Funeral Words

Coffins with Style

I regularly visit a website dedicated to unique product and advertising design. I saw the following advertisement this morning. [Click the image to see more detail.]

I've seen a variety of custom coffin makers over the years, but this outfit seems to have an eye for salesmanship and design as well.

You can find their website at the following: Bert and Bud's Vintage Coffins

According to the website, they have a workshop in Murray, KY. Note also that each unit gets made to custom order. They do not stock anything ahead.

A Whole New Way to Print Photos

Most of you know I have a soft spot for gadgets and technology (one of those A/V geeks growing up I'm afraid). Take a look at the following video of the Zink printer to be sold later this year under the Poloroid brand name.

I don't think this has much direct application to funeral service. We tend to work with computers and larger format printers in our offices. Nevertheless, kids and grandkids will probably want this pocketable printer come next Christmas, so take a look the request next Fall won't come as a total surprise.

In short, this printer uses special water and tear resistant paper which contains dye "crystals" the handheld printer activates as the paper passes through. They say the printer will cost less than $150.00 to start and the paper will cost about $0.30 per print. Not bad.

Low Cost Color Printing

PCMagazine just reviewed the Xerox Phaser 8860 color printer and describes it as a tremendous lower cost alternative to color laser printers with the printer rated at 3.2 cents per page where most color lasers cost 10 cents or more.

Consumables are much easier to handle as well since you insert wax-like blocks as opposed to swapping out elaborate cartidges.

Keep in mind you need to do a reasonable volume of pages to justify the initial investment and the unit must remain turned on 24 hours a day. (the warm up cycle uses a lot of the solid ink)

Still, if you find yourself doing color memorial folders, prayer cards and the like for 15 or more funerals per month, this unit might just pay for itself. Take a look and do the math for yourself.

For the complete review on PCMag.com click here.

For a Xerox dealer locator click here.

New Lamcraft Blessing

In part I have modeled this weblog on the technology site www.engadget.com where new products get announced and talked about and reviewed. That's why I started doing the NFDA convention coverage (though with my laptop stolen, many of those pictures flew out my car window with the computer). Well here's one of the first product announcements I have received direct from a manufacturer or distributor. Perhaps the beginning of many more.

The folks at Lamcraft have developed a new Irish Blessing themed laminated "memorial card", appropriate for laminating a copy of an obituary or other memorial item. Click on the photo for a larger version. According to Bill Brune, Marketing Manager for Lamcraft, this has been their most requested design and they are very proud to now make it available for purchase.

For ordering information, see their website at www.lamcraft.com .

Aardbalm--Green Hype or Green Hope???

Among the pile of materials returned with me from the convention, I come across a brochure for Aardbalm: Preserving & Protecting Naturally. On the back I see the Pierce Chemicals Royal Bond logo and address along with the words "available 2008". So no, this fluid will not become available for at least several months.

On the inside of the brochure only limited information such as the following:

"AARDBalm is a non-toxic embalming chemical designed from within the funeral industry for the funeral industry. The design criteria being to develop a product that is environmentally safe, non toxic and non carcinogenic."

"After years of research and development AARDBalm is a proven product currently in daily use throughout various European countries"

"It will not dehydrate the body, its properties will naturally rehydrate thus providing a more natural appearance of the deceased"

I don't know about you but when I hear vague phrases like "currently in daily use throughout various European countries", alarm bells start going off. So I've done a little bit of research.

Aardbalm has a United Kindom website which contains a material safety data sheet and an instructions manual which does seem to spell out some of the use and limitations for this fluid.

If I read this correctly, the primary active ingredient seems to be the disinfectant Iodine. That seems consistent with an item in the instruction book which says, "AARDBalm is not a long-term embalming solution. It is a sanitising process post death pre-burial/cremation." It goes on to say, "It will not dehydrate the body, its properties will naturally rehaydrate thus providing a more natural appearance of the deceased." All in all, it sounds like a non-formaldehyde injectible disinfectant solution designed to temporarily arrest the activity of bacteria in the remains. It certainly won't pull fluids out of an edemetous body and even if it slows down decomposition, there would still be many trade-offs in terms of lost firmness for cosmetic and reconstructive needs.

