How I made custom wooden memorial plaques for my family

Unfortunately, this past autumn, my family experienced some losses. My dad lost one of his younger brothers and, three days later, my family lost our beloved kitty. My uncle’s passing was much too soon, as he was only 71. His health declined suddenly and, after a month-long fight with cancer and heart issues, he passed. As for our kitty, thankfully, she had a lovely 15-year life, but her passing was so sudden that it was hours between her moving around normally and being gone. Technically, she was my sister’s cat, and she was so devastated.

These losses happened in November, right before Thanksgiving. I quickly realized it would be the perfect Christmas gift for my dad and sister if I were to surprise each of them with a memorial plaque of their lost loved one.

The Basic Idea

Basically, I figured the best and simplest design would be to feature a picture of my uncle and cat on each plaque along with their respective names. This idea evolved as I went. I started with the kitty plaque.

I found a picture of our kitty and edited out the background.

I also went to Lowes and bought a 1 inch x 12 inch x 4 foot oak board. Initially, I thought I might have to glue up smaller pieces of wood to get a big enough slab for the project. But this oak board was the perfect width (12 inches) and I was so excited to use it!

My general idea was to carve out the shape of the kitty, set the photo into the carving, and then pour epoxy into the recess of that carving. As I continued to work on it, I got a better understanding of exactly how I wanted to accomplish this.

How I inset the photo

First, I had the photo printed as an 11″x14″ matte poster at Walmart. It cost me $7. I proceeded to carefully cut out the shape of our kitty with scissors. I even sanded the edges with 400 grit sandpaper to get them extra smooth.

Then, I brought the cut-out to the oak board and marked the length I wanted the board to be. I cut it by hand with my Japanese hand saw, which took forever. I definitely recommend using a circular saw instead!

At this point, I traced the edges of the photo onto the oak board. At first, I stupidly thought I’d be able to carve the recess by hand. That didn’t go too well with a chisel! I quickly decided to go out to the garage and try the router, which was a much better idea. I used a straight bit and set the depth just slightly below the base of the router.

I couldn’t believe how easy it was! It did take a while, but I was able to get right up to the pencil lines I’d drawn with great control and accuracy. With a bit of sanding and Dremel touchups, I was able to fit the photo into the recess.

My first time engraving!

Then, of course, it only felt natural to want to engrave her name. It is wood, after all! I watched some videos on YouTube to help me out. This one was really helpful! I realized that all I needed to get carving was to buy diamond bits for my Dremel. Thankfully, good ole Harbor Freight had an inexpensive set of twenty bits!

I designed the name in Inkscape (an open-source vector program) and printed it. Then, I traced it onto the board with my sewing chalk paper. Carbon paper would work a lot better, but I was trying as much as possible to use what I already had on hand.

I did some practice engraving on a piece of pine to get a feel for it. Then, I started carving out the name on the oak. I tried a few different bits in the end, and used certain bits to clean up the carving once roughed out. This was the result.

I absolutely love working with hardwoods! The oak did fight me a bit because of its dense, open grain. Sometimes the Dremel would want to skip when it hit a denser spot in the oak. But I was happy with how it came out.

A fancy edge detail…

One point of consideration for this project was what kind of profile I wanted to give the outer edges. My router has a bunch of bits with it, but nothing too fancy. I did some quick research and realized a profile called the roman ogee would be perfect! And, once again, good ole Harbor Freight had the bit for just $10!

I really recommend this profile. It gives such an ornate look. You have to set the height of the router just right to get it how you want it.

Staining the memorial plaque

Next, I stained the board. Normally, when I use wood stain (I use oil-based), I like to water it down with another clear oil, because I don’t like the stain to be too strong or dark. You can also use mineral spirits, but I had some beauty oil around that does the trick without as much toxicity. I literally do the laziest thing and dab it on a paper towel and spread it around the wood until I get a color I like. If any of the stain gets a bit globby and dark, I just use oil to rub it in and dissolve it more. For the engraving itself, I took the pure stain and dabbed it over the letters, letting it sit briefly. I then wiped it off, but not too aggressively. I wanted the letters to be a bit darker than the surrounding wood.

As you might be able to tell, I also decided to make another pass with the router to make the recess deeper.

At this point, I was finally ready to glue in the photo. I simply applied some wood glue to the recess, spreading it around with a paint brush to get a nice even layer. I placed the photo on top and encouraged it to fit into the edges. It laid nice and flat and I let it dry.

The scariest step… epoxy!

At this point, the last thing I had to do was pour the epoxy over the photo and into the recess. I realized, though, when I was watching the epoxy instructions, that the colors of the photo might bleed when the epoxy is poured. I decided to spray the plaque with clear Rust-Oleum spray paint to seal it up nicely. Since the paint was designed to seal wood as well as the photo, I carefully sprayed the plaque front and back. Unfortunately, Christmas was fast-approaching at this point and I didn’t have enough time to do multiple coats of polyurethane.

After this, I poured the epoxy. I used Art Resin epoxy. At this point, my uncle’s plaque was ready to epoxied as well, so I did them together.

Epoxy is pretty basic. Mix two parts: resin and hardener. Pour. The hardest part was popping the bubbles that formed. You’re supposed to use some kind of blow-torch thing. I used a heat gun, which unfortunately blew some dust into the surface. Then, I tried a long lighter and that worked a lot better. I definitely know better what to do next time. But, the end result was still SO good and I cannot complain one bit!

I might go back and polyurethane the wood now that I’ve given the gifts to my dad and sister. I also need to add some kind of hanging mechanism to the back so they can hang them up. My dad was even musing about putting his on some kind of wire stand and displaying his that way.

My uncle’s plaque from start to finish

Here are some photos of my uncle’s plaque as I made it. This one I completed in two days because Christmas was coming up so quickly. In fact, I had to pour the epoxy on Christmas Eve and come back home to get them on Christmas day to give to my family. Last minute but I made it!

In conclusion…

Needless to say, my dad and sister were quite happy with their gifts. This Christmas, we decided not to go crazy with gifts, but these two felt very appropriate to me.

I hope this helps anyone else create memorial plaques for their loved ones if they so desire! This was a completely original idea that my brain sort of just threw together. Use your creativity and feel free to do your own thing! That’s what makes these projects so unique!

Wishing you all the best with your creative endeavors, and thank you for reading! Throw me a comment below if you have any questions, or if you’ve made a similar plaque – I’d love to hear how it went! 🙂