Canadian mom’s semen jewelry business goes viral on TikTok

“,”heading”:””,”fullWindow”:false,”fullBleed”:false,”showFullBleedOnMobile”:false,”headColor”:””,”type”:”html5mobile”,”textColor”:””,”mobileImageUrl”:””,”bgColor”:””,”imageUrl”:””,”registeredOnly”:false,”linkUrl”:””,”aodaTitle”:” “,”internalScroll”:false,”displayStyle”:”small-up”},”type”:”ad”,”heading”:”ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW”,”name”:”ArticleSecondBigBox”,”display”:”medium-down”,”pos”:”2″,”interstitial”:true,”sizes”:[[300,250]],”text”:”In the video, Booth started by crushing her husband’s desiccated sample into a fine powder, then folding it into clay — translucent, so it takes on the colour of its contents, she told me. The clay is then moulded into beads for a pendent and bracelet. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”type”:”textBreakPoint”,”insertAt”:”contentMiddleBreakPoint”,”text”:”To Booth’s surprise, her TikTok went viral, garnering over 6 million views and 600,000 likes.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”The response to it, she said, was mixed.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”“Some people think it’s really cool and creative,” she said, crediting in part the base of supporters she’d built up, “but people can be pretty judgmental.” Booth shared she recently got her first death threat.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”Still, the artist’s sudden TikTok fame drew in a flood of customers, and the orders have only kept coming. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”type”:”slimcut”,{“captionPosition”:”overlay”,”origImageSize”:”1200×800″,”fullWindowGenericImage”:false,”lastmodified”:1666891533741,”forceoriginal”:false,”caption”:”For Abigail Schmutte, a 30-year-old therapist from Indiana, her custome jewelry was to commemorate her husband’s impending vasectomy.”,”type”:”genericimage”,”credit”:”Supplied”,”url”:”/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2022/10/19/ontario-mom-who-makes-jewelry-from-semen-and-breast-milk-goes-viral-on-tiktok/schmutte.jpg”,”renditions”:[“url”:” Abigail Schmutte, a 30-year-old therapist from Indiana, her commissioned necklace and bracelet was part gag-gift, part commemoration of her husband’s impending vasectomy.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”“It’s a bit of a memento, I guess,” Schmutte said. “It isn’t that deep. I think it’s fun, and I think it’s a little hot.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”type”:”ad”,”heading”:”ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW”,”name”:”ArticleThirdBigBox”,”display”:”medium-down”,”pos”:”3″,”interstitial”:true,”sizes”:[[300,250]],”text”:”Schmutte paid roughly $130 (U.S.). As a bonus, Booth also sent a bracelet.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”“I think it’s fantastic,” Schmutte said, adding that she’s saved a sample of her own breast milk to be turned into jewelry later. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”“We’ve been making jewelry with body parts for a long time,” she said. “Victorian hair jewelry is a thing.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,{“captionPosition”:”overlay”,”origImageSize”:”1200×902″,”fullWindowGenericImage”:false,”lastmodified”:1666891533506,”forceoriginal”:false,”caption”:”People buy custom jewelry made from bodily fluids for all kinds of reasons, Amanda Booth said, a romantic gesture or to commemorate a milestone like a vasectomy. “,”type”:”genericimage”,”credit”:”Supplied”,”url”:”/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2022/10/19/ontario-mom-who-makes-jewelry-from-semen-and-breast-milk-goes-viral-on-tiktok/embed_jewelry.jpg”,”renditions”:[“url”:” jewelry and art out of hair, called “hair work,” went out of fashion around 1925, according to the Smithsonian magazine, but had been popular for hundreds of years before that.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”Booth’s semen jewelry line starts at $110 for a simple custom piece, with prices climbing for more elaborate orders.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”In the three months since posting her TikTok, Booth received over 100 paid orders for custom semen jewelry and “probably double that in invoices that people are just waiting to pay,” she said. Orders for jewelry incorporating bodily fluids already makes up half her customer base, she continued. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”type”:”cta”,”buttonText”:”Sign Up Now”,”buttonLink”:”/emails.html?nsrc=article-inline-firstup-generic”,”description”:”Start your morning with everything you need to know, and nothing you don’t. Sign up for First Up, the Star’s new daily email newsletter.”,”title”:”Get more of what matters in your inbox”,”type”:”textBreakPoint”,”insertAt”:”contentLongBreakPoint”,”text”:”“I basically work like 16 hours a day, seven days a week,” Booth said. “I almost feel like I don’t have time to process it.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”Booth said the reasons for the custom orders are “almost as unique as each client” — some get it to “symbolize their fertility journey,” others to “represent the intimacy and passion that they have in their relationship.” Some get it as a “kink thing,” Booth said.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,{“captionPosition”:”overlay”,”origImageSize”:”1200×800″,”fullWindowGenericImage”:false,”lastmodified”:1666891533654,”forceoriginal”:false,”caption”:”Amber Dawson, a 33-year-old business owner and real estate agent from North Carolina, said she commissioned her jewelry as a gift to her husband and partner since high school. “,”type”:”genericimage”,”credit”:”Supplied”,”url”:”/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2022/10/19/ontario-mom-who-makes-jewelry-from-semen-and-breast-milk-goes-viral-on-tiktok/dawson.jpg”,”renditions”:[“url”:” Dawson, a 33-year-old business owner and real estate agent from North Carolina, said she got it as a gift to her husband and partner since high school.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”“Recently, my husband had a pretty bad downward spiral of mental health, which led to an addiction and pretty much this summer he was away for treatment,” she said.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”“I guess it was just to show that no matter what, I was committed to him.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”Dawson had been following Booth before her work incorporating semen into jewelry. For a ring, necklace and bracelet made with her husband’s samples, Dawson paid $176.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”“It’s definitely not for everybody,” she said. “It’s not something that I probably would tell my mom unless she really wanted to know.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”snippet”:”

