At UK Memorials, Corian is one of our most popular materials—and with good reason. In this blog, we’ll explore what makes Corian such a smart and meaningful choice for memorial plaques.
Exceptional Durability with Minimal Maintenance
In today’s busy world, we often need memorials that are both beautiful and low-maintenance. While wooden plaques can be stunning, they do require regular care to preserve their appearance. Corian offers an ideal alternative: it’s a man-made material composed of stone dust and resin, giving it a natural stone-like appearance with added resilience.
Highly durable and weather-resistant, Corian can endure harsh outdoor conditions without deteriorating. Best of all, it requires very little upkeep—just the occasional wipe-down to keep it looking its best.
Limitless Personalisation Options
A memorial should be as unique as the person it commemorates. Corian offers outstanding flexibility in design, making it easy to create a plaque that reflects your loved one’s personality. Choose from a wide array of colours, from classic stone tones like slate and sandstone to more modern shades such as Designer White or Laguna Blue.
Unlike traditional stone, which can limit the size and detail of engraved elements, Corian supports laser engraving. This allows for highly detailed imagery and fine text to be deeply etched and colour-filled with precision.
Corian is also incredibly versatile in shape. Whether you want a standard rectangular plaque or something more distinctive like a heart or cross, the material can be easily cut to suit your design. You can also recess smaller plaques into larger ones for a layered, custom effect.
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Our Corian plaques can be mounted on a variety of tree stakes, many of which are handcrafted by our skilled blacksmiths and galvanised for long-lasting use.
If you’re considering a Corian memorial plaque and have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’re here to help.
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Each material that we craft with at UK Memorials can make a memorial stand out in its own way, but we’ve always found there to be an outstanding finish to our granite memorials and plaques. Granite has been a long-lasting popular choice for memorials (traditionally and specifically headstones due to its toughness and durability). This is why we have chosen to continue the tradition of crafting memorials from granite – but we also choose to offer granite memorials with a modern twist.
Handcrafted Granite Memorials
Granite has a stand-out, high-quality appearance (particularly when polished by our thorough and expert team). Specialising in bespoke memorials is something that we are incredibly proud of. No two memorials need to look the same, allowing some to honour the traditional layout of a memorial, and others to personalise and modernise a memorial to celebrate the loved one that they’re honouring in a way that feels right for them.
By nature, granite has a natural appearance as a result of being quarried which gives some variation in each piece of stone. Additionally, granite is available in several different colours including shades of black, blue, grey and green – allowing space for our customers a choice when designing a memorial. Our granite memorials and plaques are also available in different thicknesses, shapes (including wedges) and sizes. While we stock some sizes as standard, our talented craftsmen can work with you to achieve the final appearance that you had in mind.
Granite Wedges
Designing A Bespoke Granite Memorial
Layout and lettering are important features of memorial design. Using a blend of traditional and modern crafting techniques, we can craft granite memorials and plaques that can be cherished for a long time to come. In terms of lettering, we can use a wide range of fonts, and recently we have seen an increase in those choosing to include images in memorials (whether they are photographs or small graphics).
Depending on the level of detail you’d like and the finish you want to achieve, we may choose to sandblast or impact engrave the final design once you have approved a proof copy from us. Impact engraving is still a relatively new technique for us, but one that we have had great success with so far turning out some revolutionary results.
At Uk Memorials, we are proud to craft with quality precision, but we are also proud to be memorial specialists who are able to keep your wishes at the forefront of our craftsmanship and service. Being a family business means that we appreciate the challenges that come with designing a memorial, but we are here to support and advise you throughout the process.
Heart Shaped Granite Wedge and Black Granite Pet Memorial
Why Granite?
Granite is a timeless classic of a material when it comes to memorials and plaques. Granite’s effortless ability to honour and celebrate the lives of loved ones has been evident since we first began crafting memorials. This material is long-lasting, versatile in terms of design, and a wonderful way to create a tangible record of a life and legacy.
When we spend so much time with our pets, little and large, it is not surprising that they come to mean so much to us. Whether they are a faithful, loyal dog, a playful, cosy cat or a noble and trustworthy horse – each pet is special to us. It is not surprising that when they pass we want a little token to remember them by. That is why here at UK Memorials, we make a range of memorials specifically for pets. The team at UK Memorials have the joy of loving a wide range of furry friends including cats, horses, dogs and even ferrets, so we know how much these memorials mean to you. We have created this blog to navigate you through some examples of the beautiful pet memorials that you could choose from.
