How to start with calligraphy engraving - an intro guide for calligraphers
If 2025 is the year you wanted to try calligraphy engraving, either as a hobby or maybe to add it in your services toolkit in the future, then this blog post is for you.
Engraving or more exactly hand engraving has become so popular in recent years amongst skills gained by calligraphers.
I personally learned engraving in 2020 during the first year of pandemic and it was the best decision ever. Because, today in 2025, a good part of my business income comes from engraving jobs I do, both in studio and onsite. Unfortunately, in 2020 there were not many courses available about engraving compared to now. Also, the very few engravers already on the market would never share any tips or information about tools they use in their posts. In that year I left a question in a Q/A box from an Australian calligrapher who was a big name for luxury engraving events and she replied by saying that the tool she uses is very expensive and costs $3500+. Imagine my reaction…
As it was the pandemic and everyone was stuck at home, I bought a £15 pen engraver on Amazon and I took the chance and learned it by myself by practicing on all the empty jars in the house.
Within a month or so I luckily found on Instagram an US calligrapher and engraver that was selling a PDF guide on how to start engraving and decided to buy it (it was around $50). In that guide I learned a few more tricks but also a list of tools for engraving. In that guide it was also recommended the professional engraver by Kestrel from Ink me This and I decided quickly I wanted to invest in that one. Five years on and I still use my Ink Me This engraver.
Nowadays, there are so many courses available to speed up the process to learn engraving, but to learn engraving you actually have to roll your sleeves and use your time to practice.
Learning a new skill comes with practice and becoming more experienced comes with even more practice. The more you practice, the more you get to know your tool, try different materials, bur sizes and speeds etc.
In overview, this blog post will cover mainly these topics, and most items shared will have clickable links:
What is calligraphy engraving?
Why learn engraving
Safety measures for engraving (a must to read before doing anything else)
Main tools for engraving
How to engrave
Some bonus tips to achieve smooth lines on glass
Take a cup of your favourite drink, a notepad and a pen and let’s get started…
What is calligraphy engraving?
Firstly, to not be confused with hand engraving done by a skilled craftsman using a selection of handheld tools typically made of hardened steel to cut the design into the surface and carefully carve away areas of metal to leave the text or pattern 'cut-out' of the metal. Think of those master engravers that work in luxury jewellery workshops.
The calligraphy engraving technique I am referring to is mostly used by calligraphers and is the one where you use a brushless engraving drill (this could be a dental one, a nail drill one or a professional one specifically created for calligraphers. You hold that drill as you hold a calligraphy pen and using the calligraphy skills you have, you’ll move the engraving drill on the surface as you’d write, but you don’t write, you etch on the surface. At first, you might not like the vibration in your hand, the hand might make strange turns especially for upper strokes, curves etc but the more you do it the more you get used to that vibration.
Why learn calligraphy engraving
First, is the most permanent personalisation technique. Once you engrave an item, the personalisation is forever, hence the popularity as a personalisation service offered by brands in store, a demand that had increased massively in recent years.
Once you learn it you can transform regular boring gifts into special personalised ones (perfumes, mirrors, make up, limited edition alcohol bottles etc.) Imagine the reaction a recipient will have when receiving a personalised engraved gift. And you can engrave beyond words (think of illustrations of any kind) that a laser machine will never achieve that.
And with calligraphy engraving you can engrave on so many surfaces, not only glass.
Safety measures for engraving
Before you start the engraving practice, there are a few safety measures that you need to know and always follow. Particles of glass, metal can be harmful to you if exposed to longer periods.
Main safety measures are:
Before I dive in into the process of engraving, please NEVER engrave on pressurised items like champagnes, prosseco bottles and even frizzy drinks. Engraving anything under pressure creates additional risk of the bottle breaking, which could be very dangerous for you and for those around you, and also later if a person receives the item a week later.
Mask (I use a cotton one that I wash regularly). Also, would be great to add a filter for extra safety. The mask will protect you from breathing glass/metal dust into your lungs which it is very dangerous.
Protective glasses that are actually called goggles, very important to prevent dust getting into your eyes too (best to get the ones with an anti-fog feature) I have these from Amazon.
Rubbing alcohol or any disinfectant spray (I use this regularly to sanitise the surface I’m working on). You can also use a vacuum dust collector, but I honestly never used one. I personally prefer to wipe my area regularly with a microfibre towel and rubbing alcohol.
