These are just a very few of the testmonials sent to us by our fantastic customers!
April 2011.
Hi Helen,
House number arrived safe and sound today.
Very pleased with the quality and the speedy service.
Have no hesitation in recommending your company to family and friends
Kind Regards
Frederick
Hi Steve, Many thanks for the celtic number, we are over the moon with it! The craftsmanship is excellent and the sandstone really is a good match for the cottage.If you are ever in the area drop in for a cuppa and see your work in situ! kind regards Stephie.
Helen,
The house sign arrived today as planned by the courier, and we are absolutely delighted !
Arriving on a sunny day enabled us to see what it would be like in full sun, and the shadows cast by the lettering make it very legible.
we will send you a photo in due course of its ultimate destination in Italy !!
Regards & Best Wishes
Tony
Hi Helen, Thank you so much for making the plaque - it is really
wonderful and suits the house style and surroundings beutifully. Thanks again, so much. Deborah
Helen
Arrived to day. Thank you. Everything OK. It looks great Fantastic A pleasure to do business with you. An excellent product and excellent service from start to finish.Thank you again.
Kind Regards
Nick
(Feb 2011) Hello Helen,
Our house signs have arrived amid much excitement and we are delighted with them! I absolutely love the autumn sandstone and I can't wait to see them in situ (maybe this weekend). Also, thanks to your efficient service we are able to keep the builders happy--and hopefully on schedule as they construct my annex (The Orangery) which is attached to my daughter and family's house (Saffron House) where I currently reside.
Once again many thanks for a friendly and efficient service and a most agreeable product.
Best wishes
Janet
(Feb 2011) WOW Helen
That was an extremely nice surprise. I received the engraving this morning and I was overjoyed.
It looks so nice....just in time for Valentine......I didn't think I would get it this early.....
She will be so impressed when I give Sxxxxx her gift.....Ahmed
(Feb 2011) Hi Helen,
I can confirm that we have safely received the stone engraving. We bought it as a gift for our daughter and son-in-law for their new house and we are all delighted with the result.
Yours sincerely
Chris
(Feb 2011) Hi Helen
Thank you, we have just received the sign. We are delighted, it is perfect and beautiful. It's a shame it's going ouside where we can't see it!
Thank you so much for your patience in endeavouring to get it just right, we really appreciate it.
Kind Regards.....
Shaorn
(Jan 2011) Hi Helen
I am sorry I did not reply earlier but I have had a dreaded virus and not been able to do anything for over a week. Anyway I can't thank you enough for the engraved house sign plaque, when it arrived it was better than I had imagined. I had bought it for my partner David who had just gained planning permission to build a house on our farm; this is why I wanted it for Christmas (it came well in time too.) I just wanted to say your service and quality of workmanship is second to none and if in the future I need anything else I will be back in touch. Many thanks again...
Jenny
(Jan 2011)
Hello Helen,
Happy New Year to you all
I am writing to say thank you all so much for the Plews Cottage house sign.
Not only did you cope with our prevarications and delays, but you also
had the snow for couriers to contend with. It arrived, I hear, on
Tuesday 21st December and looks absolutely fabulous. Both Lindsey and
Ian are delighted with it and look forward to warmer weather when the
rendering of the house, and the placement of the sign can go ahead!
Thank you so much..
Maggie
Hi Helen,
My Mum received the house sign today and she absolutely loves it. Thanks you so much for your exquisite work and professional, prompt service - especially at this time of year! Much appreciated...
Many thanks,
Steph Breen
This is a general information article about the various methods of engraving stone granite and marble etc.
There are several methods of engraving natural stone, the ones most commonly used are "Etching", "Machine Cut", "Hand Cut" and the method we use "Deep Cut Engraving". This is a brief explanation of the choices commonly available.
(NB: When we refer to stone it includes any type of natural stone slate, granite and marble).
DEEP CUT ENGRAVING:
The lettering is deep cut into the solid stone using grit blasting, commonly refered to as sand blasting. A more accurate description would be "Sand Carving" as the process is more skilled and subtle than it first appears.
This method requires very high pressure equipment, careful preparation and a lot of time!
The layout and art work are created on computer, the size and spacing of the lettering is therefore completely flexible, and the quality and variety of the artwork is only limited by the ability of the company artist.
The lettering and any art work can be very cut deeply into the stone, this means the lettering and any art work "stands out" - it has depth, shape and shadow. So much so that 75% of our signs go out unpainted and are perfectly ledgible. They also have a very long life. These signs will still be readable after decades of weathering.
ETCHED:
Etching has been around in various forms for a long time, most people will be familiar with pictures printed using etched copper plates.
The image is either scratched or burned into the surface of the copper with acid.
Stone slate and granite are of course much harder than copper but the principle is the same. The image is lightly scratched onto the surface of the stone with an engraving machine or very light blasting or is burnt onto the stone with a laser cutter.
This creates a thin but permanant shadow image on the surface of the stone. On some materials such as black granite the image can be quite clear and readable, the problem is that when the stone gets wet the image becomes all but invisible. Therefore, stone etchers rely on coloured fill, paint or stain to highlight the image or letters.
The useful life of the sign depends entirely on the ability of the coloured fill to withstand weathering.
The advantages of etching are that it is possible to produce highly ornate artwork or very small text and the manufacturing process is relativly flexible.
MACHINE CUT:
Machine cut slate house signs are very common. You can spot them because unlike blasted or etched signs the letters are v-cut and the serifs of the letters tend to be rather heavy and rounded, unlike hand carved or deep cut lettering where the serifs are sharp.
The letters are cut using a large pantograph type machine. It is unusual to see machine engravers working on the harder stones such as Indian sandstone or granite as these types of stone are too hard for the cutting bits.
The engraving using this method is deep and will still be readable when the paint has weathered away.
The disadvantage of this method is its lack of design flexability.
The type of font and the size and spacing of the lettering depends entirely on the available jigs. This is why most of these signs are priced per letter, longer names need longer pieces of slate or stone. Also the artwork and lay-out options available will be very limited.
HAND CUT:
Letter cutters are a rare breed nowadays. When I was an apprentice back in the 1960's (cue sad plaintiff music!) most headstones were still lettered by hand, using hammer and chisel, and tradesmen letter cutters were considered to be (forgive the pun), a cut above us masons.
The lettering was drawn onto the face of the stone in pencil the lay out and spacing was done largely by eye! Then each letter was individually carved with hammer and chisel. Some letters were v-cut and painted but the majority of the work was for leaded lettering.
The process is still the same today, the main change is that most hand letters cutters today have come to the trade the artists route, learning to draft the designs and fonts at art school rather than in the more disciplined arena of a masons workshop. The designs and fonts tend to be more artistic and free flowing, each piece of work the product of inspiration and skill. Thus modern hand cut inscriptions are considered to be works of art, rather than mundane products of craft.
Today finding a letter cutter is a problem and of course a hand cut house sign will (rightly) be very expensive. However if the engraved stone is important enough and you can afford the extra cost it may be well worth it!