Laser & Hand Engraving
Engraving helps add texture, wording, shapes and patterns to a piece. It can be done by hand or with a laser.
We use an increasing amount of laser work to bring commissions to life but still do quite a bit of hand engraving too. The finished results differ greatly in feel as one is a machine and the other human hands.
We’ll happily combine a hand drawn element with laser engraving as the best of both worlds: A clean line but with a more rustic look. Our day of the dead ring is a combination-approach which came out rather well and shows the proces.
Hand engraving
Done freehand using a pendant motor with an engraving tip and has a more organic, rustic feel. It’s great for natural or informal pieces and we can lineart or lettering, or both as can be seen in the tree of life pendant here.
Your drawing can be replicated on the piece from a piece of paper.
An example of this is the Tree of Live pendant >
Laser Engraving
We used to send out pieces for laser engraving but we now have our own laser. We’re still learning a lot in the world of laser cutting but it means we can create prototypes in brass or copper to check the concept and see if adjustments to the design are needed.
Laser engraving is a lot crisper than hand engraving and often involves us designing or redrawing your design idea.
We can also use jpegs and photos for a different look be generally it will be from a computer generated image or vector artwork.
An example of this would be the WI Brooch > or Elephant pendant >
Our latest Engraving projects
Engraving Gallery
Inlaid sterling silver plate with laser engraving- Engraved Women’s Institute brooch
Letters engraved in sterling silver rings.
Thistle Pendant with garnet
Matching Scorpio pieces
Laser cut and engraved. Hand finished.
Quirky child’s drawing.
Ring with a message
Tree themed hinged cuff with hand engraving
Dragon commission, engraved
Sliding names on a cuff
Matching keyrings in sterling silve
Happy elephant family engraving
Women’s Institute badges
Engraved Rune Ring
Foxy pendants
A good luck pebble with engraving.
Pesonalised earrings in silve
Leaf rings
A dashing hound cuff
Cat and leaves engraving
Sterling SilveCheese Mouse cuff
Leaf engraving
Engraved Logo
Hand engraved chain
Hand engraved signet ring
Giraffe pendant with ston
Feather stud earring
Sterling silver pin brooch
Day of the Dead ring- Colour tree of life engraving
Sterling silver cuff with infinity symbol
Hand engraving
If we are to hand engrave, for a more rustic look and feel, we transfer that image to the silver sheet and use a pendant motor and a really fine bit to grind away material to form the engraving part.
Hand engraving is done by Jo using a pendant motor. The photo here shows a drill bit but the engraving is done with a really small burr. The design is marked up onto the metal and is then freehanded with the pendant motor. The result is a more lively and rustic design, as shown with the griffin above.
Laser engraving
Laser engraving is different to hand engraving in that it uses the actual artwork to determine where the laser needs to burn. The design is burned into the silver or gold.
Because the laser needs to know what path to travel, the artwork needs to be made up of mathematical lines. This is why we redraw the logo if we’ve been supplied a jpeg or pixel based image. It’s a bit geeky but it’s very precise and very clean – almost clinical.
The laser engraved piece is then hand finished through sanding and polishing. Often we will colour up the lasered lines to make them stand out well.
WI Brooch
This WI Brooch was engraved based on a design supplied by our customer.
She is an artist so we just had to redraw the design as a vector. The layout really works.
Often the challenge with laser engraving is keeping the flow and life with what are essentially mathematical lines.
All our engraved work is hand finished. Often texture will be added, as can be seen here.
The finished piece has laser engraved details, with areas of hand texture, and also cut outs. All of these techniques can be used to create jewellery that is specific to the person.