Engraved Pet Memorials
At UK Memorials, we can create an All-In-One Engraved Plaque and holder. These pet memorials are great value for money and are ideal for displaying in the garden. Engraved brass is a traditional choice. It has an excellent shine when maintained but this necessary upkeep isn’t for everybody. If you’re looking for a memorial plaque that is virtually maintenance-free, then aluminium or acrylic laminate may be a better option for you.
Our engraved memorial plaques are also a popular pet memorial choice here at UK Memorials. They come in a variety of materials, including Corian. Corian is a long-lasting and low- maintenance material that comes in a wide selection of colours. It is a bit like a stone substitute but it is actually man-made. It is made from stone dust and resin which provides a stone-like appearance and feel but with a more uniform finish. Slate Corian is one of the most popular colours but Marble, Anthracite and Everest are lovely colours too.
Engraved aluminium plaques are also an option. The aluminium plaques are available in several colours (black and dark bronze being our most popular). The engraving is done by laser which enables you to design a plaque with smaller text and finer details. Additionally, the stainless steel plaques that we create are tough and hard-wearing making them a popular choice. The lettering can be etched or laser engraved and photos can even be incorporated into the design.
In addition to the plaque you can add a wooden backing board and or a stake so that the plaque can be displayed easily from outside. Click here to see our Wooden Backing Boards and stakes.
We have a great selection of full colour memorial options including:
Porcelian plaques which aremade from vitreous porcelain, the Porcelain pet memorials are ideal for being outdoors. Their ceramic pigments are fade-resistant and the plaques are easy to maintain due to their durable finish. Some pet owners like to include a few words with their memorials. With these particular pieces, we can mount them onto a piece of stone-like Corian and engrave the wording there.
Full-Colour Anodised Memorials use the latest technology to lock the memorial in an anodised layer of aluminium. You can design a memorial with images, drawings and words that you have written which can be a great way to pay a personal tribute to your pet. When paired with a wooden backing board, these memorials can be a stunning part of a pet memorial.
Finally, Tough print plaques are one of the highest quality materials you can use for full colour pet memorials. It is exceptionally hardwearing and long-lasting and has a beautiful look and finish. It works like a printed photograph and wording can be included.
In the workshop at UK Memorials, we work with a wide range of stone materials to make beautiful pet memorials. From memorial tablets made from granite to stone plinths and slate memorials, we can create a pet memorial that works for you. Stone memorials have a beautiful, finished and bold appearance. Our stone memorials vary in shape and size leaving you the opportunity to design a pet memorial that is right for you.
One suggestion we have is the slate memorials. Slate is the material we use most for memorials. Slate can be cut which leaves you the space to design a piece that works for you. The lettering is traditionally engraved into the slate but we can use the modern technique of sandblasting to leave the letters raised on the slate instead. Both methods have a beautiful, long-lasting effect.
Wooden memorials have a unique softness that is ideal for pet memorials. They are popular because of their natural appearance and our carpenters can create a stunning piece for you. Varnished Oak and Iroko are the most popular timbers and they can seem a more appropriate choice than something formal such as brass. The lettering of your choosing is burnt into the wood using an engraving laser and then they can be left or painted in. It can be challenging to find the right words for a memorial so you may find our memorial inscriptions blog useful. As you are creating a memorial for your pet, you may like to include an image too.
The simple oak posts make wonderful and fitting memorial pieces. The top of an oak post is cut at a 45-degree angle to create a backing board for the wooden plaque to be placed on. Once completed, they are then easy to put into the ground of your garden, lawn or woodland burial site. These natural posts are in keeping with the surroundings while also providing a tribute to your much-loved pet.
However you design your wooden memorial, these pieces would make a great tribute to your much-loved pet. It would be a privilege to design and create a memorial alongside you in their memory.
Deciding on a pet memorial can be a challenge. We aim to create pieces that are in line with what you want and need from a memorial sign. At UK Memorials, you can rest assured knowing that you will receive a high quality product matched with excellent customer service. Please do get in touch with any questions or queries you have.
We make war memorials in a whole range of different materialsfor long-lasting and poignant tributes.
