The following engraving styles on granite are available:
Here at American Headstones Company we have found the best practice for engraving a headstone that lasts the longest is using the process of sandblasting. We do not offer any engraving done with lasers or diamond bits. We have found that both of those processes produce an engraving or etching that is too shallow. The hard water from the irrigation systems here at Southern California cemeteries leaves mineral deposits that we have found often times backfill those extremely shallow engraving types.
American Headstones Company offers the following types of engraving on granite memorial headstones. Currently Standard Engraving and Raised Polished Engraving are included in all of our base pricing. Deep Cut In Sanded Panel & Specialized Sandblasted Engraving are an additional charge due to the added labor of those processes.
Standard Sandblasted Engraving
The “Standard” refers to a standard stencil being used to sandblast the design work and writing. Here the letters are cut into the polished face and filled with black or white ink lithographic inks. This process is what is most commonly used and allows for the most options in design work. With standard engraving there are some minimum sizes we have to hold for writing along with design work and depth of engraving in order for it to be able to be engraved successfully.
Typical on most granite headstones. Here the letters are cut into the polished face and filled with black or white ink lithographic inks.
Raised Polished Sandblasted Engraving
In this process we sandblast out the background around letters and design work leaving the writing and design done in the polished granite. This allows the color of the granite to be seen as the writing and designs. The background sections that are sandblasted away from the writing and design work loses the color of the polished granite and those areas are often times either lightly painted white or heavily painted white depending on the desired look of the design. In this process all writing and design work must be made larger than what can be achieved with standard engraving
Here letters appear to be raised above the background which has been cut away. The background is filled with lithographic inks.
Deep Cut in a Sanded Panel Sandblasted Engraving
To achieve the deep cut in sanded panel engraving we must sandblast out a panel of the polished granite. The second step is then to engrave the writing and design work into that sanded panel. The engraved writing and design work is then painted using black lithographic inks. This gives the engraving the appearance of being deep. The black ink is used because of the depth of the engraving. If white ink were to be used you would see the shadows and it would cause the engraving to appear to be blurry or not focused.
Here the background is blasted away then Standard Engraving inside the background to give the marker a deeper look.
Specialized Sandblasted Engraving
Specialized sandblasting can only be done is 9” x 11” sections due to the stencil that is needed. These sections can not be lined up to be used to create something larger. We use this process in polished granite when a design or a section of writing needs to be made smaller and or more detailed than what standard engraving can accomplish. Although the depth of this type of engraving is shallower than standard engraving when done next to it visually looks like it all belongs together. It is a great way to get certain must have clipart images to work in your design when there is not room to make it large enough for standard engraving.
Text Styles (Fonts)
Please reference the below image for the current fonts we use. A good rule of thumb for fonts is the fancier it is, the larger it will need to be made.
Text style is unlimited to the available texts on the internet today. Our experience with text and legibility once the grave stone is completed shows the following choices to be favorites. Italics, Roman with calligraphy lettering, Calligraphy, Chancery and classic Bold letters.
