Artist Creates Memorial Ash Beads From Cremated Remains Of Deceased Loved Ones
California-based artist Merry Coor has been making glass beads since 2000, but everything changed last year when a young couple asked her if she could incorporate some of the ashes from a dear friend lost too soon into a bead as a keepsake.
“My bead making now gave me a new purpose, and a way to honor others, both living and passed,” writes Coor on her Etsy. “It was 80 degrees in my studio that day, but I had the chills the entire time I was making the beads.”
Coor makes each of these memorial Ash Beads by hand, one at a time in her own studio in Eureka, California.
“If you decide to have me create an ash bead, I will send you a padded, pre-paid envelope, along with instructions and a small tin where you will place the ashes. Send me about ½ teaspoon of ashes for each bead and any photo, letter, or story about your loved one. When your bead is complete, you will receive within 2 to 4 weeks.”
Read on for some of Coor’s answers to Bored Panda’s questions about her work!
More info: Etsy (h/t: laughingsquid)
“When I was first approached, with making an Ash Bead, it was a very big honor and a privilege to do so,” Merry Coor told Bored Panda. “It was a huge responsibility on my part, holding someones ashes. It’s a very intimate experience, to work with loved ones ashes”
“The beads that I first made for my first customers were not like what I make now. There is a learning curve. I wanted a design that I could easily reproduce, and I wanted a glass that I could use, that I could control”
“People are giving me the responsibility with their loved ones’ ashes. The letters and stories that I receive with the ashes are sweet. There are some very nice memories that people share with me”
“The glass is melted and formed it into a round bead. The ashes are incorporated into a spiral design on the bead, then the entire design is sealed in a clear layer of glass. The ash becomes part of the bead and can always be kept close”
“The ones left behind are so full of grief, and making this bead for them means so much. I know what I do helps them with the loss. So many people have told me that the bead has helped in the grieving process”
“I did not invent this, a lot of glass makers have made beads with ashes. My design and the imagine of the galaxy or heavens, or a planet, is a design that people can relate to”
Memorial ash beads are available on Etsy.
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Share on FacebookI would love to have the opportunity to 'wear' my wonderful 18 year old poodle's ashes in remembrance of my once in a lifetime dog.
these are really beautiful but as a guy I wouldn't wear one. would be cool to work in the same concept/style into something more versatile!
Maybe it would be better to create it wit along a seed. Then at least something 'alive' would grow from it. :)
Load More Replies...That's actually really beautiful. it would suck though if you lost it....
Gorgeous! Reminds of the Carl Sagan quote “We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands.” Paperweight would be nice too.
They're beautiful...Coincidence or not, in that colour they look a little like the Earth might look from heaven (or space, if you prefer).
My mum said when she goes she wants me to make her I to something I can keep this is beautiful I like the design of it
At first I thought, the beads are sooo pretty! Why did Bored Panda asked "beautiful or creepy"? But after knew it, I think it's creepy..
I think it's a lovely way to help someone preserve the memory of a person they have lost. I've seen other examples of jewelry that's been made from the ashes of a cremated loved one as well.
this is great. gives a feeling that the loved one is still there with you <3
I think it great to have the ability to create something that is so much in demand for people that would love to have their love one to have
Ashes to ashes & Dust to dust and all that ... But I think it the idea is a bit macabre.
Does she only use human ashes? I am wondering if she would also be willing to work with pet ashes?
I love this idea.. my two dogs could be together always instead of in separate urns
Although I've decided to use my ashes for planting a tree when I die, this is a great idea
You are not wearing the soul but a tiny fragment of a body that is no longer alive...the soul continues on it's stellar and universal life.
Load More Replies...It's not a good thing to wear someone's ashes.. I believe this will keep him/her on the ground and will not be able to pass to the next life
I dunno. I think it's kinda disrespectful to take a part of a persons body and wear it as jewelry to honour them. I'd ask them while living.
+ it is energetically bad too - it would slowly eat up your own energy. Dead energy is dead energy after all - no matter who it is.
It is a memorial, no different than a headstone that we visit and leave flowers at. This way we carry a piece of them with us until we pass
Load More Replies...I would love to have the opportunity to 'wear' my wonderful 18 year old poodle's ashes in remembrance of my once in a lifetime dog.
these are really beautiful but as a guy I wouldn't wear one. would be cool to work in the same concept/style into something more versatile!
Maybe it would be better to create it wit along a seed. Then at least something 'alive' would grow from it. :)
Load More Replies...That's actually really beautiful. it would suck though if you lost it....
Gorgeous! Reminds of the Carl Sagan quote “We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands.” Paperweight would be nice too.
They're beautiful...Coincidence or not, in that colour they look a little like the Earth might look from heaven (or space, if you prefer).
My mum said when she goes she wants me to make her I to something I can keep this is beautiful I like the design of it
At first I thought, the beads are sooo pretty! Why did Bored Panda asked "beautiful or creepy"? But after knew it, I think it's creepy..
I think it's a lovely way to help someone preserve the memory of a person they have lost. I've seen other examples of jewelry that's been made from the ashes of a cremated loved one as well.
this is great. gives a feeling that the loved one is still there with you <3
I think it great to have the ability to create something that is so much in demand for people that would love to have their love one to have
Ashes to ashes & Dust to dust and all that ... But I think it the idea is a bit macabre.
Does she only use human ashes? I am wondering if she would also be willing to work with pet ashes?
I love this idea.. my two dogs could be together always instead of in separate urns
Although I've decided to use my ashes for planting a tree when I die, this is a great idea
You are not wearing the soul but a tiny fragment of a body that is no longer alive...the soul continues on it's stellar and universal life.
Load More Replies...It's not a good thing to wear someone's ashes.. I believe this will keep him/her on the ground and will not be able to pass to the next life
I dunno. I think it's kinda disrespectful to take a part of a persons body and wear it as jewelry to honour them. I'd ask them while living.
+ it is energetically bad too - it would slowly eat up your own energy. Dead energy is dead energy after all - no matter who it is.
It is a memorial, no different than a headstone that we visit and leave flowers at. This way we carry a piece of them with us until we pass
Load More Replies...
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