People have come up with some pretty unique ways to memorialize loved ones in recent years — everything from Frisbees filled with ashes to using firework displays as a way to scatter ashes.
It's a trend that makes sense given that cremation is on the rise in the U.S. overall. In 1999, just about 25 percent of bodies in America were cremated, and by 2014, that number had jumped to 47 percent and rising, according to CANA’s Cremation Statistics Annual Report. With it has come a quest for creative and meaningful things to do with ashes in lieu of just placing them in a urn.
Memory Glass, based in Goleta, CA, is a company that is incorporating people's remains into keepsake glass objects. According to the company's founder Nick Savage, "We memorialize your loved ones by incorporating a very small amount of cremated remains into custom glass orbs and pendants."
The end result by Memory Glass looks like it could be just another beautiful paperweight. The big difference, of course, is that the visible white lines in the pieces are ashes.
The final product created by Memory Glass.
Creating these glass orbs, though, is a slightly different process than what would be typical of glass blowing.
The company lays people's ashes out on a metal table, separating them into lines.
Yes, those are actual ashes being separated on a table.
With smoldering molten glass on a stick, the ashes are then rolled onto the glass.
And because of the glass' heat, ashes become incorporated into the design.
The ashes are then coated with colored glass and topped with another layer of clear glass.
An example of the finished product.
Another example.
To see how exactly these orbs are made, watch the video created by Memory Glass below. Most of the orb designs cost under $400.
