Ashes Into Diamonds.

[silken]

While I am by not inherently disturbed by the macabre (having just quit my job as histology lab technician with mortuary duties), this does bother me somewhat. I love my relatives but I would certainly not want to wear them and having some insight into crematorium procedures, the resulting ashes might not always be exactly what or who you think they are. There are far better ways to remember your loved ones and I would like to think that the relative who is ultimately made into a diamond gave permission beforehand!

However, this is not as weird as having your loved ones' ashes mixed into ink and having it tattooed onto you! It's becoming more popular but the thought of it, erm, makes my skin crawl.

[ps_bond]

... the resulting ashes might not always be exactly what or who you think they are.

That's not *supposed* to happen. But...

It's part of why I recognised that Lifegems are quite hot on traceability/lack of contamination; as such, you're dealing with an expensive process with relatively low yields done in small batches, you have none of the economies of scale that mass-production (ish) of diamond crystals can bring. Further, with the price/perceived value of diamonds being set by another entity, these are artificial diamonds (and hence lower price) *but* with a unique attachment, so the price is dictated by that as much as the process.

At the end of the day though, gold is gold, whether it is ethical, dental, Welsh, Scottish or recycled from a piece with sentimental attachment. And carbon - regardless of whether it is that sought-after allotrope or a pencil - is carbon. It has no other definition unless we attach one to it.

Yes, I'm deliberately ignoring isotopes

The embedding ashes in glass thing is intriguing - that has echoes of the vitrification process used to contain nuclear waste.

Now, do we tell them about the ball mill?

[Patstone]

I think that as you said, there are better ways to remember someone dear than by wearing their ashes in whatever way. I am not particularly squeamish either, but I just think it is a bit macabre.

[silken]

Ah, yes, it is not supposed to happen but it can and does (albeit very rarely). I cannot go into an awful lot of detail without divulging information that I really shouldn't but even pre-cremation there are processes that I have reservations about. Anyway, that's another story!

Peter, I agree. Carbon is at the end of the day, carbon! There's one thing I know for sure though, if I were to make any of my family into a diamond ring they would come back to haunt me. I don't think anyone would particularly like the idea of being 'worn' post mortem or in vita for that matter.

Obviously there is a market for this sort of service given the fact that Lifegems have been around for quite some time and are still thriving. I just can't help but feel as if they are thriving off vulnerable, recently bereaved people trying to find a tangible way to preserve & remember their loved ones but I suppose that can also be said for stonemasons, funeral directors, etc.

I'm going off on a massive tangent here but is anyone familiar with Gunther von Hagens? Now there's an ethical minefield! His work is fascinating and I love his exhibitions but he has raised many an eyebrow especially when it was revealed that his 'plastination' process is being done on a large scale in a factory in China and he was making hefty profits from selling (donated) human specimens.

[Keia]

*Googles Gunther von Hagens*.......Eughh, why!?!? That's so wrong ><

[ps_bond]

I've seen plastinated cadavers & sections at a Wellcome exhibition; that was more for educational purposes than art. Used like this, I'm at risk of invoking Godwin's Law.

[mizgeorge]

I've seen plastinated cadavers & sections at a Wellcome exhibition; that was more for educational purposes than art. Used like this, I'm at risk of invoking Godwin's Law.

Sitting on hands.....

[Keia]

If I remember correctly, Gunther had a tv program where he would disect corpses for education purposes? I can't remember if that's the same guy or not though. I can understand someone giving permission for their corpses to be used for education reasons but can't get my head around someone donating for the "art" reasons. It feels a bit, disrespectful(?) using someone in this way.
Back to the ashes point, I make alot of rice writing vials & a few months back a customer asked me if I could put ashes in one for them. I refused & told them I didn't feel comfortable doing that, but if they wanted I could make a memorial rice vial with the persons name instead. This thread reminded me of that awkwardness of being asked to handle ashes.

[caroleallen]

I didn't have any problem at all handling the ashes, though I wondered if I would.

[Keia]

Weren't you paranoid about needing a sneeze? =O