Monogram and Cypher Tutorials

Andrew Biggs

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We are often asked for monograms and cyphers to be engraved on signet rings, pendants, grip caps, etc.

On these types of jobs you don’t have the luxury of spending a long time on the drawings. The way I work is that I always like to get the clients approval for the artwork first. That way there are no mistakes with the spelling or initials. It’s all there in black and white to sign off and no surprises………well, that’s the plan anyway. :)

So here are a couple of easy and quick ways to go about it using computer fonts, pencil and paper.

It is often the placing of the letters that is the hardest part. With this method you do it on the computer first and get the very basic layout in place. The rest is pencil and paper.

With the monogram kk sc script font you can download here

It’s actually a really useful font for starting cyphers with or by itself if you are in a desperate hurry. There is also a great book The Jewellery Engravers Manual by R. Allen Hardy and John J. Bowman that shows you how to create them from scratch.

For higher resolution copies you can download them from my new web site here.

Cheers
Andrew
 

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alladin

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Thank you for the tutorial Andrew.

I have the Hardy,Bowman book as well, lots of good stuff in there.
 

monk

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good instruction & a time-honored font. a cheer & a beer to you, andrew.
 

JJ Roberts

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Andrew,Good tutorial with I be showing to jewelry students,keep up the good work.:thumbsup:J.J.
 

Big-Un

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Great tutorial Andrew. This is a simple way to place letters and then use YOUR artistic capabilities to personalize it into a unique font for the customer. A lot better than trying to find THE perfect font and have it still look commercial.

Bill
 

Sinterklaas

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Great tutorial Andrew. This is a simple way to place letters and then use YOUR artistic capabilities to personalize it into a unique font for the customer. A lot better than trying to find THE perfect font and have it still look commercial.

Bill


Very nice tutorial for a beginner like me!
Thank you for taking the time to make this.

Big-Un: Your PM inbox is full I tried to send you pm but it wouldn't send it.
 

Andrew Biggs

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This is a simple way to place letters and then use YOUR artistic capabilities to personalize it into a unique font for the customer. A lot better than trying to find THE perfect font and have it still look commercial.

That sums it up perfectly, Bill :)

The big thing is to fill the designated shape and get the balance right. Same as any engraving job. Start with simple and work your way up to complicated. The old Bergling book has some incredibley beautiful examples to get inspiration from for both monograms and cyphers.

It's amazing to think that a lot of the big, high end department stores had their own engraver in the basement that would do all this kind of work straight out of their head. Often the turn around time was the same day. Their cuts were often quick and economical but absolutely beautiful. Mind you, doing it every day makes you get fast at it.

Thanks for all the comments and likes. Much appreciated. :)

Cheers
Andrew
 
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