Hand engraving is a rare art form that requires years of expertise and a keen eye for detail. Having been practiced for over a thousand years, it involves using hand tools to carve custom inscriptions and designs into a piece of jewelry.

Unlike with machine engravings, where sometimes templates and patterns must be followed, hand engraving grants the craftsman the ability to have full control over what is to be inscribed. With hand engraving, each etch of an inscription is both masterfully carved and incredibly unique. With variations in carve depth, width, and length, hand engraving produces an unmistakable, charming aesthetic that no machine can ever replicate.

Machine engraving is the way of creating engravings using powered tools or lasers. It’s a great option for getting something engraved at an affordable price. Even though it doesn’t produce the charm or aesthetic of hand engraving, it still gives an opportunity to add a meaningful inscription to a piece of jewelry.

As long as the piece to be engraved has enough space and is made of a suitable material, it can be engraved. This includes jewelry like rings, pendants, wedding bands, cufflinks, bracelets, and so forth. Please note that some locations on jewelry may be impossible to engrave due to access.

You can engrave all different types of texts, symbols and imagery onto your jewelry. For the most part, as long as a piece has room to work with, we can engrave whatever you wish on it. There are some exceptions to this, of course. The best thing to do is to call or visit us at our studio in the West Loop if you have any questions.

After the initial consultation, hand engraving projects typically take anywhere from two to five days. A machine engraving project is quicker, and can usually be done within two to three days.

We really need to see the piece first and know what needs to be engraved before giving any estimates.

With that in mind, pricing depends on the project. Hand engraving is priced differently than machine engraving, and the size, detail, and how much of the piece you want covered all factor in. For instance, a short inscription costs less than an intricate design that goes around the whole piece.

For pricing, we invite you to bring your piece in for a complimentary consultation.

Absolutely not! Engraving removes a small amount of metal from the surface, and on a piece with enough thickness that’s no problem at all.

The main thing to watch for is very thin or hollow jewelry, where there’s less material to work with. For any piece that we engrave, we inspect it thoroughly and set a plan in place for a perfect job.

In most cases, yes.

Note, though, that like with any service or adjustment done with older pieces, they need to be inspected first. Since some heirlooms can be delicate, we’ll check the metal, the condition, and what can be done.

Given the sentimental nature of heirloom pieces (and any piece of jewellery in general!), we take great care with every piece that comes through our doors.

The possibility of changing or removing old engravings really depends on what’s been engraved, and what needs to be done.

Depending on the piece and how deep the original inscription is, we can usually polish it out or rework it and engrave something new in its place. There are limits of course, especially on thinner pieces where removing metal isn’t a good idea, so it’s best to have us take a look first.

Bring it by our studio in the West Loop, and we’ll let you know what’s possible.

Yes. We engrave pieces from anywhere.

As long as there’s enough room to work with and the material is suitable, we’re glad to engrave it.