Most funeral homes offer a range of cremation urns but the selection is often limited and none of them may really fit your loved one’s personality. Or perhaps an urn just seems a little too distant to you. Urns do have their place, but some people want something a little more personal and intimate...something they can keep close to them.
Why Choose Cremation Jewelry?
Cremation jewelry is the perfect way to carry the ashes of your loved one close to you. Instead of sitting on a dusty shelf where you seldom notice them, they are always there with you. Whenever you feel the pendant against your skin or catch sight of it in the mirror, you have an opportunity to remember your loved one and feel their presence with you.
Another reason many people choose cremation jewelry is that it allows a relatively small amount of ash to be divided among friends and family in a respectful and thoughtful way. Instead of dividing the ash up into little baggies or jars, it can be presented to each person in a beautiful piece of cremation jewelry. The gift of the memorial jewelry itself then becomes part of the memory and has deep significance for the wearer.
Types of Cremation Jewelry
Cremation jewelry is available in a wide variety of styles and no one but the wearer ever needs to know it's true significance. Regardless of your personal style preferences, cremation pendants, necklaces, rings and bracelets can be found in glass, wood, silver, gold and stainless steel.
Although most of the designs are manufactured by machine, there are also a few talented artisans who create unique handcrafted cremation jewelry out of glass, wood, silver and gold. These hand made memorial pieces are often one of a kind and sometimes made to order. For some types of fused and blown glass cremation jewelry, the artisan will even use mix the cremains into the glass itself.
Glass Cremation Jewelry
Glass cremation jewelry is particularly unique because it’s the only type where you can actually see the ashes inside the jewelry. Most of the glass memorial jewelry available is the type that you fill with ashes at home. A small glass vial or tube has a stopper on one end that seals after the ashes are inserted. This allows you to see the ashes inside.
A particularly unique type of memorial jewelry is hand blown glass cremation jewelry. This is the only type of cremation jewelry in which the cremains actually become part of the art. The ashes are sent to a hot glass artist who encases them in glass and creates a unique design in the jewelry using the ashes as the focal point. The ashes are returned to you along with the custom made glass cremation jewelry.