How to make a wooden pet urn

Making an urn for deceased pet can help you through this painful grieving process. You can create a beautiful wood urn and engrave your pets name, a poem or even a special message; you can also put laminate pictures of your pet on it. Creating an urn for your pet can be very rewarding. The cost of all of the materials, excluding the wood, will total to about $12 and can be found at Wal-mart or Target, and you can buy a small unfinished wooden box at any craft shop for about $10 to $15.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Unfinished wood box
• Magnifying glass
• Very fine sand paper
• Wood stain
• Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating (spray on) OR Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze (brush on)
• Scissors
• Pencil and black ball point pen
• Soft cloth

1. Sand down the entire unfinished wood box(urn) with the very fine sand paper. After you are done sanding, wipe off all of the dust with a soft cloth. Now blow the urn to get the dust out of the corners.

2. If you want to put on a laminate picture(s), first cut out the picture(s). Place the picture(s) face up where you want them to go on the urn and trace around the edges with your pencil. Be sure to do this with all of the pictures you plan on putting on the urn.

3. If you want to engrave a special message or your pets name then take your pencil and lightly write the words you want to engrave on your urn. Be sure to write the words on the urn exactly where you want them to be and do not write to small. You can take the urn somewhere to be engraved or you can use a magnifying glass to engrave it yourself.

4. Now is the time to stain the urn with a wood stain. Take a piece of soft cloth and moisten it with whatever color of stain you plan on using. Now wipe down the whole urn, even the parts you have engraved. Allow the urn to sit for an hour. If it is not dark enough then apply more color stain to it. Once you have applied the final coat wait 24 hours before you laminate your pictures to the urn.

5. 24 hours later you are ready to laminate pictures to the urn. Now line the pictures with the traces you did yesterday and quickly and lightly line the back of the pictures and place a little in the middle with super glue. Now place the picture on the urn and hold firmly until the glue dries. Repeat until you have put on all of your pictures.

6. Finally, it is time to laminate the pictures and the urn. If you are using the Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic coating, then hold the can about 10 inches away from the urn and spray the sides first and then the top of the urn. Be sure to do it in that order. Now wait 30 minutes to an hour and spray the sides and the top again. Continue this process of waiting 1 hour and adding another coat of spray until you have 4 coats applied. Wait 24 hours after you have applied the final coat and turn the urn on it's side and spray the bottom(remember 4 coats). Then wait another 24 hours after your final coat on the bottom before you rest the urn on it's bottom somewhere.

Tips & Warnings

• I recommend that you wear a breathing mask.
• Laminate the urn in an area where there is not much dust floating around.
• For a really thick glossy coat you can use a cheap ($1.00) paintbrush and coat the wood urn with Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze.