The day you know will come - but you can't prepare for it in any matter.

After hopefully many years you have to say goodbye to your beloved pet, family member, best friend :(

For me it is unbelievable sad and I cannot write this unaffected.

In the last 2 years I had to take farewell to my dog "Saruman" - 12,5 years my best companion

and around new year, to the queen of this house "Lillan" - she ruled us 13 years, but her age was unknown, at least 15.

If you're one of these persons like " come on, it's just a pet" - this instructable isn't for you.

I truly loved them and had a hard time when they were gone.

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For me it is important to have a spot in my garden, where I can put my best friends to a respectful rest.

this instructable is about making a pet grave into a memorial.

I guess Saruman and Lillan did not belong to any human religion - so this memorials are made with materials from their surroundning and their personal preferences :)

I hope you will find this useful one day and can see it as a form of your grief work - it helped me a lot.

PS: I would love to see something similar on my grave, made by someone who loved me - instead of a fancy, bought gravestone...

Step 1: Materials

all materials I used are degradable:

for the basket:

some unstained wooden board - pallet wood works fine

nails

willow rods ( fresh or dried and soaked )

filling of the basket:

soil

moss

pine cones

whatever you find in your surrounding, or things you collect where you used to walk with your pet...

Tools needed:

pencil

cordless drill with a 10mm (0,4") wood drill bit

a circular object with desired diameter of the basket, as template - I used a plastic lid with 36cm (14")

hammer

saw

secateurs

Step 2: The Wooden Base

cut the boards slightly longer than the diameter of the planned basket

f.ex.: the plastic lid i used as template was 36cm (14"), so I cut the boards about 44cm (17")

continue until you have enough boards to cover the template

cut 2 more pieces and lay them across the previously cut boards

use them to join the boards with nails.

The pictures will help you along if you're having trouble with the description.

Step 3: Planning the Basket

with the wooden base done,

trace your template on it with a pencil.

Now divide the circle into 16 equal parts, and mark them -

I first drew two lines through the middle - one vertically and one horizontally - you'll end up with 4 equal parts,

divide each part in half - 8 parts, and one more time each part in half - 16 parts.

it is ok to eyeball the parts, this is not rocket sience.

Step 4: Drilling Holes

drill a 10mm (0,4") hole in every mark you previously made

Step 5: Harvesting Willow

For this project you don't need fresh cut willow rods, alternately buy dried rods and soak them at least 24 hours before use.

For harvesting:

Willow trees are many different species under the "salix" (latin ) family, they are pretty much all suitable for this project. - If you can bend it, it will do the trick!
finding willow here in Sweden is very easy, I don't know about other countries - you may have to ask around - you may buy it from a landscaping gardener. In some countries it's not allowed to harvest willow in early spring, because insects depend on the catkins in bloom, so be sure to check that before harvesting.

I harvested wild willow nearby my house.

you'll need at least 8 rods around 8mm (0,3") thick ( take some more, in case it breaks)

and a big bunch of longer, 3 to 4mm (0,12" to 0,15") thick rods