Gloves or brush (it’s mostly a preference for me to use a cotton glove on the left hand that I hold the item) mostly because I don’t like wiping off dust with bare hands and I don’t find practical using a brush but you can try using it to dust off and see it for yourself. The cotton gloves I use are from Amazon.
Main tools for engraving
Now let’s get to the best part because you can’t learn engraving without tools.
So, here they are:
The drill:
To test if you like engraving, you can start with a nail drill machine or an Yokefellow from Amazon or AliExpress.
I personally tried engraving the first time with a pen engraver from Amazon that has a button that you need to press and hold to engrave, and max speed was 20000 RPM. I quickly decided to invest in a professional one and noticed the difference straight away.
If you decide to offer engraving as a service offering, I would suggest investing in a professional too. My professional engraver I use since 2020 and still working is the one from Ink Me This. It lasts 8hrs to work onsite (but I always recommend to have a back up engraver when working onsite) and the bundle comes with all the bits.
But I know artists that achieve outstanding results onsite with the Yokefellow one or a nail drill.
Round diamond burs:
Also, correct spelling is BUR and NOT BURR, these are two different meanings.
Diamond tip burs are those tips at the end of the drill that once you turn it on it will start to rotate and will etch away the surface desired. The burs are to the engraving drills what the nib is to a penholder to write calligraphy.
Different sizes and shapes will give various engraving styles. But, for beginners, it’s best to start with diamond burs.
If you are based in the UK like me, I am happily sharing my UK supplier. It’s taken me a lot of time to find a UK supplier I’m happy with. I mostly buy these ones from the company called Eternal Tools and I always buy in larger amount to get a better price per bur.
The Yokefellow drill will match with these burs from Amazon.
My personal favourite and most used bur sizes are 0.8mm for fine engraving and smoothing out lines, 1mm or 1.5mm for first outline depending on the size of letters and very rarely will go up to 2 or 2.5mm for larger letters or harder materials like marble or wood. Bur sizes used is a personal choice and you’ll find yours when you start the engraving process.
Bur lube
Lube is something you might consider using if you want to extend the life of a bur. You just need to dip the bur into the lube for every 10-15 seconds while you’re engraving. It is guaranteed that your final engraving work will be much smoother too. I might be honest and say that I have this but never use. So, don’t bother to buy as a must supply item, because it is not.
Small microbead pillow (a must for beginners)
The pillow is a very convenient item to use to hold the item into especially the ones with an awkward shape (round items like perfume bottles, wine bottle, candles etc). I have this one from Amazon in black.
Drafting tools
As a beginner and even me as an experienced one, you’ll want to draft first. Because you want a perfectly centred word, straight lines or even to avoid misspelling words (which you know you can’t fix a mistake if you get it wrong because engraving is permanent). I personally draft everything I do in studio, but for onsite events it will depend how busy an event is. I had an event in 2024 where I engraved 45 bottles of gin in 2 hours and that was achievable only because I freehanded all of them. But, this will come with experience,
Items to use for drafting will vary depending on the colour of the surface, so you need to have a few options.
But if you start with glass, you’ll need a black Stabilo pencil that comes in other colours (I only have the white as an alternative option).
For metal surfaces I always use a black fineliner pen like Micron, it’s smooth but unfortunately it smudges easily when you dust off while engraving, so you’ll have to be careful. I sometimes use an extra fine Posca marker.
It is said that a Stabilo pencil will scratch the surface of an item from glass, but to be honest I didn’t have this issue.
Another important drafting tool is a transparent ruler that also bends, so you can easily use it on round items. These are useful to draw lines to make a word straight and create even spacing with multiple lines of words.
Colour fill options
I mostly use Rub ‘n Buff wax sold in tubes (most colours I use are gold and silver, but I also have bought the white, black and rose gold). One tube lasts you a long time because you’ll only apply a small bit of wax to colour fill. Apply Rub ‘n Buff wax on the engraved area using a cotton bud or an old small brush and wipe off the excess using cotton pad or paper towel). Be careful that this wax dries out very quickly, so you need to be fast and wipe off the excess quickly though. If it dries out, add more Rub ‘n Buff then wipe fast or use a cotton bud with rubbing alcohol to remove the bits that are still there.
Remember, the Rub ‘n Buff wax is only suitable for surfaces like glass and plastic (non-frosted only). It can be applied on metal, but it doesn’t attach on it like glass and the colour will be faded.
