IT'S always been a quandary – what should you do with that

urn of ashes after your loved one has been cremated?

Sprinkling can seem so final. And with beauty spots, such as

Mount Snowdon, now banning it on environmental grounds, it's

trickier than ever to know what to do with your loved ones.

For a few years the rich have had the option of compressing

the carbon remains of their nearest and dearest to make new

diamonds. But such elaborate statements are out of the price

range of most people.

But how about ending up as a glass paperweight? Or a vase?

Maybe you fancy facing eternity as a pendant or a pair of

cufflinks?

Indeed the only ornament the company doesn't seem to offer

is an ash tray, but I suppose that's understandable under the

circumstances.

“It offers real comfort to people to keep a little bit of

their loved ones around,” says jeweller Helen Jones, who set up

Eternity Crystal last year with her business partner Emily

Evans.

“It's always so hard to know what to do with ashes. All too

often they end up being stored at the bottom of a wardrobe, or

in a dour urn on a mantelpiece. Our products are a way of

celebrating the life of a loved one by creating a beautiful,

lasting memorial.

“When people first hear about the idea, they think it's

going to be morbid. But when they see how beautiful the

glassware is, they realise there's nothing strange or creepy

about it at all.”

Based in a tranquil workshop at Moorlinch Vineyard, near

Bridgwater, the company has a patent pending for the technique,

which embeds some of the deceased's ashes into the glass as

it's being blown.

“The initial idea came from a lady called Wendy Redmore, who

came to see me in 2006 because she was trying to preserve her

mother's ashes in a beautiful way. After a lot of discussion,

we came up with this technique, and initially called the

business The Winnie Glass Company, after her late mother

Winnie.

“In fact Winnie Redmore lives here with us,” she adds,

pointing to a decorative urn in the corner of the room. “All

the ashes you see in our samples come from Winnie, so she's

very special to us.” And the technique is not just a way of

commemorating our nearest and dearest. “We get a lot of people

bringing in the ashes of their dogs,” says Emily.

“We had one lady a few weeks ago, who drove all the way down

from Preston in Lancashire with her dog's ashes. She drove back

down to pick up her pendant, too. It was exactly the sort of

thing that would help her get over losing her pet.”

The unusual technique has also caught the attention of

former Rocky Horror Show star Richard O'Brien, who has

included a visit to the workshop in his ITV1 series, Dead

Strange.

“It was great to have the TV crew down here,” says Emily.

“We also took them to our glass- blowing partners at Dartington

Glass in Devon, so they could see the full process.

“It's wonderful to have the opportunity to get on

television. As a small company, letting people know we're here

is always the first obstacle.

“I think as people learn about the technique, more and more

will want to come to us to have a lasting memento created to

celebrate the lives of their loved ones.”

■ Richard O'Brien's Dead Strange is to be broadcast

on ITV1 on July 31. For more information, visit the website at

www.eternity crystal.com