Engraving: How Much Text Can I Really Have…?

Examples of engraving I can do
Examples of engraving I can do

I get asked often to engrave full words or even 2 lines of text & sentences on my items. It’s been happening so often lately that I thought I should write a blog post about it. I try to be very clear on each piece just how much space I have to work with. In the age of computerized engraving I think most potential customers don’t realize that this is done manually and I am limited with size and space. I can really only comfortably fit 7 characters (letters like this: ABCDEFG) – and in some cases 8 characters (letters like this: ABCDEFGH). This is with the plain font (#3 option above). My script fonts definitely cannot do more than 4 letters on the typical 15mm blank that most of my pieces are made with. Remember that the more letters you add the smaller I have to go, and I will not sell anything that does not look good. The smaller the letters the less detail you can see, and thus it does not look clean or in some cases legible. So if you are going to need a magnifying glass to see it, I won’t be offering it. 😉

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Example of curlz font; example of curlz vintage font

With the popular curlz & curlz vintage fonts, they are larger templates and are only intended as a focal initial. That means even at my smallest setting I can only get 2 letters, max on the blank.

I’d love to be able to fulfill all your requests and maybe in the future I will have bigger blanks that will accommodate more text. More text = more work which = more work for me, and potentially higher costs to you. Manual engraving is a skill that I have been honing for 5 years now. It’s not as simple as choosing the right letters and go. I have to position the blank accordingly, gauge what size to go with; often times deciding which of the fonts will look the best (it really does depend on initials vs. a word), and this is all done more by feel and intuition than by measurement. Mistakes do happen, so then I have to scrap that blank and start again. Sometimes I scrap a blank not because I made a mistake per se but because I think I can do better. Many times before I even start on the actual blank I will engrave on a piece of scrap metal first to make sure I have the size and spacing just so. By the time I offer an item to the world I have spent a lot of time perfecting its execution. It’s important to really stick with what the piece is intended to be: an affordable gift with an initial or two, or a simple word with meaning for the intended recipient.

I don’t want to discourage you from contacting me, I love to hear from you all, and if you have a request out of the norm feel free to send me an email. But hopefully this answers some questions in regards to size. 🙂

Back to bb3.ca

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New Engraved Celtic Knot Necklace

Celtic knot necklace in gold
Celtic knot necklace in gold

This necklace came to me the other day on a whim. I’ve had these diamond shaped blanks for quite some time now, and although I like their unique shape (as far as engraving blanks go) I could never find a design that I liked with them. With our annual spring trip to Nova Scotia coming up I had the Celtic knot on the brain. It is a common symbol in said province, and I love the symbolism of this endless knot. It just hit me out of the blue to engrave a Celtic knot onto the diamond shaped blanks.

celtic knot necklace in silver
celtic knot necklace in silver

This is definitely not my favorite design to engrave. It is incredibly intricate and if I miss a spot well, there really is no going back to fill it in. So like a maze or complicated jigsaw puzzle I have to analyze every line to make sure I have every piece connected correctly. I thought about what stone I wanted to pair with this celtic knot necklace, but in the end, I decided it looked the best on its own.

I’m really quite pleased at how quick of an idea this was. I have a sketchbook full of ideas and yet, some of the best ones simply come off the top of my head. I’m also looking forward to getting more practice engraving this mystical symbol.

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Be My Valentine: Personalized Sweetheart Keepsake Necklace

Sweetheart keepsake Necklace manually engraved with Initial
Sweetheart keepsake Necklace manually engraved with Initial

My new product for the month of February is a Personalized Sweetheart Keepsake Necklace. If you subscribe to my newsletter you may have received this necklace as a thank you gift sent out to subscribers last April.

Sweetheart Keepsake Necklace Engraved with monogram
Sweetheart Keepsake Necklace Engraved with monogram

You can choose 1 or 2 initials in the curlz font or a monogram. I think initial + sign and initial in script font would be a nice idea for a gift as well (A+B) although I don’t have an example of that to share, yet.

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The heart is a culinary grade pewter & the chain is lead & nickel free. The engraving blank itself is a silver plated brass. I love the weight of these blanks. I have yet to play around with my sterling silver disks I purchased around Christmas time. Never enough hours in the day, to balance time with my family, their creative pursuits, and my jewelry & fiber projects. It is the life, however! I’d rather have many things to do/explore than nothing at all.

