How To Design Your Own Custom Headstone And Use It At The Burial Plot You've Reserved
Posted on: 8 January 2020
Planning your own memorial services helps to keep final expenses low and ensures that you're remembered in the way that you want to be. One area of planning that many people neglect, however, is the grave marker for their burial site.
Advances in laser etching and sandblasting have opened up wider possibilities for the personalization that can be done with a custom headstone — it's now easy to add detailed artwork or photographs to a grave marker. Personalizing your own grave marker and having it placed at a reserved burial plot can save you money as well. Cemeteries often charge high markups on their own grave markers, so you can often find better deals from online vendors. If you're interested in using a custom headstone as your grave marker, read on to find out how to do it.
Check With Your Cemetery's Regulations Before You Begin
While cemeteries are legally required to allow you to place your own custom headstone on a burial plot, they're also allowed to set their own rules and regulations regarding the grave markers they allow. Before you begin designing a custom grave marker, it's important to call the cemetery and ask them what their rules are regarding what's allowed for the plot you have reserved. You'll need to keep these stipulations in mind when you're designing a custom grave marker.
Additionally, many cemeteries attempt to separate different types of headstones into different areas of the cemetery. One area will feature flat grave markers, another will contain upright slab headstones, and another will contain custom headstones with pictures or unusual designs. If you have a specific design you're interested in, ask the cemetery to switch your reservation to a plot in an area suited for it.
Choose Granite for Increased Durability and Ease of Engraving
Granite is the best choice for custom headstones. It's available in a wide variety of colors, it's incredibly durable, and it can be easily sandblasted or etched with a laser to add pictures or photographs to the headstone. Grave markers made of limestone or marble are both much softer than granite, so they're susceptible to weathering — engravings will eventually fade away. Bronze is another option for a custom grave marker, but it's considerably more expensive. It's also difficult to engrave and susceptible to being scratched by rocks that may be thrown from a groundskeeper's lawnmower.
Customize Your Memorial With Artwork and Photographs
The primary reason why people are interested in custom headstones is the ability to add artwork or photographs to them. Engraving artwork or photographs into a custom headstone is done using computer-aided sandblasting or laser etching. Both methods will wear away the stone, leaving a depression that can be painted a color that contrasts the rest of the grave marker. The paint used in this application is very long-lasting, so you don't have to worry about it fading.
You also have the option of adding a full-color photograph to a custom headstone by using ceramic and porcelain. Ceramic polymers have colored pigments blended into them, which are then baked onto a porcelain shell. Like sandblasted and laser-etched images, ceramic and porcelain images are durable and long-lasting.
Overall, designing a custom headstone is a great way to create a memorialize yourself to family, friends, and future generations, as it allows you to add a personal touch to your own grave marker. Once you've designed your custom memorial and made sure it's acceptable to the cemetery where you've reserved your plot, you can have it sent to a local grave marker installation service to have it safely placed at your burial plot.
To learn more, contact a headstone supplier.
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