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Whether you want the peace of knowing that your body's final resting place is ready, like the idea of using your coffin as a bookshelf or Halloween prop until your internment, want to prepare an unusual coffin that uniquely reflects your character and celebrates your life, or are hoping to save a bunch of money on funeral expenses, you've come to the right lens. Visitors who just wanted to see if the lens was really about building your own coffin are welcome, too!
Casket Building Plans and Info
- Casket Plans from Casketfurniture.com
- Casket plans that allow you to build a casket of superior quality than those offered by most funeral homes. Casket hardware, if desired is available here, too.
- Handmade Caskets
- You can create simple, beautiful, and inexpensive wooden caskets. Mother Earth News article tells you what you need to know to DIY
- DIY coffin from IKEA furniture
- An artist makes available a book describing how to use IKEA furniture pieces to make a coffin and flower stands.
- Coffin Design by William Warren!
- Coffin pieces are assembled into a display shelf, then reassembled as a casket when needed.
- "Without Stain or Blemish": An Experience in Building A Casket - by Mark DeCou | LumberJocks.com
- A touching essay by a woodworker on the occasion of building his first casket
- Do it yourself Casket Kits, Casket Plans from MHP-CASKETKITS.COM
- A source for casket plans available for download (including a pet casket and toepincher coffin), as well as casket kits
Vintage Coffins video
Casket Kits
- Bert & Bud's Vintage Coffins
- Dare I say I think their webpage is really cool? They build coffins, and offer a coffin kit. Easy to assemble when needed!
- Eternity Caskets
- Biodegradable, cardboard casket available here, 385$ shipped. Two faux wood grains, or plain.
- ARK Wood Caskets for Natural and Green Burials
- Each inexpensive ARK Wood Casket is beautifully crafted in simple pine using a
patented slide-together design. Perfect for natural burials.
My favorite books on death
Caring for the Dead: Your Final Act of Love
Amazon Price: (as of 01/02/2010) 
Dealing Creatively With Death: A Manual of Death Education and Simple Burial
Amazon Price: $11.66 (as of 01/02/2010)
Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death
Amazon Price: (as of 01/02/2010)
The American Way of Death Revisited
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 01/02/2010)
Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial
Amazon Price: $16.32 (as of 01/02/2010)
Coffin builder from Ghana
Burial Shrouds
In some cultures (notably Orthodox Jews), bodies are not buried in coffins or caskets, but in a fabric burial shroud. Remember the scene at the beginning of Braveheart where his mother is buried in a shroud?
I cannot find any patterns for burial shrouds (if you know of one, let me know!) , but here are some burial shroud resources to get you started.
I cannot find any patterns for burial shrouds (if you know of one, let me know!) , but here are some burial shroud resources to get you started.
- Kinkaraco Burial Shrouds
- Buy a beautiful eco friendly shroud here, or get ideas to make your own.
- Bellacouche Felt Shrouds
- Gorgeous burial shrouds made by a fiber artist in the UK, with a nice explanation of their construction.
- Noble Passing Burial Shroud
- The Attar Burial Shroud has been designed by Joan Haworth-Liu, who has over 20 years of burial experience.
Need some woodworking tools and casket hardware?
Enter your address once to order all the woodworking catalogs from Catalogs.comHalloween Prop Coffins
I get quite a few visitors to this lens who are actually looking to build a coffin as a prop for Halloween celebrations. I do encourage all of these visitors to consider building a REAL coffin (you know you're going to need it someday!). You can use it as the best Halloween decor ever until you die. But, if you choose not to (or just don't have the time before Halloween this year), here are some resources for coffin prop building.
- Coffin Prop Plans
- Free plans for making a toepincher coffin to use as a prop. Or, use the instructions for adding shelves, and make a lovely coffin bookshelf.
- Cheap motion activated coffin
- Instructable for building a coffin, then making it open when someone walks by.
- Scott's Coffin Plans
- How Scott built a coffin for a prop, using real coffin hardware for an authentic look.
- Halloween Monster List of Projects
- Looking for more Halloween decor? Find links here to some truly creepy projects, and some more coffins.
How caskets are made commercially
Funeral Planning and Caring for the Dead
This lens is all about putting control for the funeral back in the hands of the consumer. You DON'T have to do whatever the funeral home tells you (and the amount of money you spend has nothing to do with how much love and respect you have). Check out this section for more information.
- Funeral Consumers Alliance
- Advocates for putting the control back in the hands of the consumer. Financial aspects and the rights of the family are covered.
- Final Passages
- Final Passages is dedicated to a compassionate and dignified alternative to current funeral practices.
- Crossings: Caring for Our Own at Death
- After-death care counseling and services from Crossings
- There Is A Cheap Coffin!
- I love this story of a great man, his loving family, and a cheap coffin.
- Memories are Forever - Planning Meaningful Funeral and Memorial Services that honor your memories of your loved one
- Memories are Forever gives you a place to go to remember, with ideas on preserving and sharing your memories of a loved one who will always be in your heart.
- My Funky Funeral
- A quirky and sometimes goofy look at funeral planning, but with a nice, concise funeral planning form to fill out to help you plan.
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Making a casket flower arrangement
Green Cemeteries
These cemeteries do not allow embalming, have few burials per acre, and are often set up as a nature preserve. These types of cemeteries are very common in the UK and other parts of Europe, but so far there are not many choices in the US.
- Cemetery Group
- Green Cemetery in FL
- The Centre for Natural Burial
- Information and Resources Supporting the Global Natural Burial Movement - A Project of the Natural Burial Co-operative
Reader Feedback
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- JaguarJulie JaguarJulie Dec 29, 2009 @ 10:31 am
- Now I must admit this is a novel type of idea! To build my own coffin -- I have been thinking lately a lot about my mortality, especially since the trunk of my car slammed on my hand and I thought I was going to die!! Geez Louise. But, wow, what a cool idea -- I'd pick a wood that would burn well and smell good cause I'm thinking the cremation route! Happy day to you my dear!
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- scarywoodwitch scarywoodwitch Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:22 am
- This is neat!
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- JerryB JerryB Oct 31, 2009 @ 3:34 pm
- Informative lens! I have one on Burial On A Budget. http://www.squidoo.com/burial-on-a-budget
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- susannaduffy susannaduffy Oct 18, 2009 @ 5:22 pm
- Fascinating lens on a difficult topic. I really appreciate your advice on making your own coffin
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- beachbum_gabby beachbum_gabby Sep 15, 2009 @ 1:51 am
- hehe it made me ghost bumps.. I think this is best for Halloween parties...
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