre, Kate's jewels are intricate pieces of nature, changed forever into beautiful and everlasting accessories.

Freeze-dried mice, small crab's pincers, bird's feet holding precious pearls and tiny bones are among the pieces in Kate's collection, which are priced from just £25.

Kate studied design crafts at De Montford University after completing an art and design course at Walsall College. It was there that she began to see the beauty in dead animals.

"I think it comes from a love of nature," she tells us. "I go to Sutton Park all the time – I love being out in nature, finding things. You can even find inspiration in urban areas – at college I did a project called Beneath my Feet, exploring how even junk can be a precious object to someone. My grandmother lives near the sea and so I'll often walk along picking things up." Her jewellery-making craft was honed at university in Leicester, and Kate began to specialise in the art form. She found her first animal project while studying there.

"I found a dead female bird and it was so beautiful and perfect. I just drew it for ages before doing anything else. I met a taxidermist in Leicester who let me go and learn all about the skill and I'd go into the basement there and draw. He showed me how to freeze dry, and that's when I freeze-dried Mr Mouse."

Kate refers to a small mouse that she takes to shows and exhibitions. The small creature looks peacefully asleep inside a locket that Kate created, and it attracts a lot of attention.

"He was found in my boyfriend's bathroom, dead and in this really peaceful position. He must have curled up and died of cold or something. He's now in a locket and that's my piece – he's not for sale. When I take him to shows, people stroke him and say how lovely he is. He's currently displayed in an exhibition in Holland."

We asked whether people find Kate's craft strange. She says: "I'm interested by the fact that people are disturbed by death, as it's not scary to me. I'm not petrified of death, because it's not something to be scared of. I want to do that for people when I make my jewellery – I want it to be seen as part of life. Your body is just a carrier."

But that doesn't mean you want to find a 'carrier' in your freezer when you go to get the Sunday veg out.

"I live at home with my parents at the moment. At first my mum and dad were unsure, but now they're used to it. I have a top drawer in their freezer dedicated to my stuff that they don't go in! There's a little bird in there at the moment."

All of Kate's work is done in a workshop, so although she occasionally plays host to creatures at home, the hard work takes place in the heart of Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter.

"Business is going really well, and I sell a lot online. I love commissions that have personal stories the most, though. A woman just gave me her husky's teeth and would like me to make them into a white gold ring. I love the personal commissions as I see them as heirlooms of nature. They can be passed down through generations.

"Lots of my pieces have stories to them. My friend brought me a dead bird a while ago, which I left outside. The cat next door must have come and taken it, because the next time we went outside, there were just the two feet left! Now I have a collection of bird's claws."

We can imagine that it must be strange to have your friends bring dead things to your house, but for Kate, it's normal behaviour.

"My friends always bring me dead creatures. One of the worst was when I got a package in the mail. I noticed it was quite damp on the outside, and when I opened it, there was a dead frog covered in maggots! I have to just leave it alone if there are too many maggots. I once put a bird's head on my desk to draw it, and after a while I noticed that was crawling with maggots too! I can't be too squeamish, or I'd never be able to do what I do! It's just the natural life cycle."

Most of Kate's work is tiny and intricate – such as jawbone earrings and crab rings. But she doesn't let any discovery go to waste.

"I do get things that are quite big, but I tend to work quite small – owl pellets are good for finding small bones. If it's too big that I can't work with it, I'll collect it. I've got a ram's skull, a rabbit skull and quite a lot of frogs. You can go foraging and find things all the time. My friends send me pictures of animals they've found all the time and say 'do you want this?'"

Kate has taken her craft around the world, and it hasn't been long since she went over to South Asia to share her skills.

"I recently went over to Nepal to teach and work with deaf or trafficked women in a project to help them find work, as they do struggle. When I was there, I began working on my new collection which is mostly based around teeth. It's influenced by the traditional Himalayan heirloom jewellery. That will launch online soon. I intend to go back to work with the Himalayan Jewellery project, as we planted a lot of seeds."

We're excited to hear what the future holds for Kate. Though her trinkets are strange and unusual, there's something peaceful and beautiful about the way that she harnesses nature. In fact, we think they're drop dead gorgeous.