Designing a Memorial

When I sit down with families to visit about their memorial they often say the same thing, "I have absolutely no idea what I want the monument to look like".

If you could easily find yourself uttering that very same thing, then this blog post is especially for you.

Each year I work with countless families who know that they want to place a memorial in the cemetery and often they even know what color they want. However, when it comes to the actual design, they could use some guidance.

Stock Designs for Sandblasting
At Emerson Monument Co. we have an entire library of designs that families commonly use. These designs are organized by the size of the monument and range from the very simple to the extremely elaborate. Sometimes families will select the entire design and other times the families will use the design as an "inspiration" and build on it.

We also have an entire library of components that are commonly used on monuments. Components are single images, such as an emblem, that represents a career, hobby, event, honor, etc.

Designs for Laser Etching
For those who choose to go the laser etching route, things work a little differently.
Typically when a family would like to do some laser etching I will sit down with them and go over their ideas and show them pictures of similarly etched memorials. We will then gather all necessary artwork from them and go from there.

Proofs.
At Emerson Monument Company we will not start making your monument until you have signed off on a rendering of the memorial. While the renderings are in black and white, they are to-scale and a great way to "see" the monument before it is complete. It is also an opportunity to allow both you and your family to make any necessary changes.

I hope you have found this information to be helpful. If you would like to start designing a memorial, please contact us via email and we will be glad to help.

A Veterans Memorial

If there is a group of folks who deserve a memorial, it is the Veterans who have proudly (and bravely) served our country.

Memorial Day weekend of 2009, we erected a beautiful Veterans Memorial in Farmington, AR.  It was here that a small committee of folks belonging to the Farmington Veteran's Council, brought some ideas together to honor past, present and future Veterans of our United States Armed Forces.  When they came to us they had a general idea of the memorial design and looked to our expertise to help make it happen. 

We recommended a Georgia Gray granite for the memorial and further recommended using laser etched black granite tiles for the Great Seal and the seal of each branch of the military.  By laser etching each seal, we were able to obtain a level of detail that is crisp and accurate.  We then inlayed the black tiles into the gray granite.

Now, I will tell you, there is a fine art to inlaying any kind of tiles into granite.  Why?  Because the inlaying needs to be precise and accurate so that there are no holes or gaps between the base stone and the inlayed stone.  Tiny holes, cracks and gaps could potentially set the base stone up for future problems and are certainly something to avoid.  Here at Emerson Monument Co, our craftsmen are second to none and did an absolutely amazing job with this memorial.

"A tribute to all veterans, past, present and future."

Although some of the memorial was donated by local organizations, the group also needed to do some fundraising to make this memorial possible.  They achieved the necessary funds by selling engraved bricks that were inlayed into a concrete block wall.  Engraved bricks are a lot of fun and very popular because it gives each individual his or her own little tribute within the encompassing memorial.

One of the walls hosting engraved bricks.

I truly enjoyed attending the dedication and memorial service hosted when the memorial was erected.  There was a great turn out of Veterans and their families, as well as some members of other interested organizations.  Several Veterans spoke and told heroic stories which deeply touched my life forever; yes, I am grateful to have attended. 

Many of the Veterans who were at the dedication service.

A Custom Tribute, Post 3

I never knew what a Tesla Coil was until I met Cassie.  In fact, when she mentioned she wanted one on her father's memorial, I had to look it up to see what one was; and they are actually pretty cool!

Cassie went on to tell me that her father built Tesla Coils in his free time and loved Science.  Therefore, she felt confident that incorporating one into his memorial would be very appropriate.  She went on to show me some photos of what she had in mind (see above) and, after further discussion, decided that the coil would be most recognizable if it was laser etched as opposed to sandblasted.

Why?

Because we are able to pick up so much more detail with the laser than we are with standard sand blasting. 

However, as we visited with Cassie we learned that her father was terminally ill and had a short time to live.  This information was very important for us to know because it meant that we would need to sandblast her father's first name and his date of birth. 

Why?

Because her father's memorial would likely be placed in the cemetery before he passed, it was important that we accommodate her need for future lettering (i.e. engraving his date of death on the stone).  You see, all final date cuts are done at the cemetery with a portable sandblaster.  There is not a portable laser capable of doing final date cuts and, thus, not a way to match the style of a laser etched birth date.

Working with both sandblasted and laser etched designs on the same memorial is really very common.  Working with two mediums adds a variety of textures to the memorial and looks really good.

Keeping that in mind, we explained why we needed to both sandblast and laser etch the stone and provided Cassie with the following proof.  The blank space below his last name is the area in which we would sandblast his name and birth date.

Once Cassie approved the drawing, we had the stone etched for her father. 

After laser etching the stone we added the sandblasted inscription.  You will notice that the family decided to arrange his birth date a little less traditionally with the month spelled out and the "rd" after the 3.  It is important to note that there is no "right or wrong" way to inscribe one's dates of life.  We have inscribed dates in several different languages, numerically and even symbolically.  

At Emerson Monument Company we take pride in our ability to create beautiful custom memorials that may be found no where else.

Laser Etching...A New Way to Tell the Story

You can learn a lot about someone based on the engravings on his or her headstone and, with modern day technology, history is being told in a whole new way. While the traditional method of memorializing has traditionally revolved around sandblasted stones such as this:

It has now shifted to laser etchings. With laser etching we are able to take this photo:

And turn it into this:

Laser etching, although fairly new, is a great way to capture detail in stone and really tell a story in a way that is simply not possible via sandblasting. Some fun facts about laser etching are:

• We only laser etch on black. Many monument companies will etch on ebony mist or other colors but we do not recommend it as you need a granite grain that does not vary in color so that it does not distort your image once etched.
• By laser etching you can actually fit more text onto one stone. This is because the laser is capable of achieving smaller, more delicate fonts than the sand blaster is.
• Laser etching is a method of engraving the stone and your etching should endure the test of time nicely if it is not painted. Painted laser etchings (i.e. etched and then hand painted on top of the etching) utilize paints that are inevitably suseptible to weathering and are rumored to last approximately 25 years. That fact bothers some folks and does not bother others.
• The laser etching process is pretty simple. When you come in to begin your laser etching we recommend that you bring your artwork with you. If the artwork is digital we recommend it be at 600 dpi. If you don't know what that means then don't worry, I will help you! We will then work up a proof for you to view and welcome any changes you have to the proof. We will continue to work this way until the proof meets your satisfaction and you give us the "okay" to begin work.
  

I hope you found this post to be informative and encourage you to drop me an e-mail, post a comment, or give me a call if you have any questions.