Step right up! Turn your deceased loved ones into diamonds!

[asutickler]

This one belongs under the category of: WTF?!?

CHICAGO (AFP) - Everyone said she was a gem. Now, just eight ounces of cremated remains is all it takes to turn your mother into a diamond.

In fact, there's enough carbon in those ashes to make about 20 gems. And there will still be several pounds of ashes left over to display on the mantelpiece.

So far, nobody's ordered more than 11 diamonds, said Dean VandenBiesen, vice president of operations for LifeGem, which uses super-hot ovens to transform ashes to graphite and then presses the stone into blue and yellow diamonds that retail for anywhere from 2,700 to 20,000 dollars.

"It's not for everyone," VandenBiesen admitted, adding that for those who do chose to immortalize their loved ones in jewelry, the experience is extremely positive.

"We have people that approach us who have just experienced a tragedy and they say I can't wait, I'm so excited about this," he said. "In the field of death care, when someone says I'm really excited about this, I think we've achieved what we wanted to do which is change the culture of death."

The success of LifeGem is just one example of a radical shift in the funeral industry, said Mark Musgrove, immediate past president of the National Funeral Directors Association.

Click here to see the article.

 

[amk714]

Every person deals with death in his or her own way. Some people are against cremation, others prefer it to burial. I wouldn't want a gem made out of a loved one's remains but if the process helps other people cope with death (as bizarre as the idea may seem) and they can afford it, that's fine with me. I just hope no one gets the idea to sell the gems.

 

[Ignatz]

Think what Alfred Hitchcock or Rod Serling could have done with this! A man murders his shrewish wife, cremates and diamondizes her, and has the jewels set in a necklace for his next wife or mistress! But when she wears it, strange things begin to happen. (Hell, Stephen King's probably typing away on it, even as we speak.)

 

[jackmeister]

Think what Alfred Hitchcock or Rod Serling could have done with this! A man murders his shrewish wife, cremates and diamondizes her, and has the jewels set in a necklace for his next wife or mistress! But when she wears it, strange things begin to happen. (Hell, Stephen King's probably typing away on it, even as we speak.)

that acually isnt a bad concept for a book or movie.

 

[Red Jester]

I'm going to drink a bunch of blue food coloring before I die so that I can be a saphire.

 

[MrMacphisto]

Diamonds really are forever.... muwahahahaha....

 

[isabeau]

well my birthstone is topaz. yuck i dont want to be turned intto that its the ugliest stone there is. and lmao redjester

isabeau o and great story idea up above.

 

[Ignatz]

Okay, all the country music lovers sing with me...
1..2..3..4...
I'm just an old chunk of coal,
But I'm gonna be a diamond someday!

What's that? You'd rather I sing solo...ah..."solo" you can't hear me! Got it. Shutting up now.

 

[isabeau]

naaaaaaa ignatz sing away i cant hear you anyway.

isabeau

 

[steph]

Are you the NOVEMBER topaz honey? Ugh. It's my birthstone too~absolutley hideous. I think it looks like a diamond someone peed on. So, I've adopted the emerald as my "unofficial" birthstone...
And this is one of the funniest threads I've read all day~drink blue food dye and look like a sapphire~OMG!
XOXO

well my birthstone is topaz. yuck i dont want to be turned intto that its the ugliest stone there is. and lmao redjester

isabeau o and great story idea up above.

 

[isabeau]

yes the november hon and i've always hated it, great desccription a diamond thats been peed on lmao

isabeau