Hug-Stems - Tulsa OK: Monument & Memorial

From Frustration to Invention

Janice Barlow, inventor of the Memorial Vase Insert realized the need for a better solution to holding artificial flowers in memorial vases after her twenty-nine year old daughter, Tiffany, passed during September 2001. After the installation of Tiffany's memorial vase and marker, Ms. Barlow was anxious to fill Tiffany's empty vase with artificial flowers. After selecting the perfect flowers, she was confused as to what size and shape floral and craft foam to place inside the memorial vase to hold the flowers. Floral and craft cones were available, but the sizes seemed either too small or too large for Tiffany's vase.

So, Ms. Barlow decided to try floral and craft foam balls. After attempting to place the balls were too large to fit inside the liner. In order to make them fit, she proceeded with the process of cutting the foam balls in half. To avoid this messy process, she decided next time to experiment with cone-shaped foams. The large cone had a picture of a memorial vase on the packaging, so she knew that it was made specifically for memorial vases. However, it definitely seemed too large for Tiffany's vase. The small cone seemed too small, but she decided to give it a try because it was the only other available size. To her surprise, like with the foam balls, she needed to cut the small cone to fit inside the memorial vase liner. What a mess... but she didn't know any other way! After months of applying this method, she found when placed directly inside the memorial vase without using the vase liner, the cone fit without the required cutting. Ms. Barlow purchased the small cones at various stores such as, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Wal-Mart, or Garden Ridge. Not all stores carry the same brands of floral and craft foam, and she found that some brands of foam fit more properly than other brands. Ms. Barlow was no longer required to cut any of the foam brands, but some fit too loosely inside the vase... however, this was just one of the many additional problems left to solve!

Now that Ms. Barlow no longer used the vase liner that was supplied with my memorial vase, when flower stems were inserted into the cone they would often protrude out the sides and/or bottom of the cone. When this occurred the flowers would require removal and reinsertion and/or cutting stems, otherwise the protruding stems would not allow the arrangement to fit inside the vase. These holes also caused foam debris to fall through the user's work surface, resulting in extra time and effort to clean up the mess. Each time the stems were removed and reinserted, additional holes in the foam were made, and/or foam chunks would break off. Because the foam would fall apart or get nasty due to weather conditions, Ms. Barlow would replace the foam after each arrangement.

Hug-Stems
PO Box 470330
Tulsa OK 74147
Tel: 918 286-8732; 866 416-2148
Fax: 918 252-0986
E-mail: jbarlow@hugstems.com