Just a quick hi!

Cor, it's really chilly today, proper frosty.  Winter at last has arrived it seems.

I have been a little slower at work, it's quite nice to have a day off during the week every now and then.  As a self employed embalmer, that doesn't pay the bills though.  

I have had three people contact me in this week alone, to ask about watching me work because they might like to become an embalmer.  I explain that unless they are already on the embalming course, are a nurse or have a job in another relevant career, they are not allowed into my theatre.  This of course goes down like a tonne of lead.   I understand their annoyance.  I mean, how are you supposed to know if it's right for you unless you can see it being done, in the flesh (scuse the expression)?
 
I advise them that their nearest college is the place to find that out and explain about the embalming courses, fees, experience and previous educational background that is needed.  Each college has their own acceptance levels so I won't detail it here but the list of BIE accredited tutors can be found by asking the BIE.  I also advise them that it's really hard to get a position as an embalmer, certainly more so in these times of high levels of unemployment.  It is equally as hard to find a placement to gain the necessary practical experience, to train as an embalmer. 

I enjoy showing my work to relevant professionals, nurses usually as part of their training, and doctors often ask about my work when they come to see other deceased clients as part of the chain of paperwork and certification requirements.   I won't have under 18 year olds in the theatre though, no matter how much they complain to their schools.   Having had plenty of adults faint on me, there's no way I am showing a teenager!

A collection of thoughts... is that a collective?

I have had a lovely week so far.  This included having tea and cake with some girlfriends I haven't seen in years.  As usual, with people I don't see often, I was asked a few questions about my profession.   The women are all intelligent and modern so they didn't ask stupid questions but it reminded me of how many myths and untruths are out there.   I am glad to be given the opportunity to clear things up and change opinions.  Also, I was pleased to be able to offer comfort where an unanswered question had been whizzing around her brain for a few years.

Not everyone is embalmed, it depends on the Funeral Directors.
The cremated remains of someone are only theirs and are not part of someone else.
The coffin is burned with the deceased.
Mouths are gently closed using a suture.
Eye caps are to ensure the eyes stay a natural shape.
Normal embalming is to promote a peaceful final goodbye in chapel.  Not to keep the deceased forever.
It is different to mummification.
Every organ is placed back in the deceased after a post mortem.  Those organs which have tissue samples kept by the pathologist for further investigation are also returned.  Usually within a few days.

Obviously there are going to be scenarios where the parameters above are moved, but generally correct.

There has been something awful in the press the last couple of days, I'm not posting the link as it is not something I want to promote.  I do want to say however, that in all my years of working in this profession, I have NEVER EVER EVER met anyone who doesn't treat with respect, each dead human body.  If someone has suffered a traumatic death, it leaves everyone within the company sad.  No one I have ever met or worked with has taken any joy or mirth from it.    If you read this awful story in the press, please don't believe for one second there are many people like him.  Truthfully, there really are not.

I have an embalming meeting on Sunday with my division of the British Institute of Embalmers.  It is lovely to get together with my friends and colleagues from three or more counties and chat about work and their families.  We meet three or four times a year and sometimes have lectures from relevant professionals such as Coroners or Forensic Odontologists.   Sometimes we meet in hospital labs for tours or, on occasion, breweries!

Until next time, my friends, you could do worse than to watch Departures.  A lovely Japanese film showing the dignity and care they offer the deceased.

Every picture tells a story.

Hi everyone, happy new year!  I do hope you have all enjoyed your festive celebrations and are looking forward to whatever the next 12 months throws at you!

I have been busy working between celebrations and I have also be enjoying some down time too.  My feet ache today as it's been a long day.

Today at work, I was looking at the elderly gentleman I was about to embalm and was thinking about blogging.  This gentleman looked as though he was expecting something.  Expectant.  Thats an odd word to describe someones final face.  Some people look very peaceful before I 'set their features' and some look like they are in pain.   It is horrid for me to say out loud, but they do.  I suppose that not every death is a peaceful 'letting go' and I suspect the mode of death dictates one's final face.   In this man's last breath I wonder if he was looking for his mother, wife or child to come and get him?  Or I wonder if he was greeted by his God, or if he was expecting something that never came?

This thought reminded me of a facebook/twitter/website I like called Thanatos Archive.  It is a collection of photographs of deceased persons.  To quote from their facebook group -

      "Located in Seattle, Washington, The Thanatos Archive houses an extensive collection of nineteenth  and early twentieth century postmortem, memorial, and mourning photography dating to the 1840s.

The online version of our archive, hosted at www.Thanatos.net since 2002, offers a searchable database of over 1300 scanned images (as of February 2011), with scans of new acquisitions being added on a regular basis."

 

 I have on occasion taken a photograph of a client for a family member, and indeed have photos of my own  grandfathers funeral and coffin (none of him in his coffin) which I have looked at from time to time.  I have mixed feelings of the 'death face' pictures but can see how they are collectable nowadays.

The Wellcome Trust had in 2008, a wonderful collection of photographs ( linky) which were taken by Walter Schels who is a portrait photographer.   Walter and his partner, journalist Beate Lakotta, visited people who were expected to die within a year or so, discussed their project and took their photo.  Walter and Beate were telephoned when the person died and they returned to take a photo of their final face. Each pair of portraits was displayed in the collection with a brief synopsis of the persons life and death story.  It was a very moving collection and certainly thought provoking.   I was lucky to be amongst a small gathering of people at the gallery when Walter and Beate were doing a Q & A on their project.   The deceaseds weren't embalmed before their picture was taken and very little was altered on their faces to ensure that the portrait photograph was indeed 'their final face'.