"A funeral urn should not remind you of a furneral or even an urn. An urn should be something quietly beautiful and deeply resonate - something to gather your loss and your love, and to help you carry these things forward into your own evolving life."
- sculptor/designer David Orth |
Crafting a Bronze Cremation Urn
Metalcraft may be loud and fiery; but throughout the process there is an unbroken search for the quiet heart of the matter. Here in my shop, the funeral urns are pounded out of solid plates of sculptural bronze. A timeworn surface slowly emerges over the anvil. The curves are shaped with a heavy mallet over a rounded surface. The closely fitting parts are welded with intense heat into a seamless whole.
An opening is formed on the bottom of each urn and a cover plate fitted carefully and bolted down tight. Grinding, sanding, and burnishing bring a satin sheen to the urn and prepare it for the patina. The ancient patina solutions are applied repeatedly until the bronze itself glows with patience, depth, and wisdom.
Each urn is crafted to the highest standards. Each urn is unique, personal, and expressive. The process and outcome is almost musical - a requiem in bronze.
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