If you live in the rarefied world where you get the recognition
for your skill: go for it. You will have very little competition.
As an engraver, I would like to add something into this
conversation. The fact is that many labor intensive skills are
dying out, and hand engraving is one of them. The basic tools do
require some investment, and then the beginner can start to invest
time in the learning process. It helps to cut the learning curve by
taking instruction at any of several fine schools out there, and
using a Gravermax will also help to make the process easier. Both
will add significantly to the cost of learning how to engrave. The
only process that will produce high quality hand engraving is
consistent practice, and time- many, many hours of it. The cuts
must be made over and over again until the muscles and eyes are
trained to an “automatic muscle response”, and the feel of the metal
under the graver can’t be “read” until lots of it has passed
underneath the tool’s cutting edge.
I believe that this ties back into other previous threads that have
dealt with the Marketing of our trade. Are you, the jeweler,
interested in making money or in the making? Isn’t a special piece
that symbolizes the sentiment of love and family going to be
enhanced even further by the addition of some beautifully engraved
inscription ? If that is part of why you love to make beautiful
jewels, and you use the finest of materials, then using the skills
of a hand engraver will only add to the precious qualities of your
work. If you just need to add a date to the inside of an
inexpensive ring, then you probably won’t want to pay an engraver
for the time it takes to do it.
Some of the most beautiful engraving I have ever seen has been on
guns-
The gun groups are extraordinarily supportive of the engraving
community, and it has been suggested that if you intend to be
recognized as an engraver, you will work on guns and knives. I
don’t believe that it should be mandatory that you work on weapons
to have your work valued, but the basis of that statement comes out
of the fact that gun owners value their guns, and find the engraving
enhances their value. Jewelry and hollowware can be just as
valuable, but some how they have become more of a commodity than a
status symbol. And people who buy jewelry as a status thing
generally like diamonds and other (preferably large) precious stones
to encrust their trophies, rather than the quiet flash of the
engraved line.
So it all comes down to trying to justify the time and expense of
learning a complicated and challenging skill. If you do it for
passion, the quality of time invested will eventually be recouped,
provided you find the right audience for your work. If you don’t
find the audience, your reward will be in the passion’s satisfaction
(and keep the day job). If, on the other hand, you want to do it
only for the money, you may find your efforts very frustrating. I
have seen the morning news shows fill up time by comparing 2
products-the real/designer item vs. the cheap knock-off, and having
the hosts try to guess which is the expensive item, and which is the
“bargain”? As long as that type of thinking prevails, all but the
biggest and the cheapest are going to be in trouble.
I don’t intend to discourage anyone who wants to engrave from
learning. I certainly don’t want to see hand engraving disappear,
and I feel it’s important to try to pass along my knowledge to a
younger generation. I do want to see the investment that is made in
time and effort be appreciated, and that means in both esthetic and
financial ways. Consider selling a hand engraved inscription or
monogram to add personalization and a special unique quality for
your customer. Consider working with an engraver to have some
surface embellishment added to your best creations. Support and
encourage all of those labor intensive skills before they die out
for lack of market-ability!
Melissa Veres, Engraver
@M_Veres