Creating Timeless Memorials

One of the things I enjoy most about my job is the opportunity to really get to know the families I work with and help them create beautiful memorials for their loved ones. That is also the hardest part of my job, as it is tough to watch families hurt and try to cope with the pain they are feeling. However, it is always an honor to know that they have chosen to trust both myself and my team here at Emerson to create their loved one's memorial.

When families come into our store they often come in with an idea of what they would like the memorial to look like. Sometimes the idea is something they thought up that represents a hobby, belief, or life long mission. Other times the family might bring in photos of something they have seen out in the cemetery that they would also like to have for their loved one.

I recently worked with a sweet family that came to me with an idea for a memorial for their beautiful daughter. They brought in this photo (below) and asked if we could do something similar.

There were several things the family liked about this monument. They loved the shape with the detailing on the top and bottom sides. They also loved the raised carving (you can see the carving just above her name appears to "pop out" from the granite) and the two bases that it sits on.

As I began to visit with the family about their ideas I came to learn that they wanted the design to be soft and feminine yet classic. We decided that a raised, shape carved rose in place of the hand would be stunning, along with a raised, shape carved ivy border up top.

The family also told me that the monument would be going in an older section of the cemetery and that the surrounding monuments looked like this (below).

Isn't that beautiful?! Those old monuments are stunning and timeless, two elements that the family wished to accomplish with their daughter's memorial. Keeping the surrounding monuments in mind, we suggested that the monument be "steeled". A steeled monument is a monument that has had the shiny polish removed to create a classic look.

Once we worked with the family and they approved of the shape, size and design, we began working on the monument. I have added photos of the process below.


We sandblast the monument

We carefully place a specil stencil on the monument.

We shape carve the monument by hand

Beautiful!

Completed monument in the cemetery

This stunning memorial is a beautiful reminder of sweet Cara's life and the legacy that she left to her family, friends and to others whose lives she may not have even realized she touched.

If you are interested in creating a memorial for yourself on a pre-need basis or for a loved one, please contact Emerson Monument Co. and we will help guide you through the process.



Not All Monuments Are Created Equally

If there is one thing that I did not realize prior to entering the monument industry, it is that not all monuments are created equally. Why? Because creating monuments is a true artform. And, just like the artists that you are familiar with, styles, techniques and abilities vary from monument builder to monument builder.

Over the next few weeks I will do a blog series about the many ways in which monument builders, and their styles, vary.

This Week's Topic is Shape Carving.

Shape carving is a term used when we refer to giving images dimension by use of a hand held sandblaster. Our guys suit up in a special helmet that offers an oxygen supply as well as other protective gear, and shape the images by hand. As you can imagine, this requires not only a high level of artistry, but a steady hand as well!

The interesting thing to know about shape carving is that many monument builders simply take a design and blow holes into it; this is a sad attempt to make the image appear as though it has shape...as seen below with this border I stumbled accross in a local cemetery. In this picture you will notice that the monument builder who is responsible for this work left the leaves flat and simply blew elongated holes into them in.

An example of poorly done shape carving. Done by another monument company.

The border above is an example of how many monument companys shape carve. They utilize techniques that save them time (and money), and give the consumer a product that is of sub-quality work. Another reason that some monument builders utilize this method is that they simply don't know how to do it any other way. Shape carving is a true artform whose teachings have been largely lost through the decades.


However, the correct way to do shape carving (the way we do it) is to take the image and actually round it in places where the image would naturally have dimension should it be found in nature. It is a time consuming task, but well worth the effort, as seen below with our own shape carved border.

The way a shape carved border should look! Here we have gently rounded the leaves to make them appear more natural. This is the correct way to do shape carving. This work was done at Emerson Monument Company.



This photo offers a close-up view of the shape carved leaf.

I hope you have found this post to be both interesting and helpful! At Emerson Monument Company we do things the right way the first time, and believe in offering a high quality product without cutting corners. If you have any questions about our monuments, please check out our website or give us a call.