For a growing number of families, a small container of loose cremated ashes is a difficult object to live with. It is hard to divide, hard to hold, and hard to know what to do with next. In the last several years, a newer category of finished cremation product has begun appearing in funeral home price lists and in family conversations: solidified remains, sometimes called cremation stones or parting stones. Instead of a box of powder, families receive a collection of smooth, palm-friendly stones that hold the full amount of the cremated remains in a stable, ceramic-like form.
This guide explains what solidified remains are, how the process works, what a full set typically costs and takes, what religious traditions say about it, and how it compares to other post-cremation choices such as urns, memorial jewelry, and cremation diamonds. It is written to help families weigh the option calmly — not to recommend it. Parting Stone LLC, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the primary provider in the United States and is named where relevant, but solidified remains are described here as a category, one of several ways to honor a life.
What solidified remains are
Solidified remains are the full output of a single cremation transformed into a set of discrete, stone-like pieces. The finished collection typically contains between 40 and 80 individual pieces from an adult, ranging in size from a thumbnail to a piece that rests in a closed palm — roughly one to three inches across at the largest. They resemble smooth river stones or polished ceramic pebbles, and they do not dissolve in water, crumble in handling, or produce dust the way loose ashes can.
An important point of emphasis: the entire cremation output is transformed. According to the company that developed the process, one quart of cremated remains returns approximately one quart of solidified remains. This distinguishes solidified remains from most other post-cremation keepsakes, which use only a pinch of ashes.
The pieces are natural in color. Most sets are dominated by soft whites, buffs, and grays, with some tan, pale green, blue, or earth-toned pieces mixed in. The color of any individual stone reflects the mineral chemistry of the person's bones, which varies with diet, age, and health across a lifetime. No two collections look alike. No dyes or pigments are added, and customers cannot request particular colors or shapes.
The science: how ashes become stones
Cremated remains are, chemically, mostly calcium phosphate — the mineral fraction of bone that survives high-temperature cremation. Small quantities of sodium, potassium, and trace elements are also present. In loose form these remains are alkaline (pH roughly 11 to 12) and can behave harshly toward soil and vegetation if concentrated in one place.
The solidification process now used by Parting Stone was developed between 2015 and 2019 in collaboration with materials researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Company founder Justin Crowe, a ceramic artist by training, applied for a research grant through the New Mexico Small Business Assistance Program and worked with laboratory scientists — most prominently ceramic engineer Chris Chen — on a method that could bind cremated remains into a durable ceramic-like material. Parting Stone was formally founded as a public benefit corporation and launched the service in October 2019.
At a general level, the process has four stages. Cremated remains are received and any residual metal (surgical hardware, dental amalgam fragments) is removed. The remains are refined to a consistent fine powder. The powder is combined with a proprietary glass-based binding agent that allows the material to hold shape. The mixture is then formed into individual pieces and fired in a kiln at high temperature, which produces a permanent hardness similar to fired ceramic. After cooling, each piece is cleaned and polished.
The binding material is disclosed by the company as glass-based rather than plastic or resin, and the finished pieces are inert to household handling — safe to hold, share among children, place in soil, or set in water. A materials analysis conducted with Los Alamos indicated that solidified remains, unlike loose ashes, have minimal effect on soil and water chemistry when placed outdoors, because the calcium and sodium are locked into a stable matrix rather than free to leach.
Appearance, size, and quantity in more detail
An adult set generally yields 40 to 80 stones, with 40 to 60 being the most frequently cited average and larger sets possible for individuals with higher bone mineral volume. Individual pieces are shaped by hand and range from small pebbles to palm-size pieces; most sets contain a mix. Because pieces are formed individually rather than cast from a mold, no two stones are identical. Colors within a single set are usually consistent — predominantly cream and buff, or gray, or with occasional blue or green pieces — but the exact palette cannot be predicted before firing.
