Natural Stone Urns
Natural stone include marble, onyx, and granite, these all are used to make the beautiful urns. Natural stone urns symbolize a remarkable association between nature and human being offering us wonderfully carved works of art. There are two main processes for producing a natural stone urn. They are lathe-crafted urns and handcrafted urns. Natural stone urns are unique in their appearance with exclusive features due to the unique characteristics of natural stone. Natural stone materials are some of the most durable, easy to care for, and stunning design elements for the indoors or outdoors.
All of the natural stones start off as limestone or sand stone and through the very long natural process of metamorphosis it turns into what we know as marble, onyx or granite. It is generally used in fine building work, furniture and decorative art. These natural stones are excavated in large pieces, separated from the surrounding rock and brought to the processing mills where the stone is further processed.
The process of making a natural stone urn proceeds in two distinct ways one is semi mechanized and the other is purely hand crafting. The semi mechanized process involves the use of a stone lathe in which a block of natural stone is placed. Then piece of stone reveals the beautiful urn by skilled hands of the workman. Once the final shape is achieved the inner and outer walls of the urn are smoothened by the use of grinders. The urn is then finished with a high luster polish to give it a glass like in appearance.
The other process is handcrafted natural stone urn. In this process the block of a desired natural stone is hand crafted using fine grade hand tools, once the final shape is obtained and it is intricately carved to the taste of the craftsman the urn is then polished. Such types of urns are usually a delicate piece of art. The shine we see on polished stone urns is achieved by rubbing them with a coarse abrasive grit for the first time, followed by finer grits until the stone becomes smooth to the point of mirror image.
The stones like marble are primarily limestone in texture and nature; it is extremely vulnerable to acids which include citric acid and vinegar too. They have the effect of etching the surface of the marble urn or some time they give rise to irremovable stains.. If you own a marble urn then you will also want to keep your marble urn away from any oils as they will absorb beneath the urn surface and may permanently discolor it. Should any of these harmful liquids come in contact with a marble urn, quickly wipe it clean then wash with a mild solution of detergent and water giving it a final rinse of plain water. Other stones like granite and onyx are quite hard in texture as they are the derivative of silica. Therefore they require much lesser attention.
The natural stone urns are available in different sizes and shapes and they can be custom designed to suit the specifications of buyers. The popular shapes available may be round, rectangular, oval, square, angular etc. and different colors include: pink, yellow, brown, white, black, green etc. in which color the natural marble is available and onyx is available in white, tan, and brown colors, the granite is usually available in dark brown and black color.
The Natural stone urns are the most durable natural material available. Each of the urns is crafted individually by craftsman, who shapes these urns into very attractive and unique pieces of art.