Welcome to Our Engraving Information Page

Our Engravings

We take pride in our engraving and personalisation service of all of our products and we have available a number of high quality machines which can produce unrivalled results across different types of materials including most metal types, wood, slate and glass.

In addition to a range of traditional diamond tipped engraving machines, we also have laser machines which can not only engrave wood, metals & mark slate permanently, but can also cut wood, card, plastic and paper into any shape you can imagine.

If there is anything in particular you have in mind for an engraving, or if you have a specific way you would like it to be laid out, we are very flexible and will be happy to accommodate - so please don't hesitate to contact us at workshop@thinkpersonalised.co.uk

How are the engravings laid out?

All of the engraving designs are done by people who have years of experience & are not done by an automated system - meaning we can lay out each design so that it not only looks great, but the message makes sense too.

Our designers follow a number of rules when laying out each engraving design.

Each engraving should be:

• Easily Read
• Aesthetically appealing
• Clear and clean
• Well spaced, both vertically and horizontally.
• Centred unless we are instructed otherwise (or unless the design itself is non-centred).

Each design is usually split into several lines in phrases / dates / names etc.. so that the message makes sense, is easily read and looks good.

For example:

To Frances,

Happy 60th Birthday

16/05/2017

Love from Judith x

One thing to bear in mind is that the more text that is fitted on 1 line, then the smaller the engraving will be because the text size is reduced to make it fit. The size of the engraving is usually therefore governed by the longest line in the message.

Here is an example of a Zippo lighter engraving:

Fonts:

We offer a wide selection of fonts to choose from - more than most websites. From swirly script-style fonts to blocky fonts and more tradition styles such as "Time New Roman". When you are configuring your engraving on the product page, you are given a choice of font in a dropdown. There should be a preview of what each font looks like when selected.

Please note: If you don't select any particular font, we will usually engrave in "Apple Chancery" font, as this is the most popular. It is slightly swirly but not too much, not blocky and is easily read. It is a good all-round font which looks good for any message or occasion.

Apple Chancery Font Example:

Which fonts are best to choose?

Choosing a font is mostly personal preference, but there are a couple of things to bear in mind when choosing, depending on what you want engraved.

The main issue we have is when people want ALL CAPITALS FOR THE WHOLE ENGRAVING.. A surprising number of people want this. All Capitals is absolutely fine for blocky fonts, such as Arial, Optima or Times New Roman - however, for swirly ornate script style fonts (such as Edwardian Script, Chuzzlewit, or Great Vibes), the message can be extremely hard to read (even if it's just initials). In our opinion, it is always best not to choose a swirly font if you must have ALL CAPITALS.

Below is an example of ALL CAPITALS in Optima vs Edwardian Script:

People also think that because they have ALL CAPITALS LETTERS, then the engraving will appear larger - It has in fact the opposite effect - (having all capital letters actually reduces the size of the engraving because the letters are bigger and therefore have to fit into the same space). You can see this in the 2 "Edwardian Script" examples above.

If you are undecided, we would always recommend "Apple Chancery" font.

Hatch Filled Engravings as Standard..

Each one of our engravings is "Hatch Filled" as standard at no extra cost. Hatch filling is a process whereby the lettering on the engraving is filled by the machine, rather than simply doing an outline engraving. It gives a fuller, more complete and more expensive look than a standard outline engraving.

Nearly all of our competitors will do only an outline engraving because it is much quicker and easier than hatch filling. We have always felt that the quality & appearance of the engraving is of huge importance to our customers and even though it takes 3 to 4 times longer to hatch fill the engraving, we feel that it is worth it because of the superior finished result and for the amazing feedback we get.

Of course, if you don't want your engraving "Hatch Filled" and would prefer an outline engraving, please contact us, as we are more than happy to do either.

If there are any questions about our engraving or personalisation processes, if you want an engraving laid out in a certain way, or if you have an idea which you can't find on the website, please do not hesitate to send us an email to workshop@thinkpersonalised.co.uk