A Night-Owl and A Butterfly

It's after midnight and I've had a couple cups of coffee...steady hand don't fail me now.

A photo posted by YURNSbyMorzArt (@morzart) on Feb 20, 2015 at 10:33pm PST

Online Resellers Feature Our Urns

Novelty Urns: Behind the Scenes

The creative process for the artisans behind these unique urns comes from a place of authenticity and relating to everyday people. They look for the simple things that bring joy. The urns are subjects that represent people's passions and interests, reflecting their individuality and honor a life well-lived.

Each of these urns is a work of art produced solely by the team of two artisans. Their hands-on approach produces artisan quality sculptures that will vary slightly from piece to piece. No two will ever be exactly alike creating an heirloom-quality, unique work of art.

With a subject in mind, the artisans strive to create an iconic sculpture by modeling a clay representation. When they are satisfied with their model, they create a plaster mold of it. With a mold they employ a traditional slip-cast method to produce a hollow-bodied clay vessel.

Once the slip sets up in the mold and the clay piece is removed, the unfired clay or “greenware” is shaped, added to and refined as needed. At this stage, the artisans place high-temperature wire hangers into the clay body for wall-mounted pieces and hand cut the vessel’s opening for the inurnment hatch.

Once the greenware sculpting is complete, the piece air dries and is fired in a kiln to temperatures nearing 2000°F. The application of extreme heat to the clay body causes a chemical and physical reaction creating a permanently hardened material. The urns are hand-painted either before or after the kiln fire. A variety glazes or oxide washes are used in combination with acrylic paints, metallic waxes and a sealer to create the finishes of each product. Each urns takes about five to seven days from cast to finish.

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Our Virtual Doors are Now Open on Etsy.com

We're all set up and ready to go!  Our YURNS can now be found and purchased through our Etsy Shop:  

www.etsy.com/shop/MorzArt

After 10 Years, Dad Gets a New Home

Our friend purchased this Bass Angler YURN for her father.  For many years, they weren't quite sure what to do with his cremains.  Once she saw this YURN, she knew it was perfect for her dad. We are deeply touched that we were able to create his new memorial, and just love her mother's sweet reaction to receiving it.

Me, My Mom and Dad and his new YURN by MorzArt. Daddy always loved fishing and Billy Bass.

Reason #7: "Pay what you can afford" - Holiday Launch Special

OUR HOLIDAY LAUNCH SPECIAL ENDS JAN. 1st, 2015!

Introducing "YURNS by MorzArt"

We are excited to launch our newest art endeavor YURNS by MorzArt. "Memorial Art for Unique Personalities" -- We are now in production of these 6 models, with new ideas on the way!

With the release of our YURNS cremation sculptures, we would like "service-to-others" to be foremost on our minds, intentions and actions.

The holidays often have us reflecting on the memories of loved ones, and the fond times we had with family and friends who have gone before us. We know this time of year can also be financially constraining for many, and that is why we have decided to offer all of our YURNS models on a "Pay What You Can Afford" basis for the holidays.

Order a YURN before or on January 1, 2015 with a donation amount that is within your means, and we will make for you the model of your choice.

We feel it is a great honor to handcraft each YURN we make, and hope that our service to you is the greatest final gift for your loved one.
 

It's Some Serious Work Indeed

Making model sculptures is fun....making plaster molds is stressful....pouring slip-casts is heavy work...and waiting for clay greenware to dry feels excruciatingly slow. 
It is definitely a process figuring out these prototypes, and we are anxious to have successful kiln fires.  Now, we look forward to working out our presentation of the finished products!

Great Loss Leads to a Greater Purpose

A post to our Facebook friends:

Friends,
As many of you know, Rob’s mother passed away in March. The circumstances and financial situation did not allow for a traditional funeral service. We had a small gathering of family and his mother’s body was cremated. It was decided by the family that they wanted her cremains to be brought here to our property- along with her brother’s ashes (Uncle Jimmy passed away 5 years ago). About 10 days after her passing, a small white box containing her cremains was delivered by hand from our mailman...and today, we have two small white boxes sitting on top our refrigerator. Although the family had discussed us planting the ashes with new trees, we haven’t yet set the proper space or have had the readiness to do that.
Also as you may know, in a turn of events with our sawyer friend- we have been assisting in the development of his casket company. That exposure has us learning a lot about the death care industry. The funeral business is changing and they are taking note of the rising increase in the people doing cremation by choice or out of financial necessity. In some areas of the country, cremation rates are 70+% and people are opting for life celebration ceremonies over traditional funerals and their associated costs.
As a result, Rob has had many conversations with people interested in urns. In doing some research about urns, we discovered that there are many choices for funerary vessels, but not many that reach “outside of the box” per se…. spanning the financial spectrum, there are many beautiful clay, glass, metal or wooden urns and boxes out there- but that’s just it, the choice is a basically a vase or a box. It is difficult to find a very personalized urn…a figurative vessel that visually represents a person’s essence…something uniquely precious for their loved ones. This point brings to mind prior sculpture work we created as a special memorial.

In 2006, our buddy Ron passed away. At the time, we spoke with his wife Kathy about doing a sculptural urn for her. Ron had a big personality and he loved to fish… it was decided that she wanted a bigmouth bass fish for his cremains. Eight years later, that urn still sits mounted like a trophy on the wall of their home. Placed under a covered porch, it overlooks the beautiful country property they love so much. We know Ron would think it is a hoot that his remains ended up in that clay fish…he was just that kind of guy. Kathy recently shared with us how the fish urn still gives her comfort, being able to look up and know he is there with her.
So, where is all of this going- now that we have gone full circle? You guessed it…we want to do sculptural urns. Applied art with special function and sentiment, something that loved ones can always keep- to display in remembrance….a unique memorial that can have infinite possibilities to reflect the personality, hobbies or interests of the individual.
We now have better ideas for memorializing the cremains of Rob's mother and uncle, and will we'll be making special urn sculptures to represent them. Our intention is set with this idea… we get teary-eyed at the thought of such a beautiful purpose- we can't imagine a greater honor for our art, than to be of service to families in this way.
Do you have one of those small white boxes that you have been waiting to do something with? Do you have a friend that might be comforted by this service we can provide? Please contact us if you would like to share your thoughts or to create a special memorial for a loved one.
Abundant blessings,
Rob & Jamaica