5 Important Questions to Ask when Buying a Cremation Urn

It is terrifying to imagine the death of a relative or close friend, leave alone thinking about making arrangements for a funeral or a cremation. But it becomes necessary to think of disposal of the dead body according to the rituals and the customs permitted by the religion. If you have decided on cremation, you also have the option of keeping the ashes of the body in a decorative container called urn to hold on to the memories of the deceased individual. Here are 5 important questions to answer before buying cremation urns from the market.

1. What size of urn should I buy?

Cremation urns are available in many different shapes and sizes and it is easy to feel overwhelmed when confronted with the choices. If you are the only one among the close relatives deciding to keep the ashes of the deceased individual, you can go for a bigger urn. But if the ashes are divided among a few relatives, it is beer to buy an urn that easily fits the place where you are going to keep it in your home. Cremation urns for adults are usually bigger than those made for the remains of babies.

2. What should be the material of the urn?

If you are thinking of holding on to the ashes for lifelong, you can buy an urn that is metallic or even made of crystal. But if you have a plan to scatter the remains in a river or sea at some point of time in future, it is better to choose a material that is biodegradable in nature. If the remains are to be buried in earth later on, wood is the best option as it decomposes naturally in some time.

3. How much should I pay for the urn?

Cremation urns are available in a bewildering price range that varies from as low as £20 and goes up to thousands of dollars depending upon the material and the decoration of the container. If you plan to bury the urn in future, go for a cheap urn. But if you want to keep the urn as cremation memorials for future generations, you can buy an expensive urn depending upon your budget.

4. What should be the theme?

This is an important question to ask yourself if you are buying the urn as a memorial of the deceased person. You can choose the theme depending upon the personality of the deceased relative or friend. If he or she was fond of nature, you can buy an urn in the shape of an animal or sea creature. You can buy the urn in the shape of a musical instrument if the deceased was passionate about music. Cremation urns for pets can be in their shape to express your love for the animal.

5. Do you intend to travel overseas with the urn?

This is an important question to ask yourself when buying the urn because metallic urns cannot be scanned by the authorities at the airport. If you plan to travel by air, make sure you buy urn made of wood or ceramic as both materials can be easily scanned during routine security check at domestic and international airports

Cremation Urns: Keeping the Memories of the Deceased Alive

  

Cremation urns

It is hard for an individual to overcome the sudden shock and the long period of grief following the death of a close friend or relative. But it is compulsory to dispose of the dead body according to the rituals and customs of the family. These days, more and more people are choosing cremation over burial because of the inherent advantages that this method of dealing with the dead body presents to the relatives of the deceased. Burial proves to be much costlier than cremation given the constraints of full size casket and ground space. Also, burials have to be performed quickly, leaving little time to the family members and friends living in faraway places to reach the venue of the funeral service. Cremation causes the dead body to be reduced into remains within a few hours while the dead body decomposes slowly and naturally following a burial. With a cremation, the family also gets a chance to hold on to the remains of the deceased inside cremation urns to keep the memories alive.

Keepsake urn is just a term for smaller memorial urns

Urn, funeral urn, or a cremation urn all refer to the same containers that are made of wood, porcelain, metal, or clay and are decorative in nature to be kept proudly by the family members of the deceased. There is also a word called keepsake urns that confuses many people. It is nothing but a small container, smaller than the usual urns to keep the remains of the deceased. It is so called to let people hold on to the portion of the remains of the deceased or to be able to divide the portions of the mortal remains.

Vessels to keep the memories of your loved one alive

The vessels called urns are not used for storing ashes or the cremains (remains of the boney material of the dead person) of the deceased in all parts of the world. In fact, in many places and cultures, urns are simply small vessels that can be used for many different purposes rather than being used as memorial urns.  Even inside the country, you may be surprised to find the various shapes and sizes of the vessels that are being sold in the name of an ashes urn. In many places, these urns are also referred to as ashes jewellery as the vessels are made from expensive materials and look beautiful, adorned with gemstones and other materials.  

Many people prefer biodegradable material as the material of the urn they buy as they intend to scatter the remains of the dead person at some point in future. People who intend to bury the urn at some later stage also prefer to buy cremation urns made of biodegradable material. These vessels are in great demand among those who have burial at sea in mind at some later stage.  No matter what the liking and requirement of the individual, there are available all sorts of memorial urns in shops selling these vessels. One can also buy a funeral urn sitting in the comfort of his home by visiting an online urn shop.

 

Cremation Urns – A brief history

November 22, 2016 • Cremation urn -A brief history • Urn for ashes

The word "urn" generally brings to mind a drab metal or iron vessel. However, urns for cremation have taken various designs and significance throughout history.

