I’ve been dragging my feet for years with regards to getting a
Makers Mark perhaps because I’d really just prefer to sign my pieces.
And in the absence of having one, I’ve been doing nothing at all for
much too long. A recent customer has requested that I sign her piece
I’m curious what the best way to go about this is. I’ve toyed with
the idea of getting one of those little hand held engravers but I
have a sneaking suspicion that it would shake and vibrate in such a
way as to make the result very unsatisfying. I suppose I could try to
do it with a scribe, though of course it wouldn’t be deep enough to
withstand much wear. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know that
I’ve seen pieces with beautifully legible signatures on them – and I
don’t think they were stamped. I feel like this is a very elementary
question but I simply don’t know the answer!
Sears carries the Craftsman “engraver” for about mid 20’s. I have
one and sign all my jewelry. I can engrave a very tiny signature.
Practice writing on scrap until you get the feel of holding it like
a pencil and controlling it’s vibration. The vibration can be set so
you hardly notice it. Pretty noisy little tool, but worth it.
If you’ve got good control with your flexshaft, you could use a tiny
ball bur to carve out a signature.
If you’ve got a lot of time to learn a new skill, being able to
engrave by hand is a fantastic resource, and the tools required are
not terribly expensive. Beyond just putting your name on places,
learning how to use a graver will help with stone setting as well.
There are also machines that will engrave jewelery by tracing brass
copy type. They’re expensive, and can be a little bit fussy if you
need to put a signature in an odd place, but they make clean lines
and perfectly identical letters which can be scaled to many
different sizes.
If you’ve got good control with your flexshaft, you could use a tiny
ball bur to carve out a signature.
If you’ve got a lot of time to learn a new skill, being able to
engrave by hand is a fantastic resource, and the tools required are
not terribly expensive. Beyond just putting your name on places,
learning how to use a graver will help with stone setting as well.
There are also machines that will engrave jewelery by tracing brass
copy type. They’re expensive, and can be a little bit fussy if you
need to put a signature in an odd place, but they make clean lines
and perfectly identical letters which can be scaled to many
different sizes.
Hilary - Using a hand held engraver works pretty nicely. It is
inexpensive and I use it for lots of different texturing besides
signing my pieces. Just practice on some copper first. I have a sears
craftsman - $10. I alsohave a stamp which is nice and consistant and
clean looking but sometimes I want to get alittle crazy and use the
engraver anyway I looked at your work - very nice. You might want
to think about a stamp that is your “logo” or “brand” instead of an
actual signature.That adds a cool little detail to things.
I’m quite curious about this – when you talk about the tools for
engraving by hand, are you talking about hand-held gravers or the
gravmach machines or what exactly? i’ve been perusing rio’s website
for tools and dvds and whatnot but am not quite sure what i’m
looking for.
Great! I’ll give that a try then – for some reason I had it in my
head that making one of the hand held engravers work was about as
easy as trying to set stones left-handed but I’m taking great solace
in everyone’s suggestions. I should at least be able to hack out my
initials one would hope!! And I’ll get to work on my stamp design.
pretty sure i’m going to have to go that route one way or another
since i just got an order for a ring and the person wants a
signature – i looked on rio under makers mark and stamps and i’m not
finding it, but maybe if i call in the morning they can guide me
Great! I'll give that a try then -- for some reason I had it in my
head that making one of the hand held engravers work was about as
easy as trying to set stones left-handed
I’m right handed, but with a GraverMax I can set stones left-handed.
Hilary - Rio just made me a stamp. You do have to call them and
fax/email attachment your “signature” The stamp was $80 - half down
upfront and it wasready in 3 weeks.
i just ordered a little engraver so thanks for the advice! and i’m
going to spend some time this weekend designing a stamp. for things
like rings, i think it probably makes the most sense.
Hilary, I use a simple hand held engraver and it works fine.
Practice on some scrap metal until you get the hang of it. There are
some adjustments on the engraver that you can play with to get your
desired look.
I looked at your work - very nice. You might want