Custom Pet Memorial Votives
Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Memorial Day, each is a day for a special gift, often something customized. A Custom Pet Memorial Votive is a gift for yourself to remember a beloved animal companion, or to send to a family member or friend to show you remember their companion too.
While Memorial Day is a universal day of remembrance, recognizing a loss may seem too somber a gift for an occasion of celebration like Mothers or Fathers Day. But a gift that recognizes a loved one’s grief is very personal for your mother or father or the person who filled that role for you, or for a friend or family member who considers themselves a pet parent.
I create a custom votive using images you provide. If your votive is a gift, I can ship it directly to your friend with a customized sympathy card at no extra charge.
Discount on Custom Pet Memorial Votives Through April 30, 2022
Until the end of April you can have $5.00 off a Custom Pet Memorial Votive or Custom Pet Memorial Votive Gift Certificate. That gives me enough time to make and ship it in time for the holiday. I can ship the votive or certificate to your recipient, or to you for you to give on the holiday.
Use code CUSTOMVOTIVE5 in your shopping cart.
About the votives
I make your Custom Pet Memorial Votive with love and sympathy on the loss of a precious companion, be it yours, or a friend’s or family member’s companion. I designed the memorial votives to focus on your companion’s face, and position their image so that the votive candle shines through their face, especially their eyes. During the day your votive captures ambient light even without the candle, but in the evening, when the candle is lit, the flickering light through your pet’s face in a darkened area is warm and intimate. Watch the video below as I place a lighted votive candle into Luna’s custom memorial votive.
About Custom Pet Memorial Votives
Votive lit at night.
Above, a votive at night.
I designed the first of these memorial votives as a gift to a friend who had rescued Oscar and had previously commissioned a portrait of him. Rather than using his entire portrait where he is sitting up, I designed it to focus on his face and positioned him so that the votive candle would alight his face, and especially his eyes. From its effect on me, and Oscar’s family’s reaction, I knew this was an idea that I could share with other animal lovers.
A custom memorial votive for Oscar.
So I designed the memorial votives to focus on your companion’s face, and position their image so that the votive candle shines through their face, especially their eyes. During the day your votive captures ambient light even without the candle, but in the evening, when the candle is lit, the flickering light through your pet’s face in a darkened area is warm and intimate. Watch the video below as I place a lighted votive candle into Luna’s custom memorial votive.
How I make each votive
Henry
The sample votives you see here were ordered by one friend to give to another, and both parties gave me permission to share the images. I never use any image of a custom item without permission. For that reason you’ll see the same votives repeated as examples.
While I love to be creative with upcycled materials and make many votives using non-recyclable glass jars, I prefer these memorial votives to all be consistent and focus on the subject. I chose a square glass votive for the flat sides that will hold the image without distortion and you can focus on the face of your beloved companion.
Working with your supplied photo or artwork, I use my decades of pet portraiture on paper and canvas and Photoshop skills to prepare the image to fit the votive. I remove background distractions and correct distortions if necessary, and add a color or gentle pattern that suits your pet, pulling ideas from the supplied photos.
In some cases I’ve used a specific pattern from the photo to use as a decorative background, as I did with Pearl’s votive, below. I am friends with both the giver and the recipient, and we had all visited together where I took photos of their cats, for fun. I remembered that Pearl loved to lie on the patio furniture and decided to use the fabric pattern on her votive. Customizations usually cost $5.00 to $10.00 extra, but I need to discuss what you have in mind and let you know.
Ziggy Stardust needed to have stars on her votive.
I print that image on a frosted vinyl label that holds the image with clarity and diffuses the light of the candle, and wraps completely around the outside of the votive.
You can use a wax votive, but as much as I love real candles and flickering candlelight, with years of curious feline noses and waving tails I’ve been trained to use flameless candles. I provide an LED votive candle with each votive I make that has an inexpensive and easily purchased replaceable battery so that you don’t need to run out and find a brand new votive to continue remembering your pet when the original grows dim.
Each votive is packaged with a small care and use card and a message of sympathy from me, “May their light shine on you always”.
If your votive is a gift a sympathy card with your message is included
You may include a message to any recipient. I offer memorial note cards that are blank inside where I will write your message and include it, in an envelope, with the votive. There is no charge for this.
The card for your votive.
I prepare and print your photo or artwork of your pet onto a frosted vinyl label, then burnish it onto a cube-shaped glass vase 3.25″ in each dimension. A sympathy card and an LED tea light are included. The price includes shipping, whether to you or a friend.
If this votive is a gift…
I’ll be happy to ship it directly with a card at no extra charge.
- Use the drop-down to enter your choice of standard or other sympathy card.
- Use the text box to enter your message for the sympathy card and optional text for the back, if necessary.
- If you’ve chosen a sympathy card from my collection, use the text box below to enter the design name.
- Please enter the recipient’s address in the “Shipping Address” area of the shopping cart.
Whether the votive is for you or a gift for a recipient, the votive and card are carefully packed and shipped in a Priority Mail box.
Click here to order a Custom Pet Memorial Votive
A few more sample votives
In some cases I can place two pets on the same votive. This family, unfortunately, lost both of their companions, unexpectedly, in the space of one month. In this case I was provided with several photos and I put them together, which was a small extra charge for the extra time of removing the background from both photos, then merging them together ensuring that Cody and Dakota were proportional to each other.
Examples of working with photos
Below are some examples of the work I’ve done with supplied photos.
Feel free to contact me with questions!
Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.
Don’t miss any new items or opportunities!
“Follow” the Portraits of Animals blog with the link in the upper left. Sign up to receive posts in email, or in your favorite reader using the links in the right-hand column.
Sign up for e-newsletters
You can also sign up for my monthly e-newsletters to receive special discounts and find out where I’ll be with my artwork.
Click here for the Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter, for feline and animal-specific products and information.
Click here for the Art & Merchandise E-newsletter, for landscapes, nature, urban scenes and more.
For art, photos and writing as I develop it, visit my blogs.
See feline art and photos as they happen on The Creative Cat, along with feline news, health, welfare, rescue stories and more.
See daily photos as I post them on Today.
Read poetry, short stories, essays and more on Paths I Have Walked.
. . . . . . .
© 2022 | www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