Scientists have documented the early known human creation as taking place over 20,000 years ago in Australia. Cremation processes-and the subsequent handling of cremated ashes-have occurred in various forms throughout history, depending on the time, country, culture, personal and diplomatic beliefs or religious practices.

Some cultures do an open cremation for the deceased, after which they scatter ashes in a sacred location or a river or ocean. Mass cremation has served during an era of war, national catastrophe or widespread disease, in which cases families do not get the ashes of their loved ones. Some cultures cremate and subsequently bury the remains.

Cremation is usually a lower-cost vary to burial. And cremated remains take much less room than burial plots, hence cremation is considered friendlier to the atmosphere.

Modern cremation is the process of placing a deceased person in an industrial furnace at chosen high temperatures for few hours; once than most of the body has vaporized into gases, the remaining bone fragments are into an ash-like powder. These cremation remains, or "cremains" as they are often called, are placed in a sealed container, or urn, and provided to the relatives or families.

Cremation urns often reflect the individuality or preferences of the deceased-and are a way for the living to recall their loved one. Archaeological digs have revealed ancient burial adult urns made of pottery and decorated with illustrations.

Today, urns for human adult ashes are to available as generic or as personalized as a family or individual wishes. They may be wooden, metal, ceramic, clay, bronze, marble, glass or biodegradable. There is also urn jewelry for those who want to save a little portion of the ashes in a fragment of jewelry. These various types of modern high quality exclusive urns often fulfill a variety of purposes.

Cremation remains may be kept in an urn at house, scattered in a location of significance, or buried in a burial urn in a cemetery or in a special memorial building called a columbarium. In all of these cases, the urn plays an important role in celebrating and memorializing the energy of a loved one.

How do I decide what size cremation urn is right for my needs?

Generally, the crematorium will return the ashes of the deceased in a temporary container. Depending upon the amount of ashes you can choose the correct size of urn. In the market, you can find different size of cremation urns where you can store the remains of both humans as well as pets.Follow these simple rules of thumb to determine the size urn you need:

• 1 lb. of body weight will yield just less than 1 cubic inch of ash. Assume for shopping purposes that:
  1 pound body weight = 1 cubic inch ash.
• Cremation urn item descriptions list the size of the urn in Cubic Inches. If you know the weight of the deceased - then you know the size of the urn you need. Approx Weight = Approx Size.
• Easy example: A cremated 100 pound person will yield almost 100 cubic inches of ashes. So, if 1 pound = 1 cubic inch then this person would need an urn that is about 80-100 cubic inches.
• 1liter = 61 cubic inches

General size rule :

• a 240 lb.(108.8kg) person needs an urn that is 200 cubic inches or larger
• a 200 lb.(90.7kg) person needs an urn that is 180 cubic inches or larger
• a 150 lb.(68kg) person needs an urn that is 130 cubic inches or larger
• a 100 lb.(45kg) person or pet needs an urn that is 80 cubic inches or larger
• a 50 lb.(22.6kg) person or pet needs an urn that is about 40 cubic inches or larger
• a 25 lb.(11.3kg) person or pet needs an urn that is about 20 cubic inches or larger
• a 10 lb.(4.5kg) or pet needs an urn that is about 8 cubic inches or larger
• "Keepsake Urns" are typically 1-20 cubic inches are intended to hold a very small portion of ashes - not the full amount of a persons or pets ashes...just a small amount.

Urn sizing notes.

• The 1 to 1 ratio of Weight to Cubic Inches will insure you purchase an urn that is the right size 99% of the time.
• Also experts suggest purchasing an urn little larger in size than required to be on the safer side and to avoid having the urn which will be small for the ashes.
• The amount of cremation ashes will also depend on different variables like the size of the skeletal, bone structure of the deceased, temperature variations used inside the cremation chamber, how long the ashes were there in the cremation chamber, and the level of processing done once the ashes are removed from the cremation chamber and so on.
• 200 cubic inches is the industry standard for an adult urn, Keepsake Jewelry, Keepsake urns, Small and Medium Size Urns are exceptions.

How do I seal the urn ?

Once the remains are put in the urn if the remains will not be spread later then they can be sealed with a clear silicone or glue adhesive.

We understand how important it is for you to find a beautiful cremation urn that is just right for someone you have just lost. It is really frustrating when you do not find an urn that is appropriate for someone who was not only very special in your life but one who you also loved too much.Please contact us  for any questions regarding funeral urns, burial urn, cremation urns, pet urns,custom urns or outdoor urns.