Cremation Extras

Remembrance Options for Cremation Ashes

When a loved one passes away, it is natural that a family will want to make the memorial funeral service as special and as memorable as possible. And the question often arises as to whether this is possible in cases in which a person will be cremated. In fact, it is often the case that a person will tell his family that he or she does not want to be cremated precisely because he or she is under the false impression that memorial options are limited when cremation has been chosen.

As we say, that is a false impression. In today’s world of the death care industry, there are plenty of memorial products available that work very well with the fact that cremation is becoming more and more popular every year – not just in the United States but across the world as well. In fact, these new products owe their very existence to the ever-growing popularity of cremation. Investors who devote their resources to the development of new memorial products are, these days, always interested in new ideas for ways in which people whose loved ones have been cremated can properly memorialize their family members. These cremation extras are available in plentiful supply and in varieties and selections that many find absolutely astounding. And it’s all because cremation’s popularity is growing so quickly and steadily. What follows is a rundown of just some of what the memorial products industry can offer families who have a loved one who has been cremated. (Our review is incomplete because, quite simply, new products and ideas come available for cremations extras with such frequency that it is almost impossible to create a static, comprehensive list of a family’s memorial options.)

Keepsake Art

Some artists create a visual remembrance by using cremation ashes in piece of art.

Keepsake art is probably the most surprising, interesting and intriguing of all the cremation extras currently available. It is probably the cremation extra that has earned the most attention from United States media outlets in recent years. This is because news media are typically interested in events and products that are unusual, and cremation art is undeniably unusual. (Sometimes it is the case that unusual trends and products end up, in the long run, becoming so popular that they end up being considered normal – and thus not making the news after a while. Cremation itself can be said to have traversed this route in the course of its history as a social phenomenon and tradition. But, the unusual, surprising nature of keepsake art means that this product will likely remain a newsworthy, unusual phenomena for many years to come.)

In general, keepsake ash art can be described as a product in which a portion of the deceased’s cremation remains are actually used in the making of the memorial piece. Probably the most well-known of these keepsake art pieces are glass sculptures in which the glass blowing artists has incorporated a small portion of the person’s remains into the work of art. But that is just the start. Many genres of art also can be modified to become keepsake art. And this is being done in more and more surprising and unique ways every single year. One of the more unusual ways in which this keepsake art has manifested itself in recent years is through oil paintings. In this type of keepsake art, an artist creates an abstract painting that reflects the spiritual nature of the deceased and then, after the family of the deceased has agreed to purchase the painting, he or she obtains a small portion of the cremation remains which are then mixed with a bit of paint used to add a few final strokes to the painting.

In general, Keepsake art works like this: a family finds a retailer on the internet and selects a keepsake art product for purchase. Then the family works with the retail company to send (usually through the United States mail service) a tiny portion of cremation remains to an artist who then incorporates the ashes into the work of art. The methods of incorporation vary according to the genre of art involved, of course, but, generally speaking, the family selects the general look that they would like the keepsake to achieve, and the artist creates something very similar to their expectations. (It should be noted that, because the ashes are incorporated into the work itself, all keepsake art pieces are hand created as one-of-a-kind pieces even though most retailers offer a photographic selection of previously made pieces from which to choose. The artist, then, simply creates a replica of the piece that has been photographed. In many cases, the artist can be commissioned to create a piece that is custom designed according to the family’s instructions. But families should expect that such pieces of keepsake art will cost significantly more than the works that have been designed in advance.

Cremation Jewelry

Cremation ash jewelry keeps a small treasured remembrance close at all times.

Cremation jewelry is another type of cremation extra that has, in many ways, seen its novelty begin to wait to the point that it no longer attracts news media attention as it once did. But that is not to say it is not a popular, and very helpful, choice for many families. It just means that this cremation extra has become so popular that it is no longer seen as unusual by many people. Nevertheless, cremation jewelry does remain a new concept to a great many people, so a brief description will be helpful for the purposes of explaining cremation keepsakes to a general audience.

Basically, cremation ash jewelry pieces look almost exactly like traditional pendants, bracelets (or other pieces of jewelry, such as watches or even ear rings), but these pieces are designed with small compartments intended to hold a tiny amount of cremation ashes (usually a teaspoon or less). It is often the case that these pieces can also hold other memorabilia of a deceased family member too, such as locks of hair or even tiny pictures. So sometimes cremation jewelry is also referred to as “cremation charms”, in order to invoke the tradition of charm bracelets that have been a part of the jewelry trade for many years.

Cremation jewelry is available in a huge variety of styles, materials, and even colors. They are also designed in many various ways to suit the needs (and sensitivities) of the wearer. In some cases, the jewelry’s cremation ash compartment is designed to be visible, so that all who see the piece can know immediately its purpose. In these cases, even the name or initials of the deceased can be found to be clearly engraved into the design. But, in still other cases, the ash compartment is hidden so that the wearer can be the only person to know the contents. This feature that allows mourning family members to wear the ashes discreetly as desired has been attributed to the wild success of cremation jewelry in the memorial product. To be sure, many who buy cremation jewelry, purchase pieces with transparent compartments for the ashes but then choose to wear the pendants discreetly underneath their clothing. So the option of privacy is available even in the cases of transparent cremation jewelry. This amazing versatility only assures that cremation jewelry will be a popular memorial product for many years to come.

Keepsake Cremation Urns

Keepsake urns hold a small amount of cremation ashes for families who are scattering or sharing the remains.

Another cremation extra that has proven very helpful to many families of loved ones who have been cremated is keepsake cremation urns. These pieces are often sold in conjunction with traditionally sized cremation urns and are intended for families who desire to share the remains of a loved one over several households. In many cases, cremation urn manufacturers offer smaller keepsake sized urns in the same overall design of the larger urns. Families will buy any number of the keepsake urns along with the large urn, and they can then divide the remains among all of the urns. They will often use the large urn as the main memorial, sometimes storing it permanently in a family home or even a mausoleum niche at a cemetery or funeral home, but then the grieving loved ones can be comforted in knowing that several other keepsake urns are also available in various other locations. This is especially useful to families whose members are scattered across the country or even the entire globe. It is not uncommon, for example, that a son or daughter who has traveled from afar to a mother or father’s memorial service will be comforted to have a keepsake urn to take back with him or her when he or she returns to a “home” community many miles away from where the parent’s remains are to be stored (or even buried) permanently. It is often the case that families use keepsake urns to create permanent memorial in several locations. In just one case that many family members wrote about thankfully in various social media outlets, a man who had lived and worked in at least 10 different cities over the course of his life was able to be permanently remembered in mausoleums in each of those cities thanks to keepsake cremation urns. The family simply divided the man’s remains among 10 small urns and then purchased niches for each of the keepsake pieces in cemeteries in all of the towns. The loved ones almost universally then testified in various places on the internet that this decision was one of the wisest that their family had ever made together. Such is the great benefit of cremation keepsake urns and, in fact, all of the cremation extras we have discussed in this article.