Jewellery engraving styles offered by Merrell Casting. Speak to us to find out more.
The Jewellery Engraving Process
There are three surface options for jewellery engraving: inside, outside, and flat side. Inside and outside refer to the inside and outside of rings and flat side refers to any flat surface. Examples of work we’ve done before for flat side engraving include zippo lighters, flat plate curb bracelets and trophy plaques.
Most of the engraving we do at Merrell Casting is on the inside of wedding bands, about 5% of work is on the outside but our Hockley Mint design department engrave on a lot of engagement rings too. Customers can send us handwritten messages and designs on a USB stick, which we upload on to our Gravograph M20 engraving software. For more complex, intricate designs, our CAD team can build the file for you. Designs we’ve engraved include logos, religious symbols as well as love messages in hearts and anniversary dates in circles. There are two depth options when it comes to jewellery engraving: light and deep. Light can be buffed off if mistakes are made but deep is more permanent, carving a message which will last forever.
Jewellery Engraving Tips from the Bench
Here’s what our Finishing Technician Vicky Weston had to say about the process of engraving jewellery with a personalised message:
- Always measure the product carefully and then measure it again!
- Take care when engraving on flat plates, the machine can lose itself and miss the coordinates of the engraving.
- Make use of the test run if you’re unsure, the needle floats just above the product so you can check coordinates and the engraving path.
- When engraving, I keep the depth at 0mm and repeat the process multiple times to increase boldness. I find this more effective that increasing the depth which can make the design look messy if not done properly.
And if you need some more practical top tips, here’s what our Sales Administrator, Paul Weller, thinks about best practice jewellery engraving:
- Always have the hallmark on the left-hand side to ensure that the needle doesn’t write over it
- Make sure to take the previous ring out of the engraver before running the next program!
Jewellery Engraving: Past and Present
Vicky has been at Hockley Mint for 16 years. The first engraver she used was a Presidium Inside Ring Mini Engraving Machine. Designed to easily engrave onto the inside of rings including court, cushion court, D-shape, flat and flat court profiles. Using this equipment, it took over 10 minutes per ring to engrave. Operators used a needle to trace letters into the dial at the bottom. The needle links to a secondary needle at the top of the machine holding the ring, which traced the letters in turn. However, it was limited to only letters, number and a few love heart patterns.