Phoenix Reborn by Iron-Phoenix

A Phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again.

Inspired by the image of the Phoenix, the Urn Garden artists have created a keepsake urn in the style of body art.

Phoenix tat, Tattoo Symbol dot com

The Rising Phoenix Keepsake Urn is hand painted, industrial molded resin.  Magnetic lift off lid. Can be permanently sealed.

Rising Phoenix Keepsake Urn

The flag case chosen by the United States Military for the families of our fallen heroes serving in the Armed Forces and is made in America.

Solid walnut flag case includes a service specific medallion, (Great Seal of the United States, Army, Navy, Air Force). Includes insert to mount medals.  Can be personalized with engraving. Wall mountable.

tattoo image via

Peggy Sue Smith, RIP: My nephew had a memorial tattoo done to honor his grandmother, who introduced him to the guitar and paid for lessons.

Back in the day, cutting edge technology allowed our families to pose with the dear departed and record the moment for posterity.

Courtesy of Coilhouse

That idea faded and seems creepy now, but what about the background noise I heard this weekend? Snippets of  reality tv with the Jackson Family Show trying to coordinate a very public gold- plated memorial service.

Or the bit of a tattoo road show, featuring a gentleman who mixed a trace of his loved one’s ashes into the ink and had a portrait style memorial tattoo on his chest.

At the quieter end of the spectrum, one of our clients does design work in a memorial garden in upstate New York, had this good word to say about our personalized river rock garden stone.

“The H-stone — both the stone itself and the workmanship — is lovely and has become the new standard in our Memorial Gardens.”

See: James Brown Funeral.

Memorial Ideas.

Neighborhood Garden Memorials

This tatt caught my eye yesterday. Always full of questions, I asked the owner “Is that the tree of life? Are the words Hawaiian?”

Lakota was the language. The imagery represented Mother Earth, and Father Sky. The translation is:

Makpiyah Ate: Father Sky

Yuoniha: Honor

Ina Maka Yukka: Mother Earth Awaken

Wowicakl: Truth

The other arm translates to:

Yuoniha: Honor

Mitakuye- Oyasin: We Are All Related

Osikapi: Humility

Today’s tip: Check the artist’s portfolio.

Stolen from the Complaints Department.

Greetings!

Our Anubis pet urn is back in stock after a brief absence. This funeral urn is a replica of a canopic jar and holds 90 cubic inches. Too bad these styles are not available in a size to handle adult remains, we get several requests for the larger capacity.

Dog lovers tend to favor this cremation urn style.

Early in Egyptian history, Anubis was a god of the dead. Anubis had three important functions. He supervised the embalming of bodies. He received the mummy into the tomb and performed the Opening of the Mouth ceremony and then conducted the soul in the Field of Celestial Offerings. Most importantly though, Anubis monitored the Scales of Truth to protect the dead from deception and eternal death.

The god of embalming is probably associated with the jackal due to the habits of jackals to lurk about tombs and graves. One of the reasons the early Egyptians sought to make their tombs more elaborate was to keep the bodies safe from the jackals lingering about the graves. It is only natural therefore that a god of mummification would be connected with them. By worshiping Anubis, the Egyptians hoped to invoke him to protect their deceased from jackals, and the natural decay that unprotected bodies endure.

Other styles in our Egyptian collection include Bastet, Horus, and Pharaoh funeral urns.

Greetings! What about this crazy new urn style? Doubt we’ll add it to the mix. Most of our clients don’t want to see the ashes and prefer something a little more discreet…..

But Russell Parsons from West Virginia is the winner for most creative final instructions…..

Retired pipefitter, Army veteran and cancer survivor Russell Parsons says he’s not afraid to die — and he’s got the tattoo to prove it. Inside the yellow and orange flaming tattoo on his right arm are instructions to the funeral home where he has a prepaid cremation: “Barlow Bonsall cook 1700-1800 for 2 to 3 hours.”

“It’s a recipe,” the 67-year-old widower from Hurricane, W.V., said. “It’s a recipe for cremation.” Linda Wilson, manager of Barlow-Bonsall Funeral Home and Crematorium in Charleston, W.V., said she thought Parsons was joking several weeks ago when he said he was going to have his final wishes tattooed on his arm. “I never thought he would actually do it,” she said Tuesday. She wasn’t the only one. Parsons said the tattoo artist who gave him his first and only tattoo said his request was among the craziest he’d ever received in 22 years. “I told him, ‘Well, take a look because I’m one of a kind.’”

Parsons, who survived a brush with cancer in 1999 and still deals with injuries from his Army service, said not everyone understands his attitudes about life and death. “I’m not afraid of death. I’m afraid of life,” he said. “I’m afraid of living and not being able to take care of myself.”