Welder crafts extraordinary jewelry: “Once, a client wanted a piece made from their father’s artificial heart valve”

When Petri Muuttoranta found a box of silver jewelry bases he had made earlier in the summer of 2023, he decided to incorporate fish skin left over from making his own lures. The idea reignited his passion for the jewelry hobby he began in his twenties. Combining nature allowed him to create something entirely new.

Petri, how did your hobby begin?

I’ve been fishing since I was a kid and have made all sorts of inventive lures. My very first lure came about when I was a teenager and couldn’t afford to buy one—I carved it from a broomstick and painted it with my mother’s nail polish. In the early 2000s, I got the idea to use fish skin after reeling in a small perch while trolling. Back then, there were no books or internet guides on working with fish skin, so I had to experiment. Sometimes the skin would spoil, or the varnishes and paints wouldn’t match.

I started making silver and bronze jewelry off and on since I took a jewelry course at a community college in 1993. After my military service, I was unemployed and got a one-year position at an art school for kids and teens. My boss there was a silversmith who taught me about working with silver. But adding fish skin to my pieces is what really sparked my interest in taking it further.

How do your pieces come to life?

I’m a bit of a masochist, so I try to do as much by hand as possible. For instance, when making a wooden ring, I choose to saw and shape it manually, even though many would use a lathe. That way, I can truly say the piece is handmade.

I spend a lot of time in the forest with our two dogs, gathering things like leaves or dried branches. I always carry a bag or a box in case I find something interesting. The first thing I ever combined with fish skin was moss. I’ve also used sand, garnet, small flowers, and dried winter stems.

I don’t usually make detailed plans; the ideas just pop into my head. If I already have a jewelry base, I’ll attach the fish skin first. Then I’ll start arranging the piece so it looks nice. I keep dried and fresh flowers in different boxes. Once everything feels right, I glue it down and seal it with varnish.

I generally make only a few pieces of the same design while I’m exploring the idea, then I move on. Recently, I got a lot of perch and used their fins to make earrings.

How has making jewelry changed you?

In my welding job, I’m often all over the place, but creating jewelry and lures has taught me patience. You can’t rush it; you have to do everything step by step in a precise manner. I used to be a workaholic, but two years ago my life came to a sudden stop, and I’ll be on medication for the rest of my life. It made me reassess my priorities. Since then, I’ve tried to calm down, give myself time, and reduce my workload. Making jewelry clears my head because I have to concentrate and really think about what I’m doing.

What’s the best part of your hobby?

I get a real sense of satisfaction and peace when I manage to capture nature within a small object. Nature is essential to me. Without that connection, I couldn’t make these pieces at all.

I love having a real challenge. If someone asks whether I can do something, I often say I’ll try. It calls for a bit of madness. Last fall, a friend’s hound passed away, and he requested a memorial piece. I embedded some of the dog’s hair into a ring. While practicing, I clipped so much fur from my fox terrier’s neck that he nearly had a bald spot. I’ve also made memorial pieces with a pet’s ashes. There's a lot of emotion in those, and I feel a lot of pressure to get it right.

I once made a pendant from an artificial heart valve. A woman had her father’s valve after he passed away, and because he was an avid outdoorsman, she wanted something that tied it to nature. The valve itself is a titanium ring, so I covered one side with roach skin and the other with birch veneer.

The most challenging project I’ve done involved a ring made with breast milk. The client had saved milk from nursing her two sons in small pouches and brought it to me. First, I tried things out with regular milk. For the final piece, I dried and varnished the slightly different colors of milk and then placed them on opposite sides of the ring.

I really enjoy surprising people. Without my jewelry hobby, life would be a lot more mundane.