NEVER use Rub ‘n Buff wax on porous materials like marble, frosted glass or wood, it will colour the entire area not just the words engraved.
Alternative options to colour fill those tricky materials are EF oil based paint markers (Pentel, Edding or Sakura pen touch) if the line is thick enough. If you have very thin lines on engraving, then it’s best to use an old calligraphy nib with acrylic ink (I use Liquitex range that has gold, silver that I mostly use).
Other useful bits
Mini spraying bottles of rubbing alcohol (to clean the area and remove draft) and a mini spray bottle of windex (to wipe of shiny metallic surfaces like stainless steel, mirror or any fingerprints on items) and mix of any essential oil with water (to clean off rub n buff wax from fingers and also remove any wax residue from the item)
Microfiber Cleaning Cloths for Lens is useful to have for polishing away fingerprints and any glass dust left on the item. I spray some windex or even rubbing alcohol to polish.
Elbow pillow (a new item I added in 2024) I have these from Amazon If I need to engrave a flat item like perfumes I tend to use this little pillow. But for any round items I will switch to my microbead pillow.
How to engrave
Main steps of engraving a glass item: 1. draft 2. engrave the draft 3. clean the dust and smooth the lines or create a faux look 4. apply wax 5. remove excess wax with a cotton pad and wipe the product 6. Product ready to be packed
The simple answer to this question is - by actually doing the action of engraving. you can learn all the tips in the world about engraving, but until you start and do it on an actual item, you’ll learn it.
My personal recommendation is to start with glass to try out engraving. Glass is easier to handle compared to any other material. Collect as many empty or used glass items from your house (jars, candles etc). Would be great to find any flat items not round, but any would do.
Then, take out all your safety tools and engraving tools and decide on your working area.
As your first try, start with a bigger bur (1.5/2mm in size). Insert it in your engraving tool, make sure to lock it. Put your safety tools on, use the pillow to hold your item and start with a low speed to get the feel. Make any doodles you like, lines, circles then move to some words. Increase the speed to see the difference. On glass, you can use the maximum 35000 RPM and some drills can go to 40000 RPM.
Also, test different bur sizes and analyse the difference of thickness when you switch bur sizes. Move to words or some little illustrations, you can just do freehand, or draft it first. Try faux calligraphy engraving on letters to compare with monocline engraving.
Good looking engraving has smooth lines (not shaky) and same thickness on all downstrokes if you decide to do a faux look. But for beginners, I would recommend to do monoline.
The secret to good engraving is practice. The more you do it and try different speeds, bur size combos, the better you will learn your tools and the technique.
Once you had enough with glass, you can start looking around the house for other materials (like metal, coated plastic, marble etc).
I always recommend to do one material at a time before moving to the next, otherwise you’ll get confused.
And remember, to take notes too.
Some useful tips to achieve smooth lines on glass:
In this photo, I’m using my 2 elbow pillows to make my wrist be the same height as the perfume I engrave
Don’t dig too hard into the glass; you might think that you might need to press hard into the glass to do engraving, but in fact you just need to etch surface; if you press too hard to make deeper engraving will create some resistance from the drill and that ‘will not’ give you clean lines. But, on surfaces like hard stones as marble, you will aim to press deeper.
To avoid your hand accidentally from slipping, always keep your wrist level with the item you are engraving on. When engraving a perfume, I always use a small elbow pillow to help stabilise my wrist and have better control on engraving upper strokes or elongated flourishes; also, you can also rotate your item to engrave difficult turns. I personally make smoother lines when I pull towards my body and I use my other hand to provide stability.
Don’t rush or speed the engraving; remember traditional calligraphy and especially calligraphy engraving is a slow art and you should avoid engraving your letters no where near your handwriting speed. Slow is always the best approach!
I really hope you found this blog post useful to make a decision if you want to try engraving. You can always reach out to your favourite calligraphy engravers (including me) to ask some advice on some troubleshooting you might have. But, please remember, the more your practice, the more you’ll learn engraving in your own way until you find your preferred style, tool etc. And if you are not following me yet on Instagram, please do so as I share lots of process engraving videos that you might find helpful. You can find me here.
If there will be enough interest, I might do a follow up blog post about engraving on tricky materials (like metal, plastic), or maybe something related about tools for onsite events etc.
Please let me know in the comments what would you like to read next about engraving.
If you read this far, thank you!
Happy engraving!
Lots of love,
Uliana