As we come up to this season of remembrance, here at UK Memorials we wanted to take the opportunity to write and reflect at this time of year. Remembrance is a national opportunity to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day and to recognise the sacrifices made by many to protect the freedom that we have today.
We understand and appreciate how challenging it can be to make decisions around the memorial of those that we have lost, so we want to make this process as easy as possible for you, while still creating something special and significant. Whether looking for a traditional plaque, wooden cross or a modern heart-shaped memorial, we create a wide range of memorials and believe it is important that they are carefully crafted for you. To help with this process, we have created this simple guide of some of the most popular memorials that we can put together alongside you, as you remember your loved ones.
Cast Memorial Plaques
Cast memorial signs have a long-lasting finish and are made using a combination of the latest technology and traditional craftsmanship methods The cast making process gives you more freedom in the designing process because you can choose from a wider variety of fonts, motifs, layouts and stylistic lettering. Once cast, your plaque will then be tended to by hand and given the final finesse that you’re looking for.
Cast bronze is a timeless classic for memorial plaques. The background of the bronze can be left natural or painted in. Patented bronze is also an option available at UK Memorials which would give your memorial plaque a finish to be proud of. The Cast Bronze Memorial Plaques can be made in a variety of shapes too (another benefit of choosing a cast sign). A popular choice for memorial plaques is the cast bronze memorial heart. A cheaper alternative is the cast aluminium memorial signs, still a traditional choice but possibly more cost-effective. Either way, both would create a wonderful piece to help mark your remembrance for a loved one. You can learn more about our cast memorials here.
Corian
Corian is a stone-like material with a clean composition, made up from clear acrylic resin, natural minerals and pigments – meaning that it is available in a variety of colours. Corian has a high-quality finish that would make a beautiful tribute to your loved one in a memorial. You can find more about our corian memorials here.
Memorial Crosses
At UK Memorials, we make a range of wooden crosses that are particularly popular around remembrance. Wooden crosses were first used to mark the graves of soldiers who had died in battle but they now serve as a remembrance sign nationally. They are handmade traditionally using Oak timber but could also be made for you in Iroko, Opepe or Sapele. The lettering can be engraved directly into the wood. Alternatively, you could choose to have a metal plaque created. Though more expensive than the wooden crosses we make, stone-like Corian also makes beautiful and distinctive memorial crosses. They tend to last longer and can be used as either a grave marker or a permanent memorial. Memorial crosses continue to be a popular choice here at UK Memorials and we’d love to make one for you and you’re loved one too. Have a look at our full range of memorial crosses.
Wooden Plaques
Here at UK Memorials, we believe that a memorial piece should be personal. That is why we create a range of unique memorial signs and plaques to help you mark your loved ones resting place or a memorable and special location.
The engraved wooden plaques are a favourite of ours, particularly the wooden hearts. Using beautiful timbers followed by specialist care and treatment, these plaques have a high quality and long-lasting finish – we take great care to make these memorials perfect for you. We can include motifs and images on these memorial signs enabling you to be expressive and creative in your designs. There is a wide range of fonts to choose from too, and any additional fixtures, fittings or mount you require can be included too. The memorial hearts are also available in a range of different materials too. Learn more about our range of wooden memorials.
Photo Memorials
Our long-lasting and high quality full-colour memorial plaques are becoming increasingly popular too. The plaques have a long-lasting resistance to colour fading as a result of the completely encapsulated aluminium plate. These types of memorial plaques are even suitable in harsher weather conditions, for example, by the coast. The photo memorials can be portrait or landscape and are typically finished with gloss or satin as to your preferences. We think these make beautiful memorials that capture moments in time with their photos and are a long-lasting piece to remember a lost loved one. Have a look at our full range of photo options here.
The acts of so many selfless individuals will never be forgotten, which is why here at UK Memorials, we want to ensure that we create memorials that reflect their courage and bravery and our respect for them. Memorials are an important part of remembering any loved one that we have lost, in the war or otherwise. War memorials act as a tangible reminder of the fragility of life and what was sacrificed, and memorials generally are a reminder of the love between family, friends and even strangers. Life connects us in ways that cannot be put into words and therefore memorials of those we have lost, connect us again in celebrations and recognitions of those we have shared life with. This Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, we will remember them.
Please do get in touch if we can help you design a memorial. We are here to help you and will enable you to design exactly what it is that you’re looking for. More information can be found on our website and online shop, and we’d love to hear from you.
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