Rosalind's Cast-Crystal Cardinal

The last 108 lost-wax cast-crystal cardinal Christmas ornaments from Rosalind Pemberton's Lake District workshop. Each cardinal starts as a beeswax model, hand-sculpted on her bench, encased in a plaster-and-silica mould, and fired until the wax runs out. Molten lead crystal at 1,100°C is then poured into the hollow. The mould cools for three days before it can be broken open — there is exactly one cardinal at the end of it. The mould is destroyed in the process.

Ruby-red colour fused into the depth of the crystal — not painted on the surface. Hangs from a fine gold thread, with a small brass tree-hook included. Sized to hang from a Christmas-tree branch or in a window where the winter sun will pass through the body of the bird and make the red glow from within.

9 × 10 × 4 cm · 120 g · Lead crystal (lost-wax cast) · Hand-polished · Gold thread + brass hook

Rosalind is 75. After Christmas 2026 — her seventieth Christmas season at this bench — the workshop closes for good. Around 108 cardinals remain.