Pricing and turnaround, as of 2026
As of 2026, Parting Stone's published price for a full human solidification is $2,495, all-inclusive of return shipping and containers. Dogs and cats are each $1,195. Pricing has changed substantially over the company's history: the original 2019 launch price was $595 for a human set, and coverage in 2021 listed prices in the $695 to $895 range for a full adult set. Prices were raised in 2023 after the company appeared on the ABC program Shark Tank, and again as processing costs and demand grew. Families comparing options should verify pricing directly with the provider before ordering.
Turnaround is generally 8 to 12 weeks from the day the remains arrive at the Santa Fe lab, with 8 to 10 weeks the company's stated standard timeline. An expedited service is sometimes offered at additional cost.
Shipping cremated remains to and from a solidification provider must follow specific carrier rules. In the United States, the U.S. Postal Service is the only carrier that accepts human cremated remains for domestic shipment, and Priority Mail Express with the required Cremated Remains labeling is the accepted service level. Providers typically send a return kit with pre-labeled packaging and instructions, and either the family or the funeral home coordinates the outbound shipment.
What families do with a set of solidified remains
The most common use is sharing among family. A set of 40 to 80 stones allows every sibling, every grandchild, and close friends across different states to receive a piece of the same collection. For a family scattered across the country — a familiar pattern in modern life — this ability to divide by counting rather than by weighing ashes has been the most-cited reason for choosing the option.
Other common uses include:
- Display at home. A shallow bowl on a mantle, a shadow box paired with photographs, or a small glass jar on a shelf holds a portion of the set. Because the pieces do not dust or spill, they can be displayed without a sealed vessel.
- Carrying. A single smaller stone in a pocket, a purse, or a workbag becomes a private object of remembrance without requiring a locket or a piece of jewelry.
- Planting or garden placement. One or more stones can be placed at the base of a favorite tree, in a memorial garden, or beside a bench, resting on or in the soil without the plant-damage concerns associated with concentrated loose ashes.
- Meaningful scattering. Rather than releasing a single cloud of ash, families sometimes take a small handful of stones to a beach, mountain trail, or waterway and place them, one at a time, in a location that mattered to the person. See /resources/ash-scattering-ceremony-ideas for related traditions.
- Ceremonial burial. Some or all of the set can be buried in a cemetery plot, a cremation garden, or a private family site.
- Setting in jewelry or reliquaries. A small number of jewelers now offer settings that hold a whole solidified stone, sitting between traditional urn pendants and gemstone rings. See /resources/cremation-keepsake-jewelry for how these pieces compare.
For families weighing whether and how to divide a cremation among relatives, the broader questions of consent, timing, and law are covered in /resources/splitting-cremation-ashes-among-family.
How solidified remains differ from other post-cremation choices
Compared with a traditional urn holding loose ashes
A traditional urn is a container; solidified remains are a transformation. Loose ashes are stored in a sealed urn precisely because they are fine, alkaline, and prone to spillage. A solidified set can be kept in a wooden box, a fabric pouch, an open bowl, or many small vessels, because the pieces are stable and inert. The trade-off is cost — a temporary plastic container is essentially free after cremation, and a beautiful urn ranges from under $100 to several hundred dollars, while a full solidification is a four-figure expense. Some families keep both: a small urn on a shelf plus a set of stones to share. Guidance on selecting an urn is in /resources/how-to-choose-a-cremation-urn.
Compared with cremation jewelry
Cremation jewelry — pendants, rings, and bracelets that hold a pinch of ash in a sealed chamber, or that fuse a small quantity of ash into glass or resin — is a keepsake that uses a very small portion of the total cremation. The remaining ashes go back to the family in their original container. Solidified remains, by contrast, transform the whole. A family choosing between the two is really choosing between "a small piece of my mother goes with me" and "our whole mother returns as a set we can each hold." Some families ultimately do both: they solidify the remains, then have one small stone set into a piece of jewelry.
Compared with memorial diamonds
Memorial diamonds — lab-grown diamonds created from carbon extracted from cremated remains — cost between roughly $3,000 and $20,000 or more per stone and typically use a small portion of the ashes (often around a cup) to produce a single gem. They are a dramatic transformation of a piece of the person into a piece of gemstone. Solidified remains cost less per set, use the entire cremation rather than a portion, and produce many pieces rather than one. A more detailed comparison is available at /resources/memorial-diamonds-from-ashes.
Compared with memorial glass
Memorial glass — hand-blown glass pieces that incorporate a small amount of ash into the surface of a paperweight, ornament, or pendant — typically costs $150 to $500 per piece and, like jewelry, uses only a pinch of ashes. Some families order several pieces to distribute among relatives, but the majority of the cremation remains in a container. Solidified remains take the opposite approach: the finished form is the remains, not a decorative object that contains a token of them. Details are in /resources/memorial-glass-from-ashes.
Compared with scattering
Scattering is a one-time act; solidified remains offer ongoing tangibility. That does not mean the two are opposed. Some families scatter part of the loose ashes and solidify the rest; others solidify the entire set and later scatter or bury a portion of the finished stones. Because solidified pieces do not disperse in wind or wash away easily, "scattering" a stone is closer to placing it — leaving one on a beach, at a trailhead, on a family gravesite. For a broader survey of choices, see /resources/what-to-do-with-cremation-ashes.
Religious and cultural considerations
Solidified remains are new enough that most religious traditions have not issued specific guidance on them. Families should consider them within the framework their tradition has already established for cremation and cremated remains.
Catholic Christianity
The Catholic Church permits cremation but places clear conditions on the treatment of the resulting remains. The 2016 instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo, issued by the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith, teaches that cremated remains must be laid to rest in a sacred place, generally a cemetery, church, or dedicated columbarium; that they may not be scattered on land, at sea, or in the air; that they may not be kept permanently in a private home; and that they may not be divided among family members or preserved in jewelry, mementos, or other objects. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has affirmed these norms in its own guidance to American parishes.
A December 2023 clarification from the Dicastery permits a small portion of ashes, with permission from the local bishop, to be kept in a place of significance for the deceased, but explicitly reaffirms the prohibition on scattering, dividing, or converting ashes into keepsakes.
Solidified remains, in the sharing pattern most families choose, would raise concerns under this teaching, because a set of 40 to 80 stones distributed across relatives is by design divided among family members and kept in homes. Observant Catholics drawn to the option should speak directly with their parish priest. Some families choose to solidify the remains and then inter the full set together in a Catholic cemetery plot or columbarium niche, which aligns more closely with Church guidance than sharing does.
Judaism
Traditional Jewish law strongly favors in-ground burial of an intact body and does not permit cremation. Solidified remains therefore do not typically arise as a decision point in observant Jewish practice, because cremation itself would not be chosen. In more liberal Jewish communities where cremation is sometimes accepted, families should consult their rabbi about any subsequent treatment of the remains, including solidification, and note that the general Jewish preference remains that human remains be kept together and buried in a Jewish cemetery.
Islam
Islamic tradition requires prompt burial of the intact body, washed and shrouded, with the head facing the direction of Mecca. Cremation is not permitted. Solidified remains would not be considered in observant Muslim practice.
Protestant Christianity
Most Protestant denominations have no formal restriction on cremation or on what families do with cremated remains, and clergy in these traditions generally leave the choice to the family. A conversation with the pastor is still a good idea, especially if solidified remains will be part of a memorial service.
Orthodox Christianity
Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches generally do not permit cremation, so solidified remains would not typically be part of Orthodox practice.
Buddhist, Hindu, and secular traditions
Cremation is central to Hindu practice and common in Buddhist practice, and post-cremation choices vary widely by lineage, region, and family. Solidified remains are compatible with the underlying commitment to cremation in these traditions, but any specific ritual role — for example, immersion of ashes in a sacred river in Hindu practice — may need to be reconsidered if the ashes have been transformed into stones. Ask a family priest or teacher.
Pets
Solidification is offered for pets as well as people. As of 2026, Parting Stone's price for cats and dogs is $1,195 per animal, all-inclusive. Yield varies with the animal's size: cats and small dogs typically produce a small handful of stones — from 2 to 10 for a cat and 5 to 40 for a dog — while very large animals such as horses require a specialty service at significantly higher cost. Because pets are cremated individually at reputable pet crematories, families interested in pet solidification should confirm that individual (private) cremation was performed, not a communal cremation, before ordering.