@amandaldbooth

Got Jizzy with it this weekend

♬ original sound – ✨Amanda Booth✨

“,”heading”:””,”fullWindow”:false,”fullBleed”:false,”showFullBleedOnMobile”:false,”headColor”:””,”type”:”html5mobile”,”textColor”:””,”mobileImageUrl”:””,”bgColor”:””,”imageUrl”:””,”registeredOnly”:false,”linkUrl”:””,”aodaTitle”:” “,”internalScroll”:false,”displayStyle”:”small-up”,”text”:”“It’s just something neat and something that not everybody can say that they have or would even do for their significant other.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”type”:”relatedStories”,”relatedStories”:[],”text”:”Booth wasn’t always a craftswoman — before jewelry, she’d worked in retail management “for a long, long time,” and said she only got into sculpting trinkets under a year and a half ago.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”At the time, “it was kind of just as a therapy for myself,” she said. “And then I accidentally made a big business.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”As a naturally creative person, Booth felt she lost touch with that part of herself after “motherhood and the busyness of life,” she said. That’s when she began crafting leather earrings, and later clay jewelry, for friends as a side-hustle.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”One day, a friend approached her with a request. “She tragically lost her son in an accident,” Booth said, “and so she asked me to do a memorial piece for her with his ashes. I’d never worked with ashes before, but I didn’t feel like I could say no.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”Not only did the piece turned out “beautiful,” Booth said, it also marked a new chapter in her business. The memorial piece blew up on Facebook, attracting a slew of similar requests — including ones incorporating breast milk and other biological memorabilia like hair, fur, umbilical cords and placenta.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”Her business hasn’t been without growing pains. Booth still works out of her dining room, she said, which has become more difficult as her orders multiply. It’s hard finding properties in this economy, she continued, but Booth dreams of one day working out of a large workshop and running in-person classes.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”“Not only would we be able to help more people, but I’d be able to help people by paying them a good wage and giving them a really great place to work,” Booth said.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”text”:”As for the critics, Booth said she’s saddened by the negativity.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,”type”:”textBreakPoint”,”insertAt”:”contentEndBreakPoint”,”text”:”“As somebody who’s extremely open minded and extremely judgment free, I really pride myself on (accommodating my clients’ requests) because I want them to feel comfortable coming to me with absolutely anything,” she said. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false,{“text”:”Kevin Jiang is a Toronto-based digital producer for the Star. 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Amanda Booth, a Canadian artist offering custom jewelry made from semen, breast milk, and human ashes, said her business took off with the help of social media.

By Kevin JiangToronto Star

Thu., Oct. 27, 2022timer5 min. read

updateArticle was updated 47 mins ago

When Amanda Booth posted her first offer to craft customers’ semen into jewelry on social media, it was little more than a joke. The immediate flood of requests, however, was no laughing matter.

Three months and several million views later, the 33-year-old mother of three has turned sculpting jewelry from bodily fluids into a full-time job — and she has TikTok to thank for it.

“It’s really surreal,” Booth told the Star of her sudden notoriety. “ … Sometimes when it just hits me, it feels like I’m living somebody else’s life.”

The idea started with a comment left on Booth’s TikTok page, which she created to showcase her jewelry business “Trinkets by Amanda Booth.” Previously, she made a name for herself selling clay trinkets incorporating breast milk, human ashes and other bits of biology.

