Ceramic Pictures an amazingly affordable modern enhancement that assures a person’s likeness will remain vivid for the ages. Thanks to these creations of modern technology, grave markers can be much more than just a collection of names, dates, and, perhaps, a special phrase or two. Ceramic pictures allow families to share with eternity their most precious memories as captured in treasured family portraits. Here is some information that will come in handy as you explore your options for installing a ceramic picture on a grave marker in your family.
Shapes and Sizes of Ceramic Pictures
Ceramic pictures are available in a variety of common geometric shapes and in a large variety of sizes. Commonly available shapes include rectangle, oval and even a heart shaped piece. All of these are typically available in sizes ranging from just under 3 inches in diameter to a full 8.5 x 11 inch piece (the size of a standard piece of typing paper. The size and shape you choose for your grave marker will vary, of course, according to your needs and tastes, but a typical ceramic picture to be installed on a typical flat grave marker will usually be between 4 and 5 inches in diameter, and the oval shape is, by most accounts, the most popular choice for shape. Some families choose to place more than one ceramic picture on a flat grave marker, and for those cases, a smaller size would probably be best. The beauty of ceramic pictures is that practically any picture, no matter the size, can be made to fit onto a ceramic plate of any size or shape.
Picture Requirements for Ceramic Pictures
As we said above, just about any size picture can be made to fit onto a ceramic plate. A large 8.5 x 11 inch picture, for example will work nicely on plates that are smaller, and -- in most cases -- smaller pictures can be enlarged to fit onto bigger plates. (Though there are some exceptions to this. Technically speaking, it is easier to reduce a large picture than to enlarge a small picture. Digital photo manipulation techniques are improving constantly, however, and getting high quality enlargements of small photos is much easier that it was several years ago, but technology still is not perfected in this area.) Likewise, any shape of picture can usually be cropped to fit onto any other shape of plate. In general, customers are asked to simply supply a digital version of their photograph that is at least 300 dots per inch resolution, and ceramic picture production experts can transfer the image to a plate without any problem. If a digital version of the image is not available, the production team can usually create a digital version from a hard copy that is mailed to the production facility, but that usually ads several days (sometimes as much as two weeks) to the production process. In such cases, the original will not be harmed and would be returned along with the finished plate. In many cases, customers may wish to make simple changes to the picture (such as removing a background or cropping out certain people). Those changes can usually be made easily (and without extra charge) by the production crew.
Ceramic Picture Manufacturing Process
Ceramic pictures are guaranteed against fading because the ink is literally baked permanently into the ceramic plate. To create the picture, a production crew first creates a suitable digital image based on the picture sent by the customer. That image is then “printed” onto an unbaked piece of ceramic using a special machine that works much like a standard laser printer. The printed ceramic is then placed into a very hot kiln and baked until done. Often, the picture does not recreate well on the first try, but there is no sure way to know this will happen in advance. In these cases, the production will simply make adjustments to the digital file and go through the printing and baking processes again. Because the manufacturing process is simply not an exact science and often includes a bit of trial and error it is usually difficult to name a precise day by which the ceramic picture will be ready. In general, though, ceramic pictures are delivered within 15-19 business days of being ordered.
Installing Ceramic Pictures
Ceramic pictures can usually be installed with no difficulty by the customer himself. All that is required is to remove the adhesive backing and place the picture on the grave marker. While this is not a difficult process, a steady hand is also necessary along with, perhaps, a measured marking of where the picture will sit. The adhesive backing is very strong, so it is important to exercise extreme care to assure that you are placing the picture in the exact position you desire.
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