Nowadays technology moves at an astounding pace & once in a while something comes along that rather than being a pointless gadget, is instead something that can transform an entire industry. The laser engraving machines that are now used in the jewellery trade seem to be one such technology. “Will this be the end of traditional hand engravers?” I hear you ask. Definitely not in my opinion. Most hand engraving we do at RING jewellers is adding personal messages inside rings. For example a couples names & wedding date inside wedding rings. Our clients love the looks of our hand engraved inscriptions. What the introduction of laser engraving has done is to open up new possibilities rather than just changing the way engraving is done. Many jewellery commissions we take on nowadays require a level of detail that is simply not possible with hand engraving. Here are a few bespoke commissions that used our laser engraving techniques…..
Fingerprint rings – With this commission we enlarged the ladies fingerprint & engraved this on to the gents wedding ring. Then we reduced the size of the gents fingerprint & engraved that on to the ladies band. The laser engraver burns the metal so when the jewellery is finished we asked our clients if they want to keep the blackened look to enhance the detail or if they prefer the more subtle look we polish off the black colour.
Star Wars Aurebesh titanium wedding rings – Titanium wedding rings laser engraved in Aurebesh which is a language from Star Wars. One ring said “I love you” & the other said “I know” which is a quote from a scene featuring Han Solo & Princess Leia. After the engraving process the titanium rings were then anodised to highlight the detail in a vivid blue & pink.
The old ball & chain – Laser engraving featuring a ball & chain which is a slang term for ‘the wife’ (this gentlemen had a very understanding fiancĂ©)
Chinese calligraphy – This ring featured the customer’s sons name (in Chinese) & birthstone
“Keep The Fear” – This was an engraving applied across 2 wedding bands. The couple loved playing practical jokes on each other hence the inscription!
Engraving onto the wall thickness of a ring – For a really subtle engraving another technique is to engrave on to the wall thickness of a ring
Fossil ring – Here a textured titanium ring was used as the finish looked like a rock formation. We then engraved images of fossils on to the band so it looked like the ring had been formed by mother nature