Paige Ford is no pyromaniac. "I'm terrified of fire," the 31-year-old glass artist says. "I decided to go after that fear." After feeling disillusioned in her career as a licensed esthetician, Ford left Henrico County for the coast in 2010 to apprentice at her friend's glass jewelry studio in Wilmington, N.C. Upon her return, tragedy struck with the death of a then 25-year-old friend. Her friend's wife asked Ford to make a necklace with a small jar in which to carry her deceased husband's ashes. Instead of a jar, Ford created a discreet pendant by rolling a small amount of the cremains into molten glass. "The way the cremains oxidize in the glass creates these unique bubbles, and it's absolutely beautiful," she says. In 2011, Ford started the custom glass jewelry business Resting Embers (389-5600 or restingembers.com ). In her home studio, she makes pendants, marbles and pocket charms from the ashes of deceased loved ones and pets. The jewelry ranges in price from $65 to $85. On May 18, she'll display her wares at an American Heart Association fundraising event in the parking lot of Costen Floors (9840 Mayland Drive) from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
