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There are so many cremation urns available online that finding a beautiful urn that reflects the memory of the deceased and your sentiments is not difficult. However, those that are manufactured often lack the personal touch. The companies that make them are aware of this and most offer extra services, such as engravings. Other, smaller makers of limited lines of wooden urns for ashes go even further, offering everything from specially selected woods to unique designs for even greater personalization.
Take a look at the large cremation urn websites and virtually all of them have a special section dedicated to accessories. Here you will find services such as metal engraved plaques and laser engraving, including lettering and photo-engraving. The plaques are very much like a plaque you might see on a headstone or grave marker, giving the birth and death dates of the deceased and a quotation of your choice. Laser engraving can be done on wooden urns for ashes. This type of engraving gives crisp, computer generated results and can include remarkably detailed scroll patterns or even themed pictures. When combined with a beautifully made wooden container, the result is an urn that is uniquely yours and can serve as a remembrance for generations.
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For even more personalization, you can find smaller websites that feature wooden urns for ashes by artists and small groups of woodworkers. There are many of these, throughout the country. Usually they are woodworkers who have honed their skills making custom made furniture or wood turnings and have branched out into cremation urns, often after having filled a few special orders for clients.
Some of these fine craftspeople make cremation urns exclusively. They have created a range of designs that can be customized to suit the client's special needs. For example, one father-son team in North Carolina offers several unique styles. One they call the Appalachian style. This is a standard box shape made from various hardwoods, including oak, cherry and other eastern United States woods. Some are four-sided boxes, while others have six sides. Another style they offer, the Contemporary series, mixes light and dark woods to stunning effect.
A woodturner elsewhere in the United States lives in a rural area surrounded by woods. He goes out and mills fallen trees instead of buying the wood. He believes that by doing this, he is doing his small part towards preserving our forested areas by not cutting down living trees. For his wooden urns for ashes, he sets aside only the most unique specimens he finds. On his website he boasts about one piece that he laboriously turned from a delicately veined piece of burlwood. The result was a stunning maple urn just an eighth of an inch thick.
Other craftsmen team up in online versions of Craftsman Guilds, offering cremation urns in a variety of materials, including ceramic, stone, glass, fine metals, wood and others. Their combined resources allow them to also purchase laser engraving equipment, which they use to create plaques and etchings. Sometimes, an expert woodworker will team up with an expert in wood inlays. Together, they create wooden urns for ashes that seem to come to life with their delicate inlays and engravings.
Look for sites dedicated to cremation urns by artists for the ultimate in wooden cremation containers. These sites will feature urns made from many materials, with some of the most stunning being turnings and hand-sculpted urns by master artists and artisans.
Naturally, the more personalized you want your urn to be, the more it is likely to cost. Those urns that are manufactured in quantity will usually be less expensive than those that are made by individual craftsmen or small teams. This is not always the case, though. Before you make your decision, look at what a variety of makers of wooden urns for ashes have to offer. You may find that you can get a custom made or customized urn from a master woodworker for a comparable price to a mass-produced container.
If you are looking for a personalized cremation urn, you can't get more personal than dealing one-on-one with its creator. You will find that he will be not only willing but anxious to bend over backwards to craft an urn that will resonate with you and make you feel like you have found the perfect home for your loved one's remains. Check out the many personalized wooden urns for ashes online and find the one that feels right to you.