How to transfer ashes to a funeral urn?

Many families are wondering how to transfer cremation ashes to an urn. Most funeral homes or crematoriums will take care of this service for you, but if not or if you wish to transfer the ashes of a loved one into a beautiful urn, here are some tips. For most traditional cremation urns this is a very simple process. Here are a few tips.

How do you choose your loved one’s urn?

Cremation urns come in many sizes, shapes and materials. Here are some of the most common:
– Vase type urns usually have a top lid
– Wooden cremation urns usually have a bottom panel which is fixed with screws. Some wooden urns can be opened from the back or from the top.
– Marble and stone urns usually have a stopper on the underside of the urn. Depending on the urn, the stopper is either rubber, compression or a threaded metal cap.
– Cremation urns of the reliquary type contain a small portion of the ashes.

You will also need to think about the capacity of the urn you wish to purchase. Choose a minimum of 0.8 gal.

How to put the ashes in the chosen urn

Once the incineration process is complete, the crematorium will place the ashes in a temporary container – bag, box or carton, with an identification label.
There are three different types of transfer of ashes to a cremation urn:
. you can transfer the whole bag with the ashes into the urn,
. you can pour the ashes directly into the urn.
. finally, you can pour the ashes from the container into a new plastic bag inside the urn.
We have included a step-by-step guide on how to fill an urn below.

Firstly, you need a few useful tools such as a sheet of newspaper to place the urn and another to create a funnel, gloves (optional), scissors, a towel and glue to seal the urn (preferably if there are no fixing screws, rubber stoppers or threaded metal plugs) ;
Note: the ashes are sterile and pose no health risk. Some ashes may be very fine and the wearing of a mask may be recommended.

Then start transferring the ashes by following these steps:

– Place the newspaper on a flat surface;
– Put on your gloves;
– Place the urn on top of the newspaper, remove the lid of the urn and place the funnel on top ;
– Open the temporary container and remove the plastic bag from the container; if there is no plastic bag, do not remove anything and place it directly into the urn using a funnel;
– If you do not want to open the plastic bag, simply place it in the urn;
– But if you wish to insert the ashes directly into the urn, cut off one corner of the bag containing the ashes and start inserting them. Don’t worry if ashes spill next to the urn, you have covered the surface so that you can collect the spilled ashes. After inserting the ashes into the urn, gently remove the funnel.
– Once you have inserted all the ashes, you can place the lid and the rubber or threaded metal plugs. But if you want to seal the urn, prepare glue for the following steps;
– Clean the urn opening and the lid with a soft towel ;
– Place small dots of glue on the opening / rim of the urn and on the lid ;
– Then seal the urn quickly by mixing the lid and the opening; Wipe off any excess glue before it dries;

These are the steps you will need to follow to ensure that you have safely placed the ashes of a loved one in an urn.

Can you fill the urn yourself?

It is quite normal to find this operation emotionally difficult. You can call on a friend or other family member to help you.