Great new products for 2014: affordable, sharp & appropriate pet memorials

Where did Christmas 2013 go, exactly? Now, just a week or so on from the 25^th, it's hard to imagine that months of planning went into just a couple of days! And as much as Christmas was surely fun for many of you out there, it was surely also just as much about expense. Which is where we tell you about something special we've been working on for 2014: our value pet memorials, for people on a budget who care deeply about their pets and don't want a sub-standard memorial which won't do their pet justice.

Sadly, when faced with large costs, we've found that some pet owners have decided to have no memorial at all for their much loved pet who has passed on. Our value range has been designed to be simple, bold and very cost-effective. With the value range you won't get the same large amount of choice, of course, but what you will get is a solid product that will last and last.

First up, when we decided to create the value range – starting at just £30 for a full pet memorial – we set a few clear ground rules. The first was to use a quality basic material that was proven to stand the test of time, and the second was to use the same tried-and-trusted techniques which we know are the best and most reliable. No cutting corners! As such, all our value pet memorials are made from high-quality granite. Beautifully crafted and polished black granite, to be precise. With this as a solid foundation, we then get to work with sandblasting the lettering. As with all our memorials, you select the right kind of wording and motifs and we engrave this into the stone in such a way that it will be there for many years to come. This is finished in the way that you'd expect, leaving a carefully painted memorial – the colour, of course, is entirely up to you.

The value range may be more basic than some of our other products, but it is still entirely bespoke. Because when it comes to pet memorials, one size definitely doesn't fit all.

All the prices are available on the page, but to give you a rough idea, a small 6 x 4 inch memorial will cost £30 and a large 8 x 12 inch memorial will set you back £50. VAT is included in these prices, and you may also choose to add a steel ground holder to your order, at the time of purchase.

Rustic slate memorials are now also available. Slate is a wonderful natural material which harmonizes perfectly with the kind of workmanship that Pets at Rest love – there's nothing fussy about slate, and against the neutral grey colour, painted lettering shows up wonderfully.

 

If you would like more information please get in touch

Allow Pets at Rest to take you on a journey into font styles and design...

 For so many of us, when a pet dies, it's about much more than just losing an animal we loved. It may be a cliché to say it, but our pets are friends we share decades with. They are there during our low points and our high points, and they give a love that is as pure as can be.

 It goes without saying, then, that when their time of passing comes, you want their memory to remain exactly as feels right to you. And along with finding the perfect kind of memorial to choose, that means selecting a style of font that embodies the character of the pet you'll never forget.

 So many styles, so how do you choose one?

 

Selecting one font/typeface from literally hundreds isn't easy for anyone. In fact the more you discover, the less easy it can become! That doesn't mean it has to be a headache for weeks, of course.

The first thing to decide is how ornate and elaborate you would like the font to be. Bear in mind that if the font/typeface is too elaborate, it may become unreadable, and that if it is too simple, it may not do your pet's character justice. Fortunately, there are a few popular ones which fit the bill for a great many of us. Times New Roman is one – it's the font this blog post is written in, in fact, and it works so well because it is timeless, classic and with serifs that finish the letters beautifully.

Alternatively, you could go with Tahoma. Tahoma is a nice, bright, clear font that is very readable and simple. A more contemporary font without serifs, it's probably best suited to a more modern-style pet memorial.

Next up, we have Ms Boli. A fun and lively font – as is obvious by now! – this one will work wonders for a pet who was always fun to be around, or maybe a bit mischievous! Then again,  Arial Black is also a very good option. Particularly if your dog or cat was bold and loved being the centre of attention.

For more refined pets, however, you'll want to consider fonts similar to Verdana. Light and simple, Verdana shares many of the qualities of Tahoma and allows for a little more space between words and characters.

Font size is also an important issue, as is a font's ability to print well in numerical form. As numbers will form an important part of your pet memorial, it's vital to make sure that the font you have chosen does numbers or symbols well (not all do!).

And now for one last note on combining fonts: providing you're careful and selective, there's no reason why a memorial can't combine several fonts together. For practical reasons, though, we'd suggest not using more than 2 fonts. If you are going to use several on the same piece, it's probably best they are reasonably similar, too. If there is too much contrast between the styles, you may end up taking away from the memory and creating something which is more of a spectacle.

 

If you would like to have more than one font used simply let us know either when placing your order online or by emailing us or giving us a call.

About our Granite Photo Pet Memorials

Here is a few pics of our very popular XL Supreme Black Granite Photo Pet Memorials created in the finest quality Spanish stone and have a chunky 20mm thickness. These are one of our original memorial creations we started with over 10 years ago! They have loads of room for as much wording as you desire and can include your text in the font style of your choice, motif designs such as hearts or paw prints and can also include a special uv protected photo.

Many people think that the only way to reproduce a photo onto a granite surface like this is to attach a ceramic plaque which are usually expensive to create and as they are quite thick pertrude off the stones surface. We use a state of the art sublimated 1mm thick metal plaque that we fuse your photos onto and after adding a special UV blocking film attach it to the granites surface and finish it off with a beautiful engraved border. You can have either a circular or square crop depending how your photo is and your preference. Sometimes we are not able to create a circular crop due to not having enough room on the photo but we will advice you of this. These like all our pet memorials are all designed to be placed outside and be able to withstand the elements, ageing naturally over time and staying looking great for many years.