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New Product: Engraved Owl Necklace

Owl necklace personalized with engraving
Owl necklace personalized with engraving

The most popular pinterest board that I have to date is all about owls. I’m glad I’m not the only one fascinated with these creatures. Back in April I did a giveaway to my newsletter subscribers where everyone who responded would get a free product from me. This allowed me to bring some new products from paper to fruition. I always love to have a muse or energy to work towards. A few of my subscribers received this piece, and it is now available for purchase. Choose one or 2 initials for engraving.

If you are a knitter, you may also like my owl stitch markers. 🙂

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New Pearl Option for the Flower Child’s Personalized Necklace – with Engraving

Flower child engraved with pearl
Pearl option in silver (click to be taken to listing)

A customer recently asked me if I could do a pearl instead of a Swarovski crystal for her flower child’s necklace order. I had some 4mm freshwater pearls on hand, and I loved the result so much I decided to add it as a permanent option for both silver & gold versions of this product. Now added on the website and coming soon to Etsy (my Etsy shop is closed as I am currently travelling).

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pearl option gold (click to view listing)

As an aside, I get asked every now and then if the blanks I use are black. What you are seeing here is the reflection of the camera lens. Often the glare is so bad on these very shiny blanks I cannot capture the detail in the engraving. Often times the best way to take a clear picture of the engraving is to have the reflection of the camera lens absorb the light. So in the closeups this is why sometimes the blanks look black. My photography skills leave much to be desired, I know. 😉 I try to post several photos to help best represent the piece so always browse through them all to get an overall feel for the product. Photos are so flat and one dimensional they do not do my work justice. I think most – if not all – online sellers are feeling my pain, here. 🙂

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New Engraving Fonts

As mentioned in a previous post the studio is open but you will see some favorite customizable products on the website missing. I have 2 new engraving fonts and thus am updating/revamping the missing products. I should have prototypes completed within the week, and barring the need to order in supplies we should see the new and improved products back for sale in about 2 weeks. I’ll reintroduce them one at a time here on the blog once ready, as well as on my newsletter where you can also receive discounts and a chance to win product.

I actually own many fonts for manual engraving, however not all are suited for the kind of engraving I mostly do. I usually do jewelry with one or two letters, or monogram initials, and some of the fonts I have are either too plain or not suited size wise or style wise for either. A couple products I offer now are on the time consuming side as I have to fiddle with the font to get it to look proper for one initial rather than a whole word. A slanted font will look lovely in text, but horrible as a stand alone initial. In this case I need to play with the size and the angle of the blank when I engrave. It’s a skill I certainly can do, but the more time it takes to engrave one piece the more expensive, essentially, the piece becomes. I am committed to offering my products at the best price, but this also means it has to be a fair price for me. I literally time myself when making a piece, and will always continue to look for ways to become more efficient without sacrificing quality. Time is money, as they say…

So here’s a peek at the 2 new fonts I am adding to my collection. The first one is called Curlz. It will replace most of the engraving on the children’s pieces:

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It’s a fun font and on the larger template side, so suited for 1 or 2 initials for most of the work I do.

I also obtained an upright script, as I the script I use now is slanted, which as mentioned above needs a bit of play in order to look good as a stand alone letter. An upright script will alleviate the need for measuring and guesswork when engraving one or two initials.

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I am also going return the use of the Old English font, especially on personalized bookmarks. I also already own a curlz type font that I am calling curlz vintage. It is very old and a collector’s item to me. It will be another variation available. Be sure to keep an eye out both here on the blog & on the website or sign up for my monthly newsletter & never miss an update on new and improved products. I look forward to sharing them with you!

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New Engraving Font

I am excited about this new engraving font. And even more excited that I mastered it quickly. I engrave manually so it takes a bit of skill to have the letters of this monogram interlock:

 

Here is an example of it actually engraved:

This font will be available as part of my engraving collection on my website. The website will be going live shortly with my clearance section active – over the coming days I will be loading in the custom collections as well as upgrading to faster hosting.