Granite is a great material for a memorial. It’s durable, so you can be sure that the memorial will be around for a long time; comes in plenty of different colours, so you can get a memorial which you feel is right and can be carved into intricate works, even if it is harder to do so than with marble. However, a granite memorial does have one element which has caused concern for some people: lettering.

Traditionally, the lettering on gravestones was chiselled in. This is still done on plenty of gravestones, but there are ways to enhance it. This presents a problem with erosion if the gravestone isn’t properly looked after; weather damage can, over time, make the lettering unrecognisable. The previously sharp letters soften as their edges are worn away and you end up with the “melted” look that can be seen in old headstones.

The best way around this is to have leaded letters planted in the stone, which is where granite’s strength and durability is a problem as it makes getting the lettering in much harder, though not impossible. However, this technique is mostly used in marble due to the ease with which marble erodes compared to granite.

A better solution for granite is to have the lettering carved out of the stone and then painted in with gold, black or silver. This gives a lovely effect and can delay the erosion process. With a memorial care, these letters can be renewed and the lettering last far longer than just carved letters would.

Image courtesy of Flickr user treehouse1977.