How to Turn Ashes Into Jewelry

Human remains after the cremation are called ashes, remains or cremains, and people and artists have been able to turn these remains into cremation jewelry and into diamonds to create jewelry.

You may want to keep your loved one next to you all the time and you want that special piece of cremation jewelry to be made resembling the life of that special person. So, how to turn ashes into jewelry? There are two ways that this can happen: 1. The remains are turned into a diamond, or 2. The ashes are mixed with glass and a piece of jewelry or ornament is created with the ashes inside the mixture.

If you want the diamond and then a pendant or a ring or something else, these are basically the steps that will make that possible:

Step 1: Several ounces of the ashes are placed in a crucible that can withstand massive heat;

Step 2: The temperature is raised to just over 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and that allows all of the elements except the carbon to oxidize;

Step 3: Continue to heat until the carbon has turned to graphite. The entire heating process will take a few weeks.

Step 4: Place the graphite in a core with a metal catalyst and a diamond seed crystal.

Step 5: You will have a diamond press take care of it, by placing the core in it.

Step 6: You must allow the temperature to about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit and the pressure to about 800,000 pounds per square inch. This will take several weeks for the graphite to turn into a rough crystal; and finally

Step 7: Once the crystal is ready, it needs to be cut to your specifications.

And of course the diamond could be custom ordered in different sizes or carats and cremation jewelry is then made to your specifications.

So the other way on how to turn ashes into jewelry is the memorial keepsakes or cremation jewelry that are hand blown and sculpted by glass artists. Molten glass is at temperatures over 2000 degrees, which is a higher than the temperature then most cremation ovens. When the glass is molten, the cremains are incorporated very carefully into the glass just a color would be added to glass. Since glass is at a higher temperature then the cremains, the carbon is burned off and the cremains turn a brilliant white color in the glass.  

After the hand blown sculpture is made, and an annealer is added and it will slowly cool back to room temperature over a twelve to forty eight hour period, depending on the size of the piece that is being manufactured.

The possibilities are endless because the shapes, colors, sizes, etc. are unlimited, so you have to work very closely with the artist while he or she is producing this piece of cremation jewelry.

Now, there is also the standard cremation jewelry that will let you pour a little bit of the cremains in it and carry it around with you as well. There are thousands of designs, shapes, materials, colors, etc. We at urns.com have a wide variety of unique cremation jewelry.