Welcome to Preserved Snowflake Co
Art by Danielle Oliver

Preserved Snowflake Co specializes in real preserved snowflake art and jewelry, capturing authentic snow crystals and transforming them into lasting keepsakes. Each piece begins with a real snowflake, carefully preserved before it melts, revealing its intricate and one of a kind natural design.

Based in Colorado, Danielle Oliver creates handcrafted preserved snowflake jewelry, framed snowflake art, and custom snowflake keepsakes using real snow. Every preserved snowflake is unique, making each piece a meaningful gift and a true piece of nature inspired art.

Our collection includes real snowflake necklaces, preserved snowflake earrings, and custom snowflake designs created from genuine winter snowfall. These pieces are perfect for gifts, special occasions, winter weddings, and collectors who appreciate rare natural beauty.

Due to changing weather conditions, each season produces a limited number of preserved snowflakes. Availability is rare, and each piece reflects a specific moment in time, captured and preserved forever.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW AVAILABLE SNOWFLAKES

How Are Snowflakes Preserved?

Each snowflake is captured one at a time during real snowfall events. When conditions are right, we set up in the cold and wait for the perfect moment. Snowflakes must form in freezing temperatures to develop their delicate dendrite structures, and once they begin to fall, collection becomes a careful race against time.

The studio is kept as cold as possible during the process. Even small changes in temperature, UV light, or movement can damage these fragile crystals before preservation is complete. To handle each snowflake safely, a fine paintbrush is used as a gentle extension of the hand.

Once selected, each snowflake is carefully transferred onto a microscope slide where the preservation process begins. Over several weeks, the snowflakes are stabilized and cured. After preservation, they are harvested from the slides and transformed using glass and resin layering techniques into lasting snowflake art and jewelry.

Every piece begins with real snow and becomes a one of a kind preserved snowflake artwork, capturing a moment in nature that can never be repeated.

The history of snowflake photography and preservation begins with Wilson A. Bentley, known as the “Snowflake Man.” Over 47 winters in Vermont, Bentley became the first person to photograph snowflakes. His work, published in the groundbreaking book Snow Crystals, revealed to the world the intricate and unique beauty of ice crystals. He captured his first snowflake photograph in 1885 and spent his life documenting their fleeting forms.

Bentley once wrote:

“The wonders and beauties of snow… The snow crystals come to us not only to reveal the wondrous beauty of the minute in nature, but to teach us that all earthly beauty is transient and must soon fade away.”

His legacy continues to inspire modern snowflake art and scientific study.

In 1936, Japanese physicist Ukichiro Nakaya successfully created the first artificial snowflakes in a laboratory, proving that temperature and humidity determine crystal structure. Later, in 1979, chemist Tryggvi Emilsson achieved one of the first successful snowflake preservation methods using superglue.

Today, preservation techniques have evolved, but the science remains rooted in the same principle. Cyanoacrylate adhesive bonds at a microscopic level, reacting with trace moisture to form strong polymer chains that lock in delicate snowflake structures. This process allows real snowflakes to be preserved in lasting detail, turning natural ice crystals into permanent works of art.