When it comes to cremating your loved ones, it can sometimes be hard to think of the perfect way to remember them and honor their life. Here are our top 5 most creative, out of this world ways:
A lot of people think that scattering ashes is simple and that you just throw the ashes out of an urn. This is not the case. Most of the time when you throw ashes they will stay in a large clump and fall in an unceremonious manner. In contrast, the following method is not only creative, but effective. The Loved One Launcher is a hand-held air cannon that will shoot the ashes of your loved one to distances of over 70ft. Spend an extra $20 and it will shoot out colored biodegradeable confetti along with it.
Late actress and TV personality Joan Rivers with a Loved One Launcher.
#2. Space Launch & Orbit
Only a few qualified people have been lucky enough to go into space. Luckily, it is the 20th century and anything is possible. Dogs and monkeys have been in space, so why not cremains? Whether you are an astronaut or not, we can now send you into space. The catch? You have to be dead.
Elysium is a company that will send a portion of cremated remains into space. Not only will you be able to send your cremated remains into space but you will also get to engrave the container with your initials, witness the launch, and receive a certificate stating that you or your loved ones' cremains are in space. From your phone you can also download an app that will let you track where the cremains are orbiting around earth. After a few months of orbiting earth the container will return to earth and burn up in earth’s atmosphere. So not only will you be in space with a real life chance of encountering an alien, but you also get to be a shooting star and die again in a big ball of fire. Poetic, isn't it?
#3. Become A Part of A Coral Reef
To create a memorial reef they use the cremated remains of the deceased and combine it with natural cast concrete. Once combined, another layer of concrete is added to the top layer of the cast which can be customized by the family with a message or anything else. After being customized, the cast is sunk down into the sea to provide a starting point for an artificial reef. You can watch the process and even participate in helping to create your memorial reef. The reef also has a GPS tracker so you can go back and visit it when you would like. Not only can your avid diver, snorkeler, or fisherman be laid to rest in their favorite place, these reefs also create new places for fish and other sea animals to live in.
#4. Become a Work of Art
How would you like to see your loved ones every day even after they departed? One way you can is to turn their cremated remains into art. There are a few ways you can do this.
Become a Tattoo! You could get a tattoo that incorporates their ashes into it. By combining cremated remains and ink you can get a tattoo made from your loved ones. Make sure before doing this that the tattoo artist sterilizes the ashes before adding them to the ink. It has not been confirmed whether or not this is harmful for your skin or not so make sure everything is as sterile as possible.
Become Art. Become part of a painting. You can add cremated remains to oil paintings so that you can always remember your loved one when you look at the painting. After becoming a work of art, the picture can be given down from generation to generation and become a family heirloom.
Be made into hand-crafted jewelry. Glass blowers are able to combine ashes with the glass to make hand blown jewelry. A necklace can be made out of cremated remains which helps keep the deceased close to your heart at all times.
Be made into Pottery. The website Eternal Ware gives you the option to have cremated remains integrated into a custom piece of pottery. By combining cremated remains with clay your loved ones can be turned into plates, pendants, bowls, or anything else that can be made in a kiln.
#5. Become a Diamond
By having jewelry made out of your loved ones, you can always have them with you after their death. You can create diamonds from the carbon in the cremated remains or hair of your loved ones. To extract the carbon from hair and ashes, scientist have the ashes or hair put into a controlled environment of high nitrogen and low oxygen. Once the carbon is extracted, it is turned into a high purity graphite by putting it under extreme heat in a controlled area. Extreme pressure and heat is then applied to the graphite to turn it into a diamond. Once the diamond is created, you can customize it to however you want and have your legacy live on for generations to come.
#6 (for good measure) Become a Tree
It's possible to mix cremated remains into soil with tree or plant seeds and then placed in the ground. Eterni Trees is a company dedicated to replacing grief with life by turning your loved ones' cremated remains into trees. Bios Urn and The Living Urn are some other companies that offer similar services that help you turned a loved one into a tree.