James Watts and Bill Rhodes have given their glassblowing business in Barleylands, Billericay, a new lease of life by turning people's ashes into attractive homewear and jewellery.

It's not quite as bizarre as it sounds.

The pair heard about Lifegem, an American firm that converts ashes into diamonds and decided to adapt the principle.

Mr Rhodes, 38, said: "We first did it with the ashes of one of James's relatives.

"You can put pretty much anything into glass."

For a fee, you can take along a loved one's ashes and have them transformed into either a colourful vase, paperweight or pendant necklace.

Mr Rhodes said: "We started about a month ago, but it's already been popular.

"It's about keeping a part of that person with you forever."

Many people don't like the idea of scattering ashes, as they feel they're losing their last connection with a loved one, but keeping them in an urn on the mantlepiece is not enough for some.

Just a small portion of the ashes is used for making the items. A necklace costs £195, a paperweight £150 and a bespoke vase £260.

All glass is made mainly from sand, although different materials can be added to give the glass different colours, textures and qualities.

Mr Watts, 38, was trained at the Whitefriars glass foundry, and subsequently trained old school pal Bill 15 years ago.

Between them they have drummed up a reputation for their specialist restoration work, which mainly involves antique Bristol blue glass, or cobalt blue glass and silver items.

Last year, they were assigned their biggest challenge. Twenty of the antique glass streetlights outside Buckingham Palace and along the Mall needed replacing and each one had to be an exact replica of the originals.

For the foreseeable future, Barleylands Glassworks will be busy turning ashes into glass as it is one of the only companies in the country to provide the unusual service.