Creation Process
Upon Arrival
Once your loved one's cremated remains arrive at our facility, our highly trained staff carefully match them to your order in our numbering and barcode tracking system. This ensures the safe tracking of the cremated remains and order details throughout all stages of our memorial production process.
Your loved one's ashes are both securely stored and created separately from other orders to guarantee that your loved one's ashes never come in contact with other orders.
Each order undergoes multiple inspections before creation and throughout the post-production process.Â
How We Make A Memory Glass
One of our expert glass artisans will be assigned to create your memorial. They familiarize themselves with your particular order, then carefully prepare the ashes and colored glass "sand" on a special metal table in the specific pattern needed for the memorial type and design you chose.
They begin by inserting a special steel rod into one of our glass furnaces, which each contain a bowl of 2000°F molten crystal glass. A small amount of red-hot glass, which appears to have the consistency of thick honey, is scooped up onto the tip of the rod.
The artisan will expertly scoop and shape the molten glass as many times as are needed for your memorial. It's then rolled across the ashes and colored glass, fusing it to the crystal. Using special metal tools, the colored glass and ashes are then shaped into your design. A final layer of crystal is scooped from the furnace to create the outer layer of glass, permanently encasing the ashes.
The glass memorial is molded into its final shape, and placed into a kiln (specialized oven) for 12-48 hours (depending on size) to slowly lower its temperature. Each memorial's position in the kiln is tracked by the artisan, keeping your order separate.
Completing Your Glass Memorial
When your loved one's glass memorial has cooled to room temperature, it's placed securely with the remainder of your loved one's cremated remains (not all of the ashes you send will adhere to your memorial, and the unused portion will be returned to you).
Our artisans and post-production staff will meticulously inspect your glass piece. If you've chosen an Orb or Heart design, the bottom of the piece is polished to create a flat mirror-smooth surface.
The order number is laser-etched onto the bottom of the piece for identification. Custom etchings can be done, but space is limited to initials, dates, or "short names."
For Touchstone and Pendant designs, laser-etching can also be done with initials, dates, short names, a fingerprint or footprint (resized to fit), and for pets, a paw print or nose print.