I would love to see one of the funeral service schools take this on as an independent research project where we can get a complete understanding of what a chemical like this can do.

I will post links to all the documents below and let the technical experts out there give this a closer look. Perhaps someone in the UK who has experience with this product will take a few minutes to leave a comment.

http://www.aardbalm.co.uk/

Download Aardbalm_safety_data_sheet_complete.pdf

Download aardbalm_instructions_sept_2007.pdf

Brochures and Resources Site

In my wandering around the NFDA Expo floor I came across a booth manned by representatives of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, a non-profit member organziation and clearing house for hospice related information.

Amazingly, they have loads of resource materials available for dowload which can help funeral homes and funeral directors meet the needs of community service presentations, the prearrangement process and grief recovery after a loss.

According to the representative in Vegas, funeral homes may also license the electronic documents to include on their website and co-branded paper copies may be purchased as well.

Topics include the following:

Advance Care Planning Legal Issues
Advance Directives
Planning Ahead
Caregiving
End-of-Life Care
Grief
Grief in the Workplace
Pain
Pediatric
Planning for Long Term Care
Professional Resources
Serious Illness
Spirituality
Resources in Spanish

In some cases you will find 5 or 6 documents under a single heading. To see the full listing, follow the link. Caring Connections: PDF Brochures. For hard copies you can purchase online here: NHPCO: Online Marketplace or use the member services hotline number at 800.646.6400 for bulk purchases, web licenses and co-branding information.

Surprise someone with a song from India!

So goes the tag line for a new company called www.TajTunes.com . I heard about this yesterday on the NPR program Here and Now. Basically you pay $5.00 for TajTunes to provide a singing telegram over the phone to anyone you choose. They have six basic categories (birthday, what's up, thank you, romantic, congrats, feel better) and a money back guarantee.

You provide the contact information and someone from India (and yes they will likely have an Indian accent, so this IS a bit tongue in cheek) will make the call, sing the song, and you will receive an MP3 recording of the conversation via email so that you can hear the reaction.

What does this have to do with funeral service? Well, I know plenty of flamboyant funeral directors out there always looking for some new angle to stay top of mind with local clergy and other key contacts. For some of you, this might just fit the bill.

Please post a comment if you end up using the service. The feedback would be welcome.

Best of Show

I have read hundreds of articles in a multitude of disciplines with the sole purpose of choosing the best product, resource or idea presented at a major convention or tradeshow.

We don't have anything of the kind at the NFDA Expo, but I sure do think we should start. If I had to nominate one new product which grabbed my attention at the show, it would have to be the new collection of "sand" urns I saw at the Dodge Chemical booth this year.

I have no way of counting the thousands of urn designs I have seen over the years and after a while they all start to look alike. Not these. They didn't have it very clearly displayed in the booth, but it grabbed my attention immediately.

The design has a finished surface of beach sand with the impression of feet walking along the surface. I immediately thought of the "Footprints" poem we see used with funerals so often.

They have three keepsakes. One which matches the full sized urn exactly. The other two have differing designs on the lid. One looks like a miniature sand castle and the other like a collection of shells.

Very simple and very effective.

You will find a close up of the keepsake after the break.

NFDA Convention Coverage

The National Funeral Directors Association national convention comes up in less than a week and I will have a chance to cover the expo floor in much greater detail than I have done in years past.

Keep an eye out here for new products, concepts and business ideas.

I tend to search the smaller booths for up and coming, and off-beat approaches which wouldn't tend to get covered in any of the major funeral service publications.

Check it out next week!

A World (literally) of Memories

You HAVE to try this link!!! Click now and become amazed at how small and fascinating a world we live in today.

http://flickrvision.com/

Some one has coordinated photographic postings from the Flikr.com website such that they pop up on a world map. This way you can sit and watch photos of every sort pop up on screen and instantly see where that posting came from. What a totally simple and totally amazing and mesmerizing concept.

If you thought you lived in a small world before, try watching this for a few minutes without feeling like the world got a whole lot more cozy. Bet you can't.

You just HAVE to try this. I can't say it enough.