Questions worth asking any provider
Whether working with Parting Stone directly or through a funeral home that has partnered with a provider, families benefit from asking a clear set of questions before ordering:
- Are all of the cremated remains returned as solidified pieces, or only a portion?
- What binding material is used, and is it disclosed in writing?
- Where does the processing take place, and what is the facility's operating history?
- What happens if the outbound or return shipment is lost or damaged?
- What are the guarantees if the family is unhappy with the result — for example, can the material be returned to ash form?
- Can multiple family members receive separate shipments, and at what additional cost?
- Does the total price include return shipping, a container, and any keepsake box?
- What is the current turnaround, and how firmly is that timeline held?
When solidified remains may not be the right fit
Solidified remains suit some families and not others. Situations in which the option is less likely to be a good fit include:
- A family planning a burial, interment, or scattering ceremony within a few weeks of cremation — the 8-to-12-week turnaround does not accommodate that timeline.
- A family whose religious tradition requires that cremated remains be kept together in a sacred place, particularly observant Catholic families where sharing across households is central to the appeal.
- A family for whom the total cost is a primary concern; a dignified urn holding loose ashes costs a small fraction of a full solidification.
- A family that feels post-cremation processing distances them from the person — for whom the ashes themselves are what matters, not a transformed form of them.
- A family where relatives are not in agreement; the transformation is not reversible in the way that keeping ashes is, even though most providers offer a return-to-ash guarantee. Everyone with a stake in the decision should weigh in first.
A note on providers and the current market
Parting Stone LLC remains the primary U.S. provider of full-set solidified remains for humans and the company that developed the underlying process. It works directly with families through its website and also licenses the service to a small number of funeral home partners, who may present it under their own branding as "cremation stones" or "parting stones." A handful of smaller operators offer partial-set or single-stone services at lower price points, and a very small number of international providers offer related products. Families researching a specific advertisement should ask two clear questions: does the material sold consist of the person's own cremated remains transformed, or is it a decorative stone that merely holds a token of ashes; and does the service return the full cremation output, or only a portion.
Solidified remains are one option among many. Some families find them profoundly comforting — the words often used are "holdable," "shareable," and "not dust." Others find the process too far from tradition, or too expensive, or too new. Neither reaction is the right one. The decision belongs to the people who loved the person, made in conversation, with time for grief to settle before a large expense is committed.
Sources:
Parting Stone, human solidified remains product page and FAQ — https://partingstone.com/products/human-solidified-remains
Parting Stone Blog, "How Ashes Become Stones: The Science Behind Solidified Remains" — https://blog.partingstone.com/how-ashes-become-stones-the-science-behind-solidified-remains/
Parting Stone (company) — Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parting_Stone_(company)
Los Alamos Reporter, "Ashes To Alabaster-Like Stones: LANL Ceramic Engineer Chris Chen Helps Start-Up Business" (November 14, 2019) — https://losalamosreporter.com/2019/11/14/ashes-to-alabaster-like-stones-lanl-ceramic-engineer-chris-chen-helps-start-up-business/
Business Insider, "Meet the 30-Year-Old Founder Turning Cremated Ashes Into Stones" (June 4, 2022) — https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-founder-parting-stone-turning-cremated-ashes-into-stones-2022-6
Designboom, "'parting stone' turns cremated remains into solid pebbles" (August 17, 2021) — https://www.designboom.com/design/parting-stone-cremated-ashes-human-remains-pebbles-08-17-2021/
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo regarding the burial of the deceased and the conservation of the ashes in the case of cremation (August 15, 2016) — https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/10/25/161025c.html
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cremation and the Order of Christian Funerals — https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/bereavement-and-funerals/cremation-and-funerals
U.S. Postal Service, Shipping Restrictions (cremated remains) — https://www.usps.com/ship/shipping-restrictions.htm