Ashes to ashes, dust to.... fireworks!
Forget about keeping loved ones ashes in an old fashioned urn on the mantle piece.
Far more unusual ways of remembering a late family member are being introduced at a funeral directors in the Black Country.
Ashes are being added to oil paintings, certified diamonds, necklaces and tattoos at Co-operative Memorials in Walsall.
Remains of loved ones are even being added to fireworks to make sure they go off with a real bang.
Shayne Taylor, head of masonry services at Co-operative Memorials, said demand was growing for more unusual ways of remembering a loved one when they pass on.
He said: "We arrange between 7,000 and 8,000 funerals each year. Lifestyles have changed. Years ago people lived within a mile of cemeteries where their loved ones were buried so they could visit the graves.
"Nowadays, family members live all over the country and across the world.
"People are choosing these more unusual ways of remembering family members so they can keep them close to them at all times. It's a little bit different really."
Mr Taylor said the most popular way of storing ashes was still in a decorative urn – the more old fashioned method – followed by locking someone's ashes in a piece of jewellery.
"People want to keep memorials at home which is why they go for the decorative urns. But jewellery is second most popular. It's a very discreet way of remembering someone and people can keep their loved ones with them at all times.
"There is definite growing demand for this.
"Then there's the fireworks. That is something we are seeing people ask for. It costs about £300 and ashes can be put into four fireworks or one large one. Scattering ashes by fireworks is one of the more unusual options we offer.
"We've also spoken to memorial tattoo artists who can add ashes to the inks they use to create a tattoo."
And if art is something that floats someone's boat, or did, then ashes can also be added to paint which then is used to create a masterpiece that could be put up on the wall.
Midcounties Co-operative, which runs Co-operative Memorials, has 80 branches across the Midlands and the unique methods of remembering a loved one are displayed at the Memorial Masonry Centre in Bloxwich Road, Walsall alongside the more traditional stone headstones.
The masonry centre is a purpose-built facility that carries an extensive range of alternative options for cremation ashes.
The centre is designed to allow visitors the chance to see 'behind the scenes' of how its team of skilled craftsmen, with over 190 years of combined experience, produce high quality traditional hand crafted stone memorials.
