Visualizing Birth through Allison Korn’s Birthing Jewelry


Crowning Baby Pendant, fine silver
Copyright 2021, Allison Korn, All Rights reserved.

A metal clay artist based in Brattleboro, Vermont, Allison Korn creates beautiful jewelry, some of which is devoted to themes of birth and mothering. Included in her collections are her Crowning Baby Pendant (above) and Crowning Baby Earrings (below), both of which celebrate the emergence of baby from mother’s body during crowning and the moment of birth. 

Pregnant women, particularly those who are first-time mothers, often fear the moment of crowning or are bewildered by the process. Allison’s stunning images of crowning help others to envision the process of crowning and understand that this is a physiological process their bodies will undergo. Understanding the process helps to alleviate fears or worries, and this can in turn lead to a smoother birth process.


Crowning Baby Pendant Earrings, fine silver
Copyright 2021, Allison Korn, All Rights reserved.

Other important themes related to birth with which Allison’s artwork engages include the life-giving placenta, breastfeeding, cesarean birth, baby catching, and the important theme of pregnancy loss, an underrepresented topic even though many women experience it. Allison’s work cherishes and honors all aspects of birth.

On her website, Allison explains that she makes her artwork for the purposes of empowering, connecting and healing, all of which she experienced herself when going through birth and becoming a mother. In my correspondences with Allison, I asked her what inspired her to create her work. She describes how her own experiences of birth impacted her artwork, ultimately inspiring her to create birthing jewelry:

I was inspired by my own VBAC. I had a very traumatic homebirth turned emergency c-section for my first son, Lucas, and wanted so badly to have a VBAC for my second son, Asha. My second pregnancy was pretty stressful for a number of reasons, a big one being we had to move from Canada to Ecuador when I was 35 weeks pregnant (among so many other things)! We moved to the Andes, where we had lived before Canada and where my husband and first son were born. It’s super high altitude and hard to breathe when you first get there, and I think Asha inside my belly was just like, “you can’t handle me inside anymore!” So I went into labor at 37 weeks. I had done so much to prepare for a VBAC- done hypnobabies, been in communication from Canada with the doctor who was going to attend me at the birthing center in Ecuador, etc, but I still of course didn’t know if it would be possible.

After only 5 hours of birthing time (my first birth was 72 hours) I finally felt the “ring of fire” and his head. Crowning felt so indescribably amazing because I knew for the first time that I would be having my baby vaginally! I was filled with so much joy! It was an amazing and empowering birth that taught me that I had super powers and could do anything.

In addition to the power of her jewelry, Allison’s birth stories may empower other women.

To view more of Allison’s artwork or purchase her jewelry, visit her website or check out her contact information. In addition to the artwork represented in her collections, she also does custom work. To read about Allison’s interesting life and path to mothering, see her about page.