“They were asking if I’d ever put (semen) in a piece before,” she said. “At first I was like, super offended, because it was a really special piece in a special video I did.”

Over time, however, the idea became the “joke of the office,” Booth said. Mostly in jest but partly to gauge interest, she made a listing on her Facebook page.

Overwhelmed by the response, Booth decided to post a TikTok of herself in late July making jewelry with semen for the first time, using a sample “lovingly provided” by her husband.

In the video, Booth started by crushing her husband’s desiccated sample into a fine powder, then folding it into clay — translucent, so it takes on the colour of its contents, she told me. The clay is then moulded into beads for a pendent and bracelet.

To Booth’s surprise, her TikTok went viral, garnering over 6 million views and 600,000 likes.

The response to it, she said, was mixed.

“Some people think it’s really cool and creative,” she said, crediting in part the base of supporters she’d built up, “but people can be pretty judgmental.” Booth shared she recently got her first death threat.

Still, the artist’s sudden TikTok fame drew in a flood of customers, and the orders have only kept coming.

For Abigail Schmutte, a 30-year-old therapist from Indiana, her commissioned necklace and bracelet was part gag-gift, part commemoration of her husband’s impending vasectomy.

“It’s a bit of a memento, I guess,” Schmutte said. “It isn’t that deep. I think it’s fun, and I think it’s a little hot.”

Schmutte paid roughly $130 (U.S.). As a bonus, Booth also sent a bracelet.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Schmutte said, adding that she’s saved a sample of her own breast milk to be turned into jewelry later.

“We’ve been making jewelry with body parts for a long time,” she said. “Victorian hair jewelry is a thing.”

Making jewelry and art out of hair, called “hair work,” went out of fashion around 1925, according to the Smithsonian magazine, but had been popular for hundreds of years before that.

Booth’s semen jewelry line starts at $110 for a simple custom piece, with prices climbing for more elaborate orders.

In the three months since posting her TikTok, Booth received over 100 paid orders for custom semen jewelry and “probably double that in invoices that people are just waiting to pay,” she said. Orders for jewelry incorporating bodily fluids already makes up half her customer base, she continued.

“I basically work like 16 hours a day, seven days a week,” Booth said. “I almost feel like I don’t have time to process it.”

Booth said the reasons for the custom orders are “almost as unique as each client” — some get it to “symbolize their fertility journey,” others to “represent the intimacy and passion that they have in their relationship.” Some get it as a “kink thing,” Booth said.

Amber Dawson, a 33-year-old business owner and real estate agent from North Carolina, said she got it as a gift to her husband and partner since high school.

“Recently, my husband had a pretty bad downward spiral of mental health, which led to an addiction and pretty much this summer he was away for treatment,” she said.

“I guess it was just to show that no matter what, I was committed to him.”

Dawson had been following Booth before her work incorporating semen into jewelry. For a ring, necklace and bracelet made with her husband’s samples, Dawson paid $176.

“It’s definitely not for everybody,” she said. “It’s not something that I probably would tell my mom unless she really wanted to know.”

“It’s just something neat and something that not everybody can say that they have or would even do for their significant other.”

Booth wasn’t always a craftswoman — before jewelry, she’d worked in retail management “for a long, long time,” and said she only got into sculpting trinkets under a year and a half ago.

At the time, “it was kind of just as a therapy for myself,” she said. “And then I accidentally made a big business.”

As a naturally creative person, Booth felt she lost touch with that part of herself after “motherhood and the busyness of life,” she said. That’s when she began crafting leather earrings, and later clay jewelry, for friends as a side-hustle.

One day, a friend approached her with a request. “She tragically lost her son in an accident,” Booth said, “and so she asked me to do a memorial piece for her with his ashes. I’d never worked with ashes before, but I didn’t feel like I could say no.”

Not only did the piece turned out “beautiful,” Booth said, it also marked a new chapter in her business. The memorial piece blew up on Facebook, attracting a slew of similar requests — including ones incorporating breast milk and other biological memorabilia like hair, fur, umbilical cords and placenta.

Her business hasn’t been without growing pains. Booth still works out of her dining room, she said, which has become more difficult as her orders multiply. It’s hard finding properties in this economy, she continued, but Booth dreams of one day working out of a large workshop and running in-person classes.

“Not only would we be able to help more people, but I’d be able to help people by paying them a good wage and giving them a really great place to work,” Booth said.

As for the critics, Booth said she’s saddened by the negativity.

“As somebody who’s extremely open minded and extremely judgment free, I really pride myself on (accommodating my clients’ requests) because I want them to feel comfortable coming to me with absolutely anything,” she said.

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