Turn Ashes Into Tattoo Ink

Turning Ashes Into Tattoo Ink

If you’re researching how to turn ashes into tattoo ink, the first thing worth understanding is what should and shouldn’t happen at a tattoo studio. We strongly recommend a tattoo studio doesn’t simply place ashes into their tattoo ink, because contaminants that sit inside cremains (heavy metals, medicinal residue, trace materials stored in the bone) are still there after cremation. Even if a studio has autoclaved the ashes, those contaminants haven’t gone anywhere.

At Cremation Ink ® we use specialist preparation techniques to bring the ashes to an inert, sterile state by extracting the contaminants safely in our UK lab. This is the part that makes the difference. The ashes that come out of our process are clean, safe and ready to combine with our high quality tattoo pigment. The finished bottle is then sent to you, ready for your local tattoo artist to use the same way they’d use any other quality professional ink.

The end product is a fantastic, safe, ashes-infused tattoo ink that your favourite local artist can use to create a beautiful memorial tattoo for you. No specialist artist needed, no licence concern for the studio, no risk to your skin.

If you’d like to read more on how we make the tattoo ink at our end, or the broader tattoos with ashes angle, those pages cover it in depth. The full step-by-step is also on our process page.

Other Ways To Remember A Loved One With Their Ashes

Many of our clients use part of their loved one’s ashes for the tattoo and the rest for something else meaningful. Below are some of the more adventurous, lasting tributes people consider alongside (or instead of) a memorial tattoo. Here are some ideas worth thinking about.

Scattering Ashes At A National Park

If your loved one enjoyed the solitude of nature, loved hiking, or felt most alive in wild, quiet places, scattering their ashes at a national park is one of the most beautiful ways to send them off. If it means getting on a plane with the ashes to get there, have a word with both sets of customs in advance to explain what you’re doing, and you’ll usually get the green light. Carry the death certificate and the funeral director’s contact number, and you’ll be fine.

Find a vantage point with a stunning view and scatter the ashes there. Be aware of the wind direction, because that’s the way the ashes will travel. The simple trick is to wet your finger and slowly turn it around. The side that feels colder is where the wind is coming from, so turn so the wind is behind you, and the ashes carry away from you.

Skydiving And Cremains

Not for the faint hearted if you’re the one doing the scattering. You can book a tandem skydive and take the ashes up with you, and during free fall release the ashes into the atmosphere. Done in honour of a loved one who loved adrenaline, the outdoors, or simply living a big life, it’s about as fitting a goodbye as a skydive gets.

Cremation Diamond

Cremation Ink ® shares a few process elements with this technique, but the diamond is a separate world. You can have your loved one’s ashes turned into a real, lab-grown diamond. Forced heat and compression replicate the conditions deep below the earth where natural diamonds form, and over weeks the carbon transforms into a finished stone. A gemologist then cuts and polishes it. It’s a beautiful, lasting tribute, indistinguishable from a natural diamond. The cost is high and the process is bespoke, but if you can afford it and you want it, your loved one deserves it.

Cremation Ashes In Fireworks

Specialist companies will pack a small amount of your loved one’s ashes into a firework or rocket, so you can set it off at a meaningful moment. The ashes burst across the night sky as part of the display. Plenty of companies now offer this service, ranging from small self-fire rockets you can let off yourself through to full professional pyrotechnic displays.

Launched Into Space

Yes, this is a real service, and yes, it costs serious money (priced by the gram). You can have a small amount of your loved one’s ashes placed into a rocket and when it’s blasted into the stratosphere, the ashes are released to drift off into open space. Perfect for the traveller at heart, or anyone who looked up at the stars more than down at the ground. Space is the last frontier, and a few companies now make this an option for ordinary families, not just the super-rich.

Viking Burial

You can get a bit of your Viking on with a re-created Viking boat that’s set alight and set free on the water. It won’t be a full 40-man longship, but smaller versions sized appropriately for the freight they’re carrying. With Viking culture having a renaissance recently, more people are taking up this idea than ever, and it’s a striking, ceremonial way to say goodbye if it suits the person you’ve lost.

More Cremation Ashes Ideas

Too many to list in full here, but feel free to look around the site for more. Our main FAQ page covers a lot of the practical questions around what you can do with cremation ashes, and our Cremation Ink FAQs and Even More FAQs pages go further still.

Whatever you choose, the small amount of ashes we need for the tattoo (about a tablespoon) still leaves you with plenty for everything else. Many of our clients use a portion for the tattoo, another portion to scatter, and keep some at home in an urn. There’s no rule that says you only pick one.

When you feel ready, you can order your inks here. We’ll send out a kit, walk you through it, and look after the rest. Or contact us first if you’d like to talk it through.

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How do you turn ashes into tattoo ink?

Cremation Ink ® takes a small amount of your loved one’s ashes through specialist preparation in our UK lab. We extract heavy metals, medicinal residue and other contaminants, sterilise the ashes thoroughly, and infuse the prepared material into our high quality professional tattoo pigment. The finished bottle is then posted to you, ready for your local tattoo artist to use.

Can a tattoo studio turn ashes into tattoo ink themselves?

We strongly recommend against it. Cremation ashes still contain contaminants that need extracting before anything goes into your skin, and a tattoo studio isn’t equipped for that work. Even an autoclave at a studio isn’t enough on its own. The proper way is to use Cremation Ink ® to handle the lab work, then take the prepared bottle to your local studio.

Why isn’t a studio autoclave enough?

An autoclave sterilises bacteria, but it doesn’t extract heavy metals, medicinal residue or the other contaminants that sit inside cremation ashes. The Cremation Ink ® process goes well beyond sterilisation. We remove the contaminants entirely, so what reaches your skin is inert and safe, not just bacteria-free.

How much of my loved one’s ashes do you need?

About a tablespoon per bottle of ink. The rest stays with you, and any ashes Cremation Ink ® doesn’t use in the process are returned to you alongside the finished bottle.

Can I split my loved one’s ashes between a tattoo and something else?

Yes, lots of clients do exactly that. The small amount we need for the tattoo leaves you free to scatter the rest, keep some in an urn, or use a portion for one of the other tributes covered on this page (diamond, fireworks, Bio Urn, jewellery and more). Nothing forces you to choose only one.

Is the finished ink safe to be tattooed with?

Yes, when Cremation Ink ® has prepared it. By the time the bottle reaches your tattoo artist, the ashes have been processed, sterilised and properly infused into a professional tattoo ink. The tattoo heals like any other quality tattoo.

Can my own local tattoo artist use the ink?

Yes. The Cremation Ink ® bottle behaves exactly like any other quality professional tattoo ink. Any good local tattoo artist can use it the same way they’d use any other ink, with no special training required.

How long does turning ashes into tattoo ink take?

Once your loved one’s ashes arrive at Cremation Ink ®, the finished ink is usually ready within five to nine days, depending on how busy the lab is. The bottle is then posted back to you tracked and signed for, anywhere in the world.

Do you ship worldwide?

Yes. Cremation Ink ® ships finished ink to clients across every populated continent, tracked and signed for. Wherever you live, your local tattoo artist can do your memorial tattoo with the bottle we send.

What if I want to talk it through before I order?

Get in touch via our contact page and we’ll happily talk you through any questions you have. We’ve helped clients through this for over twenty years and we’re used to the worries that come with a decision like this. No pressure, no sales push, just honest answers.