I have a friend who has asked me to make her cremation urn. She is not ill now but is a pragmatist and just wants to get things in order. She is also very unsentimental about death.
She says that whatever I do will be fine so not much guidance. I have known her for many years and know a couple of things. She loves the sea and wants her ashes to be scattered far from shore. She does not want the urn to sit on a mantlepiece. She would prefer that it be tossed into the ocean after her ashes are scattered.
I am thinking about an urn made of repurposed wood. Perhaps teak or barn wood. I have wondered about drift wood, but I don’t know of any source that would yield pieces that could be milled into box-sized, flat pieces. The urn need to be of a size to hold all of the cremation remains of an adult.
I would like for the box to come apart after some time in water. Would hide glue be a suitable choice for this purpose?
I’ll appreciate whatever suggestions you may have. This will be my first go at making a cremation urn and I want to do the best that I can for this friend.
Russ
Replies
I went down this rabbit hole once. First stop is:
https://www.artisurn.com/pages/ashes-urn-size-calculator
If you are planning to scatter the remains and then toss the box overboard I'd go with Ipe, which sinks by itself in fresh water if you find a heavy board. (some lighter boards can float.) Not sure about salt water, but adding some weight should be easy enough if you want to make sure. Hide glue is a good choice for having it come apart.
Hide glue sounds good. I’d be inclined to choose a wood that is known to NOT be a good outdoor wood so that it would naturally decompose in the ocean. A big plus would be if you could find a wood denser than water so that it would sink and also be prone to outdoor decay but those two things might be mutually exclusive. Maybe you add some rocks in the bottom of it so that it sinks? Drift wood sounds like too much work for me. If she likes upcycling, maybe she has something wooden in her home or storage that could be used by upcycling the wood. Most wood looks nice on some level so upcycling something she has but doesn’t use or want may appeal to her. Good luck and let us know what you come up with. My dad is in the last few years of his life so I am facing similar things.
Old barn wood. Use a small amount of protein glue to hold the urn together due to its temporary nature. Her remains will be in a plastic sack.
A viking funeral urn? Make a boat, remains in the urn/boat, flaming arrow...