Mulitmedia

See more of the process that creates a keepsake with includes the ashes of a loved one.
Watch now »

Photos by Jason Redmond / Star staff Michael Cade makes memorial glass art at his Thousand Oaks studio in a converted barn. His business, Cremorial Creations, makes glass keepsakes that incorporate a deceased's ashes, be they human or pet.

Joli the Persian cat is living her 10th life — on a beaded necklace around the neck of her human, Chantel Luzinski of Agoura Hills.

"People want to see just a little bit of ash in there; you don't want to overdo it," said Michael Cade, the artist who helped put her there in the form of a pendant that incorporates clear and shimmering colored glass with less than half a teaspoon of the cat's cremated remains.

Working in a refurbished cow barn on his family's property a few blocks from Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks, Cade turns such ashes into art-glass pendants, orbs and suncatchers under the mantle of his homegrown business, Cremorial Creations.

The first word is a blending of the words "cremains," or cremated remains, and "memorial." And if you think that the whole thing sounds a bit strange, Cade understands. He did too, at first.

"Some people think it's very morbid. But then, when they see the jewelry and they feel it, they kind of get it. They warm up to the idea."

Before founding Cremorial Creations in 2003, Cade had a very different career path in mind.

He graduated from Agoura Hills High School in 1990, earned an associate's degree at Moorpark College and then started training to become an emergency medical technician.

Along the way, he became interested in — and trained to do — body piercing. He was surprised to discover that there was more money to be made, and less risk involved, in working as a piercer than as a paramedic.

Blending of arts

His interest in glass heated up much sooner. During childhood trips to Disneyland, Cade, now 36, always made a beeline for the Rasmussen family workshop to watch the glass sculptors at work. "To be able to take a stick of glass and bring it to life seemed amazing to me," he said.

"And then there's my obsession with fire," Cade added with a laugh. (His father, Richard Matthes, is a retired firefighter who lives in Newbury Park and last served in Pacific Palisades.)

After insulating the circa-1960s barn with corrugated steel and scattering a thick layer of pea gravel over the floor, Cade began using the space as a workshop.

He started small, making glass beads to string onto necklaces for friends and family.

Beads that didn't meet his specifications were tossed into the gravel; there they remain, looking like marbles among the tiny gray pebbles.

Then came the shocking, unexpected death of a young family friend, followed by an unusual request from the friend's mother. She asked Cade to take some of her daughter's ashes and "experiment" with turning them into a keepsake in glass.

"I had heard of people using ash from Mount St. Helens to make beautiful globes and other art works," he said of the aftermath of the 1980 volcanic eruption in Washington state. "But this was tough. She was like a little sister to me, so it was emotionally kind of challenging."

One of the resulting pieces, a reverse teardrop of pale blue-gray glass, now hangs from a necklace that is worn nearly every day by his sister, Summer Matthes, one of the young woman's closest friends.

"No matter where I go, no matter what I do, she's with me," Matthes said, her hand fluttering up to her throat. "That memory is always with me."

Pet projects

According to the Cremation Association of North America, an international organization of funeral directors, "cemeterians" and consultants, the popularity of cremation is on a predictable rise. The group projects cremation rates of 39 percent by 2010 and about 57 percent by 2025.

As cremation has become more common, so too have options beyond the urns and scattering ceremonies of the past.

Listed on the association's Web site are companies like Madelyn Co. of Janesville, Wis., which produces hollow sterling silver and 14-karat gold pendants meant to be filled with ashes or other small items and then worn or displayed in a glass dome.

LifeGem and Memorial Gems, meanwhile, create diamonds from the carbon found in cremated remains or a lock of hair. Customers can order the man-made gems in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes, from about $2,700.

But while the Web sites for these companies tend to emphasize memorializing "human loved ones," Cade said the majority of requests for his pieces, which range in price from $150 to $500, come from bereaved pet owners.

"I think people's pets are equally, or maybe more, important than their actual family members sometimes," said Cade, who with wife Kimberly has an 8-month-old Labrador named Kailua Kona.

The Cremorial Creations process requires little more than a pinch of cremated remains, which Cade keeps in tiny resealable, hand-coded plastic bags.

The ash is embedded in clear borosilicate glass — the same stuff used in science lab beakers and test tubes — that is turned molten with the aid of a 2,500-degree torch.

Color is added via another form of glass, selected according to the desires of the client: Dichroic glass gives pieces the sparkly appearance seen in the pendant that Cade created using the ashes of Joli the cat, while frit glass tends to result in a "less girly" sheen, he said.

Clients also choose from among five basic shapes for the final piece, which is presented along with any remaining ash.

"The ashes definitely put out an energy," said Cade, who also makes nonmemorial pieces for sale as Firecandy Glass at area arts and crafts shows. "It's not really religious, but it is very spiritual."