Posted on 09/08/2013 10:27:51 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows
Want to keep Fido in your life forever? How about turning him into some jewelry? Or a record? Grieving pet owners have turned to some creative extremes in order to immortalize their beloved pet. And in honor of National Pet Memorial Day on Sunday, September 8th, we’re showcasing some of the weirdest memorial services out there.
How do you remember your pets? Would you ever try any of these methods?
1. Hug A Pillow Containing Their Ashes
If you’ve ever wanted to give your long gone furry friends a big fat hug, the soft-hearted pillow will let you cuddle up and take a nap with your deceased pet. The Soft-Hearted pillow contains a small plastic pouch that will seal in their ashes tight so you can cuddle them for eternity. You can even personalize your pillow with embroidery or trimmings to further memorialize your critter.
Image: soft-hearted.com
2. Rock Out With Their Record
Whether you named your pet after a musician or “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window” makes you think of your beloved critter, sometimes music is one of the best ways to remember your lost loved one. That’s why And Vinyl presses ashes into vinyl records for you to listen to forever after. You can either use your favorite song or have the company write a track specifically for you and your pet. The company will even paint a portrait of your pet using its ashes and include that as the album’s cover art.
Image: Nina / Flickr
3. Make A Necklace From Their Hair
If your fluffy kitty or puppy left hair all over the house, or if you had a chance to shave off some of their fur before their cremation or burial, you can always try rolling their fur into balls and then turning those balls into jewelry like designer Kate Benjamin.
Image: Kate Benjamin / moderncat.net
4. Wear A Sweater Made From Their Fur
Alternatively, if you want a bigger tribute made from your critter’s fur then you can always have the hair turned into yarn and then knitted into sweaters like these people who are part of Erwan Fichou’s Dogwool series. While the models used in Fichou’s series are given their own jackets made from their dog’s fur courtesy of the photographer, you’ll have to find your own knitter to work with the fur because Fichou will only accept volunteers who are willing to pose in the jackets beside the pets who provided the fur.
Image: Erwan Fichou
5. Load Bullets With Their Ashes
Did little Fido love hunting with you? Then why not take him on one more hunt by loading up your shotgun cartridges with his ashes like Joanna Booth did with her husband’s ashes? While you can probably find a weapons dealer locally who could help add the ashes to your bullets, Caledonian Cartridge Company in England will most certainly be willing to take on the challenge, being as how they already helped Mrs. Booth with the process.
6. Form A Diamond With Their Ashes
Pets only live for a short while, but diamonds are forever, so why not let your past pet live on forever in a stunning piece of jewelry? A Japanese company named Lidy can turn your pet’s ashes into a yellow diamond up to one carat in size, which can then be set into a jewelry piece for you to wear for the rest of your life.
Image: Lidy
7. Create Jewelry From Their Nose
Artist Jackie Kaufman uses a quick-forming silicon mold to take imprints of pet’s noses, which she then uses to cast metal pendants. While the process is fast enough that it doesn’t bother living cats and dogs, it could just as easily be adapted for those who have recently passed away.
Image: Rock My World Inc / Etsy
8. Tattoo Them On Your Arm
Sure you could tattoo a portrait of your pet on your arm, but if you really want to personalize your tribute tattoo, you could always incorporate some of your furry friend’s ashes. While there are a lot of tattoo shops willing to mix the ashes in with the ink they use, be sure you ask ahead of time because some shops are unwilling to perform this procedure.
Image: macwagen / Flickr
9. Immortalize Them As Art
If you aren’t up to inking a permanent tribute of your pet onto your skin, then you can always have a more traditional portrait of them painted by artist Wayne DeFrances, who will incorporate your pet’s ashes into the paint he uses.
Note: The Image is for illustration purposes and is not of Wayne DeFrances or his artwork.
Image: Mykl Roventine / Flickr
10. Clone Them
If you just can’t give up your beloved pet, you can always try cloning them if you have a DNA sample and $50,000 lying around like Bernann McKinney did when she got five clones of her beloved pit bull created. Of course, the new puppy clone may look just like your old furry friend, but it will not grow up to have the same personality and behavioral traits, so really, aren’t you better off adopting a new puppy from your local animal shelter?
My three ought to be good for a new wardrobe, at that.
Pets + taxidermy = bad news. Dead relatives + taxidermy = Bates’ Motel.
Both!
Bacon burgers!
Sorry for the loss of your little girl.
The human race is starting to worry me.
My sympathies. It’s never easy to say goodbye.
I suppose the cat copter doesn't exactly qualify as a memorial. It crosses a certain intangible but hinky line, however.
Of course. How silly of me.
Starting?
Maybe, when the hair density is great enough, it spontaneously generates another cat.
Valla RIP.
She would have been 1 in 10 days.
It’s hard right now.
I’m sorry.
It’d be the most viking funeral ever.
Thanks, S&A.
You’re a loyal and constant friend.
You can’t imagine how much that means to me.
That is my own dream, even though it would only be a canoe on the Potomac.
Better still be taken to orbit and cast into a kinetic device made to descend upon our enemies at ludicrous speed!
You should begin your diet of pork rinds and alcohol now...
(I stand willing to help you in that endeavor by the way...)
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