Diamond engraving or laser engraving? What are the advantages and disadvantages.

We present you in this article the different engraving techniques that we offer you and explain how they work and what the advantages and disadvantages are.

Because In addition to the question of the engraving's content, the question of the engraving technique is also essential. This is crucial for the design, as well as the quality of the engraving and its longevity.

With your custom engraving, you make your piece of jewelry unique and truly personal. Each piece of jewelry tells a story of your own with its engraving. And that's what makes working with Melanie Mirabel and her team so special: when your engravings make the piece truly unique. These are truly magical moments. There are such beautiful—sometimes sad—stories and events behind every engraving.

1. Laser engraving

Laser engraving creates a hair-thin A laser beam from a computer-controlled machine passes over the engraving plate. The laser burns the desired motif superficially into the metal, while the hot beam "burns" and vaporizes the metal surface to a minimal depth. This creates the dark to black color typical for laser engraving.

Advantages of laser engraving

• The laser beam offers incredible precision, allowing even the smallest designs and drawings to be engraved with pinpoint accuracy, making it perfect for children's drawings and more complex designs and symbols
• We use laser engraving to engrave your flat designs. These include footprints and handprints, lettering, and designs with bold, calligraphic lines and solid symbols.

We use laser engraving primarily for the following designs:

• Your baby's footprints and handprints
• Fingerprints of your loved ones
• Paw prints of dogs and cats
• Drawings by children who painted and filled with a thick pen
• Handwriting in thicker, ornate lines

Disadvantages of laser engraving

• The engraving will be black. Of course, taste is very individual, but it's important to consider whether you prefer a dark or black engraving on your gold or silver jewelry.
• In our experience and based on numerous customer feedback, the engravings tend to lose in shine and wear off faster than the engravings of a diamond engraving
• Because the engravings are only superficial, fading and wear occur more quickly and the engraving is no longer visible

2. Diamond engraving

Diamond engraving uses a diamond tool whose hard tip creates a very precise indentation in the metal. The tip carves your engraving into the metal. The resulting engraving is colorless, matching the color of the metal, and thus sparkles and shimmers beautifully in the light. Diamond engraving is very sophisticated and elegant.

When it comes to diamond engraving, a distinction is made between mechanical engraving and manual engraving.

a) Mechanical diamond engraving

Mechanical engraving uses a computer-controlled engraving machine, a so-called CNC engraving machine. This is the most widely used and modern method today and offers a wide variety of engraving options, especially because the system or app allows you to create a wide variety of designs and scan and copy your designs.

Advantages of mechanical diamond engraving

• Precise engraving that offers you a very durable engraving
• The engraving result is colorless, i.e. tone-on-tone in the color of the metal, and thus glitters and shimmers beautifully in the light.
• The diamond engraving is very noble and elegant

.

We use mechanical engraving primarily for the following designs:

• For engraving your individual designs
• Children's drawings in delicate, thin lines
• Handwriting and signatures in delicate, thin lines
• Excerpts from an ECG of heart sounds z.B. the first heartbeat of your baby after birth or the last heartbeat of a loved one.
• outlines and silhouettes, z.b. of mountains, skylines, shapes of all kinds
• Monograms of initials, z.b. that of a wedding
• Zodiac symbols
• Symbols and images with sharp lines
  

b) Manual diamond engraving

Manual engraving means that the engraving machine is operated by hand by the goldsmith or master engraver. These are called pantographs. Since this technique requires quite traditional method, it is also very rare nowadays. Behind it is pure handwork, as the characters, numbers and letters are Typefaces, or what we call stencils, are engraved. The master engraver then operates the machine manually; there's no computer involved.

At Melanie Mirabel, we work with a traditional pantograph in our goldsmith's workshop. This machine is a true "vintage" machine with true vintage quality.

But, and this is what makes it special, the engraving result is beautiful, because the manual force engraves particularly deeply into the metal and with great precision thanks to the stencil. We absolutely love this technique!

Advantages of manual diamond engraving

• Precise, deep-seated engraving which therefore offers you a very long-lasting engraving
• The engraving result is colorless, i.e. tone on tone in the color of the metal and thus glitters and shimmers beautifully in the light
• Diamond engraving is very classy and elegant. Disadvantages of manual diamond engraving
• Pure handwork and therefore time-consuming
• Due to the stencils, the selection of characters, letters and fonts is very limited, as these are expensive and are rarely produced
• Since it is not computer-controlled, individual designs cannot be implemented
• The technique requires many years of expertise from a master engraver

We use manual engraving primarily for the following designs:

• For our two in-house fonts ENGLISH or COURIER
• For our free selection of symbols and numbers

What is special about our service?

At Melanie Mirabel, we accompany you throughout your life with our personal service.Melanie Mirabel places the highest priority on personalization, which is a special feature of her brand.

Personalization in the production and engraving of each piece of jewelry as well as personalization in customer service is a matter close to our hearts.

Melanie Mirabel and her team are Even long after your purchase, we are always available to help with custom orders, questions of all kinds, styling tips, and also for possible repairs and complaints.