Before I started making wood cremation urns, I had not heard the term “Keepsake Urns”. What? there is more than one kind of urn? Yes! Basically, keepsake urns hold only a portion of someone’s cremated remains. This can happen for a variety of reasons.

Sometimes, more than one family member would like to honor a loved one by having a part of the deceased kept close by. As cremation becomes more popular, it is very common for cremains to be divided up amongst family members, and they all buy keepsake urns in which to keep their allocated amount. I have had lots of requests to make more than one urn for a family, which I think is a beautiful thing! And since all of the Boyce Studio cremation urns are made to order, you can request all of your urns to be made from the same piece of wood, making your urns “related”. No extra charge for this service, just send an email expressing your wishes.

In the descriptions of our cremation urns, we say that we use “rescued lumber” and wood that is “FSC Certified”. These are common terms known to woodworkers, but maybe not to the general public.

We get our wood from 3 local sources. The first is Bohnhoff Lumber, a family owned lumberyard since 1910. They only sell FSC Certified lumber. FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council, an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting responsible forestry. FSC certifies forests all over the world to ensure they meet the highest environmental and social standards.

I’ve had this conversation I don’t know how many times during the past year. I’ve got my short answer down pat and I show them pictures of the urns on my phone. But it inevitably ends up being a longer conversation, with the person telling me their story of a dead loved one or pet, and how they have nowhere to put their cremains. Or that their grandma keeps their grandpa’s ashes in the trunk of her car because she can’t bear to look at them. The conversation usually ends with them saying, “What a good idea! I want one, keep me posted!”

We never really get to their original question, why I do this. Here’s my story.

Our designer and founder of Boyce Studio C.C. Boyce was honored to be featured along with several other talented woodworkers in TimeOut LA's February print and online editions.  Rozette Rago visited the shop and took some great pics, while Kate Wertheimer wrote up a cool blurb.  For those asking about the t-shirt C.C. is wearing, it's from L.A. company Sub_Urban Riot, the folks behind that KALE sweatshirt worn by Beyonce in the 7/11 video Check out the online feature here: https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/blog/meet-6-of-l-a-s-most-talented-woodworkers-021617