New Engraving Fonts

Curlz

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:

curlz

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.

uprightfontalphabet

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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Jewelry Inspired: Custom Engraved Charm Necklace

Om

I have been talking for several months now about my newly acquired manual engravers – AKA pantograph engraver or engravograph as New Hermes likes to call them.

I thought it was about time I finally shared a completed piece of jewelry showcasing their engraving abilities. 🙂

I call this piece a charm necklace because of the size. It is dainty and meant for everyday wear. Above you see the Om symbol engraved onto a 18x11mm sterling silver blank. (Besides the Om, I also have a Celtic knot, mother/child (which you will see in an up-coming post),  heart, butterfly, flower, awareness ribbon, cross, as well as several logos of organizations. I can order more shapes and symbols upon request). Above it hangs a 4mm freshwater pearl – symbolizing wisdom, faith, focus & luck.

I then added a birthstone fairy in Swarovski crystal – the birthstone is emerald, for May.

Here’s a view of the back of the engraved charm – “Aurore” – the name of the recipient (this was a birthday gift for a dear friend – the entire piece is inspired by her).

A view of how the piece hangs when worn.

I loved this design, & decided to make one for myself! Here is the back of mine, showing my name engraved in a cursive font.

Just to get an idea of the size. It is small and ideal for everyday wear – I wear mine almost everyday!

So a little background – how does the pantograph engravers work? I’ll do a future blog post illustrating how they work exactly, but essentially they are large tracing machines. You have fonts and logos usually constructed out of the traditional brass, however recently I have also discovered a kind of hard resin that glides like butter in my machine, & it’s a fraction of the price of the brass sets (for example, a new brass font set with a fancy lettering can run you upwards of $800!) One end of the arm traces the font or logo plate while the other end has a diamond bit graver that engraves the image onto the metal. It works in ratios, so if you have it set to a 2:1 ratio – usually the largest size, the engraved image will be half the size of the template….and through approximately 12 different settings (including half sizes), gets smaller from there.

Unlike hand-stamped jewelry, engraving in this manner will give you a near-perfect image since it’s tracing a template. It does take a bit of practice and skill to not slip while tracing and get the even pressure (since this is manual afterall!) necessary. Also, blackening the image via oxidation as is the norm with hand stamping will give an engraved image a dull appearance – it is best to simply let it it remain in the colour of the metal. (I love hand stamping too and is another skill I hope to acquire down the road! It is a totally different look & feel!).

My mind is bursting with ideas…but before I get ahead of myself, the plan moving forward is to use this piece as the test object for mywebsite of custom jewelry. If all goes well with the programming I will add more pieces from there.

Until then, for more info on ordering this piece contact me directly: leilani@heavenlyflower.com