Keepsake Urns are wonderful for keeping and/or distributing a small amount of ash to loved ones or holding onto if you're scattering ashes. You can find urns for ashes on many sites, but we are one of the few that have handmade urns and the only one we're aware of that offer glass urns along with porcelain urns.
Glass Urns
We have several artist producing glass urns for ashes, each with their own stylistic take on the subject. Where Bryce's Fancy Urns are smaller and opaque with an iridescent shimmer Michael's Twist urns are larger and more elaborate. Mike (different Mike) sits in the middle of our offerings with a simple yet functional keepsake urn for ashes of pets and people.
Full sized urns are also offered by Eli on this page. While not keepsake many do have a smaller keepsake option. Also, we find many people consider both keepsake and full sized urns so we've offered both on this page.
Porcelain Urns
Our Porcelain Urns (Ceramic) range from our nature themed urns by Bonnie with structural aspects to our Cat Urn and Dog urns by Wendy that represent your beloved cat or dog.
Bamboo Urns
Finally, we carry Bamboo Urns by Living Urn for those looking to scatter ashes using a biodegradable scatter memorial urn, or purchase a full-sized Bamboo biodegradable Urn for burial (not technically a keepsake urn but worth mentioning.)
How Much Ash Urns Hold
Regardless of the material of your keepsake cremation urn, you should decide how much cremation ash you want it to hold. Bryce's mini keepsake urns hold only 5-10 cubic inches of cremation ash, where the full sized Bamboo Urn hold 200 cubic inches of cremated remains (average amount of a full-sized human and typical for full-sized cremation urns for humans.) For sharing the ashes between many family members, families choose smaller keepsake urns.
As mentioned, there is a variety of materials one can use for a companion urn (keepsake urn) or an adult urn. At the moment, Spirit Pieces does not offer any metal urns. We've made this decision as other sites offer many urns made from these materials.
You can also see what your funeral home has to offer as they also often have a fair selection of funeral urns to look at on site. Be sure you understand if you'll be responsible for adding the ashes or the funeral home will.
Keepsake Urn Care
Caring for our keepsake urns is simple. As they are glass or ceramic they can be easily cleaned with a sample cloth and slightly soapy water. Blot dry and keep in a ventilated area to dry out. We suggest keeping our urns inside, ideally in a sunny locale to maximize their beauty.
Please note unless made of metal, urns are fragile and should be placed in locations where they won't be accidently dropped or jostled off their perch.
How Big a Glass Urn Should I Get?
This is a very situational question, however we suggest an urn that will fit comfortably in the space you've elected to put it in, yet is large enough to proportionally fit the related décor. Best practice is to figure out which keepsake urn style you like, then find an object with roughly the same size and place it in that spot, then step back several places and see if it works.
COMMON KEEPSAKE URN QUESTIONS
BEST KEEPSAKE URNS FOR MOM
We're of the opinion the keepsake sized versions of the Urns by Eli is the best general collection. However, for any particular urn we like the Ginger Cyprus Keepsake Urn by Bonnie, available both in keepsake size and as a full-sized urn.
BEST KEEPSAKE URNS FOR DAD
We like the urns by Mike for Dad, given their simple yet elegant shape and generally masculine palette of available colors. Each one holds about half a cup of cremation ash. A glass stopper is provided. We suggest sealing with silicone glue.
BEST SMALL KEEPSAKE URN
For small unique keepsake urns nothing beats the offering of mini urns by Bryce. Order quickly though - these go out of stock fast and are hard to replace. These comes in multiple colors and styles. A small glass stopper is provided with each urn. We suggest sealing with silicone glue.
BEST HUMMINGBIRD KEEPSAKE URN
This one is easy; Bonnie's Hummingbird Keepsake Urn is an actual hummingbird sitting on top of a ceramic urn. Available in keepsake size, each one is handmade specifically for you over a period of 8-10 weeks. To make these the urn needs to undergo multiple rounds of sculpting and drying, along with a multi-step glaze process.
BEST UNIQUE KEEPSAKE URN
Again, we need to give this one to Bonnie's Ginger Cyprus Keepsake Urn, given the size, detail and just general uniqueness of this lovely creation. Given it's a handmade urn, please give it 8-10 weeks to be created.
What Can I do with Extra Cremation Ash
If you're getting a keepsake urn, it's very likely you'll have extra ashes left over. If this is the case you'll be asking what to do with your extra ashes. Fortunately, there are plenty of options (in no particular order)
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Get a glass orb from Spirit Pieces, and/or some Cremation Jewelry. We offer over 1600 unique memorial products that can be infused with cremation ash - most only using 1/2 a teaspoon or less of ashes.
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Scatter the ashes in a garden. You can either do this at a local scattering garden or in your own, just be sure to not dump all the ashes in one location as they can damage plants in very high concentrations.
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Scatter the extra ashes at sea. You can find many captains who offer ash scattering services at sea. You can either join the cruise, or have them scatter the ashes on your behalf.
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Arrange to have the ashes scattered in the sky. There's a few outfits that do this and will scatter ashes at over 15,000 feet.
- Get a tattoo with cremation ashes. You may have to call around for this but quite a few tattoo artist offer this.
- Put the cremation ashes into fireworks. Heavenly Stars Fireworks offers this service.
- Send ashes to space via Celestis Memorial Space company.
- Arrange to add your ashes to a memorial reef. Eternal Reefs is a provider in this space.
Who Should I Give Keepsake Urns To?
From our experience we do see gifting of keepsake urns to friends and family. Generally these tend to be the more opaque keepsake urns rather than the ones where you can see the cremation ash.
We strongly suggest if you're going to gift a keepsake urn with ashes to a 3rd party you double check with them they are ok receiving such a gift. While most people are very thankful to receive a small amount of their loved ones ashes, some people do have an adverse reaction.
How Far Back Do Glass Urns Go in History?
Glass Urns have a surprisingly long history, with examples of glass urns found dating back to the time of Christ. Glassmaking goes back an incredible 3600 years which given the melting point of glass is 1800 degrees and requires a concept of chemistry.
Glass urns for ashes, still in functional form, can be found dated to the first century AD. It is likely they existed even before but just haven't been found.
