Some eccentric practices may make people feel uneasy, but animal lovers say they find solace in the process
Shortly after my cat Mr Bell died, I contacted Angela Kirkpatrick. I needed Mr Bell – a delightful cat famous for his cropped ears and his ongoing feud with the refrigerator – to live on in some way, and I knew Kirkpatrick, a jeweler, could help me do that.
Together, we designed a reliquary ring with Mr Bell’s ashes and hair to commemorate him. The end product was a thin silver band decorated with nasturtium leaves – a nod to the flower-covered house we lived in when I first brought him home – and a yellow stone, through which the hair and ashes are visible. I wear it often, and when it’s not on my hand, it sits in a ring tray next to his urn.
