Paper Turtle
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Handmade urns for people & pets by Laura Bruzzese. Like our handmade urns, every life is a work of art.
Whether custom or readymade, our urns are available in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and materials to reflect the unique qualities of family members, human and furry, who have passed before us.
🐬 From clay to paper to the sea: our newest full-sized biodegradable urn, Dolphin
Like every biodegradable urn in our collection, Dolphin began as a clay sculpture, handmade by me over many hours in our Albuquerque studio.
Once the sculpture is finished, it’s cut into sections so it fits into the kiln (and later, into shipping boxes).
After weeks of drying, the sections are fired slowly, along with 🤞 that nothing cracks, blows up, or otherwise self-destructs in the kiln (no guarantees with ceramics). Once the sculpture emerges as hard, durable ceramic, it’s shipped to our incredible artisan partners in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
From there, lead artist Cruz takes over, creating plaster molds from the original. Those molds are used to construct a prototype that’s shipped to us for approval or adjustments. Once the prototype is ready, more molds are made & each biodegradable urn is individually crafted in recycled paper with plant-based glue — a slow, exacting process that takes true craftsmanship and patience to get right.
Cruz’s workshop is a multi-generational family business, run out of their own home.
Behind the scenes, our partner Mariano manages shipping, receiving, and countless other logistics, making sure every urn travels safely from Mexico to New Mexico.
Our entire line of biodegradable cremation urns exists only because of the dedication and expertise of our partners in Mexico. Each urn purchased from us supports artisans who are fairly compensated for their talents, working in a traditional art form. Muchísimas gracias. 💙
07/16/2026
✨NEW THIS YEAR: The Fresh Flowers Urn, now in Mini!✨
One of our most-loved biodegradable urns just got a smaller companion. The Mini Fresh Flowers is a bowl-style water urn that holds up to 1 cup of ashes — perfect for releasing a beloved pet or sharing portions of ashes among family and friends.
🌸Just like the full-size original, it’s a DIY urn you decorate with your own bouquet, so every farewell is personal. A simple cloth-tie closure means no glue, no mess. The urn floats for a few moments before sinking and biodegrading naturally in water.
🌿 Did you know? Humans have honored their dead with for over 60,000 years — traces of pollen found in Iraq’s Shanidar Cave suggest even Neanderthals practiced this ritual, making it one of the oldest known symbolic traditions in human history.
💙Many thanks to our customers for trusting us with your memorials & sharing photos in reviews — it’s a privilege to be part of your stories.
🔗 Shop the Mini Fresh Flowers Urn — link in bio
🐢 Biodegradable Urns for Ocean Burial — Meet the Original Turtle Urn™
Summer is in full swing, and that means our biodegradable urns are being chosen for ocean burials and water burials all across the country. 🌊
Over the next few days, we’re highlighting our most popular biodegradable urn designs — starting with the one that started it all: the Original Turtle Urn™, designed by Paper Turtle founder Laura Bruzzese in 2009.
✨ Details:
🐢 Large size, designed to hold the ashes of an adult
🌊 Suitable for ocean burial (3 nautical mi from shore, per Federal guidelines)
🌱 Handcrafted from paper, plant-based glue, and other natural materials that biodegrade in water over time
🏡 Also perfect for land burial or as a memorial display in the home before release
Choose your style:
🐚 Natural — recycled Kraft paper
🎨 Single Color — painted shell in one of 9 sea-inspired colors
😊 Painted Face — green shell with hand-painted eyes and mouth
🐢 Fully Painted — realistically detailed to resemble a real sea turtle
Customers can also decorate their Turtle Urn themselves, making each memorial one of a kind.
We love seeing how you celebrate your loved ones with our urns — tag us or leave a review with your photos and stories. 💚
Thank you for supporting our small, independent business and our handcrafted, eco-friendly memorial products.
ecofriendlyurn memorialurn handcraftedurn paperturtle greenfuneral sustainablememorial scatteringashes turtleurn inlovingmemory smallbusinessmade
02/02/2026
Sometimes the simplest design makes the most elegant urn. This one features single irises on two sides, based on photos from the family member’s own garden. 🌷
➡️Third slide is a progress pic from before the urn was fired, showing how much the colors change… making it almost miraculous when the painting comes out as intended.
01/20/2026
As we begin our 10th year, we’re deeply grateful to every family who has trusted us with creating memorial artworks for those they love.
You’ve taught us what truly matters—and it’s never been about having the fanciest website or being the biggest company.
It’s about handcrafted artwork created with intention. Genuine care in every detail. The ability to bring your vision to life, no matter how custom. And the trust built through hundreds of families who’ve chosen us to honor their loved ones.
We obsess over details you’ll probably never notice. We often catch ourselves perfecting something few are likely to notice and say, “This is crazy.” And it is, but we can’t help ourselves.
Because every urn we create isn’t just a product, it’s a reflection of a life that mattered. And that deserves everything we can give.
Thank you for 10 extraordinary years, here’s to many more. 💛
❤️
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412 13th Street NW
Albuquerque, NM
87102