Cremation Memorialization Options

The number of people choosing cremation has risen to include more than 40 percent of all funerals throughout the US each year. Religious beliefs, family customs and ethnic cultures can all be contributing factors for the vast number of families choosing cremation over tradition ground burial today.

The cost for cremation can also be considerably less than traditional burial funerals. With everything environmentally required for a traditional burial, families sometimes have no choice when it comes to the financial aspect of paying for the funeral. They inevitably have to choose the less expensive service.

No matter what the reason, the options for memorialization after cremation are diverse. And whether in a cemetery or on private land, granite and marble products are lasting, touching tributes to loved ones. They can hold cremated ashes, or retain their empty spaces, the choice is up to the family. But many are designed to hold small containers, such as granite urns or cremation boxes. A columbarium is a good choice for families wishing to be kept together, and can be manufactured with several doors to access each holding area or "niche" to place individual urns.

Benches can also be used for holding cremated remains. Many are designed with core holes to keep the remains in separate and sealed areas within the bench. Other designs have niche openings, similar to the columbarium style of memorial, which holds the actual urn. Either cremation memorial choice can be sandblasted or laser etched (usually on the niche doors themselves) to include family member names, birth and death dates, personal artwork and epitaphs, to further personalize each granite or marble memorial.

Granite and Marble Cemetery Statues

For centuries, man has sculpted marble and granite as a form of self expression, to further the study of mankind and the body, to represent mythical creatures and animals, and to create images of religious figures. These pieces often adorned places of worship, funeral spaces and cemetery properties.

Not only can sculpture be realistic in its execution, it can also be spiritual and emotional, depending upon the subject of the sculpture. Funeral statues often emit powerful feelings of grief and grieving; or loss and love taken away. For many families choosing to use memorial sculpture, it is a way to honor the deceased, while also helping them through the grieving process.

The time it takes to draw, design, commission and sculpt a statue can give great comfort to someone that is grieving the loss of their loved one. This process can last a few months or even years, depending on many different variables. But when the statue is finally completed, and placed at the memorial site, it can become a symbol of closure. Many people grieve pets in the same way. You can find marble and granite animal statues at pet grave sites or at the owner's grave site, suggesting the pet and owner will be reunited.

Of great importance in Chinese myth and culture, the tiger is one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. Also in various Chinese art and martial art, the tiger is depicted as an earth symbol. Tigers are admired for their great strength, ferocity and grace and are also considered guardian deities. Tiger statutes are usually seen at monuments, temples and palaces, to help ward off evil spirits.

Choosing or designing a memorial statue can be overwhelming for most people. Cemeteries and funeral counselors may be able to help answer questions that you may have. Look for a seasoned artist that is knowledgeable in funerary art and choose a granite or marble manufacturer that can offer catalogs, photos or drawings to help you through the sculpting process.

Creating Cemetery Headstones

Look around any cemetery and you'll notice monuments - from the simplest of grave markers - to some of the most beautiful and intricate granite memorials manufactured. As you can imagine, granite is not an easy material to work with. To begin with, it's harvested in large granite quarries that can be very dangerous to work in. Not to mention the shear weight of these large sections of rock make it difficult to quarry with the need for heavy equipment, for moving the blocks, and heavy trucks for transport to the plants.

At the plant, the granite rocks are configured into smaller, more manageable pieces. The granite is cut, broken or sawn dependent upon what pieces can be extracted from within each large section of granite.

Once the smaller sections are created, the granite goes into various finishing stages, where much of the work is done by skilled craftsman and much of it still by hand. From removing extra pieces around the edges to create a rougher finish, or removing enough granite to create a recessed area for a QR piece or a ceramic portrait, the granite makes its way through the plant.

Once the finish and shape of the monument has been established, the granite is then sent to sandblasting where lettering and flat designs are added. These designs are based upon graphic files created by a drafting team of designers, who supply templates for the design of the memorial.

Manufacturing a granite memorial is obviously much more complex, but this is a shortened version so you can see some of the workmanship and talent that goes in to each and every granite memorial manufactured here at Eagle. From quarry to work of art...the process is a highly specialized and organized process!