Cross Headstone Designs: Nine Plates From Our Workshop
In the past, monument workshops sold from pattern books – thick books with numbered plates which a family could examine at the kitchen table, each plate containing a design engraving with particulars below it. These books are collectible now, but the choice process is sound: compare the designs, read the particulars, and pick the page. So, we decided to create our own pattern book of the cross headstone designs that the families prefer to all others. Nine plates follow featuring the cross headstone in all of its major variations – from a humble emblem to the full-fledged Celtic cross headstone towering above its visitors – each of them accompanied by the shop notes of a true pattern book: granite, scale, cost logic, and cemetery legal matters. Enjoy.
Plate I. The Engraved Latin Cross. The simplest of our cross headstone designs and the most orderly: the plain cross with two beams, deeply incised on the face of a flat, bevel, slant or upright marker, alongside or above the name. Notes: this design has no limitations – engraved emblems comply with all the rules of any cemetery we have ever confirmed, including even the strictest flat-only lawn sections. Cost logic: engraving is already included in the cost of the stone in our shop, so Plate I adds the devotion without increasing the bill. Recommended on all granites, looks spectacular on black and dark gray.
Plate II. The Cross and Rays. The Latin cross surrounded with the rays of light, sometimes within the frame of arch or a circle of clouds. Notes: the design of hope – families choose it not only to say “she believed,” but also “she arrived.” Needs a little more space than Plate I; on narrow stones we reduce the rays to a corner crown above the name. Popular on the companion stones, the rays can be centered between two names.
Plate III. The Cross with Roses. The Latin cross with climbing roses – the most popular funerary pairing of the nineteenth century: love and faith united in one sculpture. Notes: the deep-cut version of rose work will pay off; insist on it during the design preview and look for the shadowing. Popular for mothers and grandmothers. Red and Tam Brown granites suit the design best of all.
Plate IV. The Draped Cross. The cross covered with a draped cloth – the drape of mourning, an old design recently becoming fashionable again. Notes: the drape is a carver’s challenge; the folds are the criteria of skill. Fits uprights and larger slants. The older families recognize it immediately; younger visitors ask about it, which is counted as a plus by the families – the stone tells the story that the deceased used to tell.
Plate V. The Celtic Cross Headstone. The famous wheel cross of Ireland and Scotland: the ring connecting the arms, the faces filled with the endless knotwork. Notes: the full celtic cross headstone is a monument, not an emblem – it is a stone in itself, standing on a base, at heights ranging from moderate to commanding, and it is the design in this book which is most affected by cemetery height rules, which we verify with your cemetery office before designing the stone. The knotwork is the main idea: eternity in the stone. Gray granite is traditional; the design is older than polishing, and it does not require it.
Plate VI. The Celtic Emblem. The wheel cross shrunk to an engraved emblem for the families keeping their tradition within the limitations of a flat or slant marker. Notes: the knotwork survives the shrinkage surprisingly well if done deeply – insist on the deep-cut version and inspect the preview at full size. Sometimes paired with the family name in the traditional Irish or Scottish spelling and, on request, a small carved shamrock or thistle in the opposite corner. The whole design easily passes all flat-only sections.
Plate VII. The Orthodox Cross. The three-bar cross of the Eastern churches, the third beam of which is slanted, preserving the ancient symbolism. Notes: proportions are crucial and are not decorative – we will carve according to the canon of the tradition, and show it to the family on the preview stage, along with the Cyrillic inscription if needed. Bring the particularities of orientation or placement if your parish has some; the design is flexible enough to accommodate them, and it is easier before cutting than after. We are proud of designing this pattern.
Plate VIII. The Cross and Crown. The cross surmounted or adorned with the crown – “be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Notes: the classic pattern of the fraternal and revival eras, still requested by church families who know its hymnbook. Looks best at upright scale when the crown’s details survive; on smaller stones we will reduce it to silhouette, preserving the meaning but losing the jewels.
Plate IX. The Cross of Flowers. The most recent plate: the cross formed entirely of carved or etched flowers – lilies, roses, the person’s own garden. Notes: the favorite design of those who considered their faith and garden as one practice. Etched on polished black granite it will provide photographic detail; carved it will become sculpture. In any case it is the design which most often stops the passers-by, which the families report with pride.
The back page of the pattern book. Every old catalog had the ordering particulars in the end, and so does ours. Any of the cross headstone designs above can be scaled to any format we offer – flats and bevels, slants, uprights, benches, ledgers – and the free 3D design preview will show your chosen cross on your chosen granite in proper proportions, corrected until the family confirms. The engraving is included in the cost of every stone; delivery is free in the lower 48 states; 0% installment terms are available to avoid the postponement caused by seasonal finances; and our staff verifies your cemetery’s rules personally with the office, since the only bad page of this book is the pattern the section won’t allow – the disappointment that is easily avoided by one phone call which we make ourselves. The line at the end of every old pattern book is worthy of being remembered: choose the design the family will be glad to meet again. Nine plates. One of them will look familiar already. This is the one.
