When someone we care about passes on, the depth and breadth of emotions can be surprising. Traveling through heartbreak for the incredible person we’ve lost while celebrating the remarkable life they lived, this experience can be deep, sorrowful, and confusing.
In the wake of a loved one’s absence, we may find ourselves re-learning old rhythms and learning how to live all over again. During this process, there are several tools we can use to support us on our healing journey. Community, love, and togetherness are a huge help when trying to understand life after a loved one has passed, as are professional services like grief counseling.
One tool that is very effective along our healing journey is the creation of memorials. A memorial to a loved one helps us learn how to celebrate their memory now that they are gone. It also helps empower us in a time that largely feels helpless by giving us an opportunity to take concrete action.
One heartfelt way to commemorate a loved one’s impact and legacy is through cremation jewelry. These memorials can be personal, intricate, and eternal ways to honor the special connection you shared.
What Is Cremation?
There are several forms of death care that your loved one can choose for their final resting place, burial and cremation being the most common. The death care industry helps people make the decision between these two options and honor their loved ones once they have passed on.
Cremation is one of the most popular forms of post-life service in the United States. Although we may consider earthen burial more traditional, cremation has been practiced since the early 1000 BCE, and the practice came to North America as early as the 1800s.
Cremation’s more recent rise in popularity can likely be attributed to the rise in city dwellers and its wider variety of financial options. Typically, it can be more financially viable to have a cremation service than a traditional burial service.
However, there is no right or wrong decision when choosing a post-life service for yourself or your loved ones. Ultimately, the correct decision for your loved ones is the one that honors their values and desires.
What Kinds of Cremation Are There?
There are two primary methods of cremation available to us: flame-based and liquid-based cremation. These two forms of cremation are polar opposites in their methodologies, but they create identical results. Each form is a respectful and ethical way to lay our loved ones to rest.
In flame-based cremation, a body is taken to the crematory or your local funeral home and placed in a specialized oven called a retort. There are certain laws and regulations regarding this process to help protect the dignity and respect of our loved ones throughout the cremation process.
These regulations ensure our loved ones are treated ethically and that their ashes are thoroughly collected. During the cremation process, remains are placed under extreme heat. Because we are largely composed of water, this heat causes our organic tissue to either sublimate or evaporate, aside from hard substances like bones.
In liquid cremation, the soft tissue is emulsified instead of consumed. This process happens through immersion in a solution of liquid that is 95% water and 5% potassium hydroxide. This alkaline solution also uses heat — albeit less of it — to catalyze alkaline hydrolysis, a process that breaks down organic materials and leaves bones behind.
Alkaline hydrolysis might be a newer technology, but it’s simply a way to hasten the natural decomposition process — that same process that occurs when a loved one undergoes earthen burial.
Following both liquid-based and flame-based cremation, the remaining bones are further processed into what we know as human ashes. These ashes are then placed in a commemorative urn chosen by surviving loved ones and returned to them.
There are many ways to honor our loved ones through memorial ashes, like holding a memorial service, scattering their ashes somewhere meaningful, or creating memorial jewelry.
What Is Cremation Jewelry for Women?
Cremation jewelry for women is a common and beautiful way to create a memorial for your loved one that you can see and use every day. These jewelry keepsakes are a deeply personal method of remembering your loved ones by creating something that echoes their remarkable and singular personalities.
While some have chosen to create remembrance jewelry from ashes in the form of cremation urn necklaces that hold ashes or a lock of hair, there are different types of cremation jewelry available that are more durable over time. One example is creating a memorial diamond from the carbon in your loved one's ashes.
What Is a Cremation Diamond?
A cremation diamond is an authentic diamond that is grown from carbon that naturally exists inside human ashes.
We send you step-by-step instructions describing the diamond process before we begin and updates throughout the transformation journey, so you can always rest assured that your loved one's ashes are being treated with respect and care.
The diamond creation process is miraculous but simple, resulting in an eternal keepsake that you can carry with you throughout your life.
Creating a Diamond From Ashes
The cremation diamond process begins with processing ashes and purifying the carbon inside them. Once the carbon has been extracted, it is placed under the same conditions that exist in the earth’s mantle where diamonds naturally form.
About a hundred miles under the earth’s surface, carbon is exposed to extreme pressure and heat. It then takes on a unique, tetrahedral formation and binds in an infinite lattice. This creates what is known as diamond, the hardest naturally occurring substance on the planet and one of the most sought-after precious stones.
Diamonds have several unique characteristics that make them rare and valuable. Because diamonds are made completely from carbon, exposing carbon to similar conditions through special equipment in a lab also produces an authentic diamond.
These cremation diamonds are 100% real, authentic, and graded by IGI to assure their value. The carbon within these diamonds is completely unique since it was extracted from the ashes of a loved one who has passed on.
This makes for one of the most heartfelt and eternal ways to honor our loved ones’ legacies and the special connection we shared. These diamonds are a physical reminder of our love that keeps their memory close to our hearts and helps us celebrate their spectacular lives.
Personalizing Your Memorial Diamond
Because these diamonds are grown and not discovered, you can control their color, size, and cut to further personalize your memorial jewelry.
For some, they may want the diamond fashionedfascinated to a ring, bracelet, or pendant that they wear regularly to keep the memory and love close. For others, there may be a special kind of jewelry unique to your loved one's tastes like a broach or a locket to wear on certain anniversaries to commemorate their impact and legacy.
Because your unique cremation jewelry is made especially for you and your loved one, there's no shortage of ways to infuse pieces of special remembrance into its design. You can set your diamond in stainless steel, sterling silver, bronze, pewter, rhodium, or any other precious metals — perhaps choosing the metal your loved one wore most in life.
Place your cremation pendant next to their birthstone as an added tribute or create a cremation bracelet with an engraving of angel wings or engraved text that reminds you of your good memories together.
What’s more is that with the choice of naturally coloring your diamond, you can choose between a classic clear gemstone, red, green, or blue.
Conclusion
Whether you decide to fashionfascine your unique cremation diamond to an existing family heirloom or create a new family heirloom to pass down throughout the generations, these high-quality diamonds are a deeply personal way to share your loved one’s story and celebrate their life. Keeping your loved one close to your heart is part of the healing process during these difficult times.
Having powerful, memorial tools can help us make sense of life after a loved one passes on. The most important thing to remember is that the memorial you choose is part of your healing journey. Make the decision you think best honors your loved ones and the remarkable life they lead.
Sources
Alkaline Hydrolysis | Cremation Association
Cremation Jewelry - What is it and why do people want it? | Science Care
