Jewellery Engraving Ideas for Ashes Keepsakes

In order to put the finishing touches on your memorial jewellery, you may be asked to choose an engraving. This is a popular choice as it helps to further personalise the piece, and could help with identification if the jewellery ever goes missing. While not essential, it’s a nice finishing touch to your piece of personalised jewellery.

The space for engraving might be very limited, so you’ll need to think very carefully about what you want to include. You might be limited to a certain number of characters, or you might only have space for a small symbol.

If you’re struggling to choose the engraving for your jewellery, we’ve got you covered. With our help, you can choose the ideal engraving idea that will help you to create a lasting memorial to your loved one.

What types of jewellery can be engraved?

If you are keen to have your jewellery engraved, you’ll need to adjust your choice of jewellery accordingly. Some pieces are better suited to engraving than others. And some pieces will give you a larger engraving space than others. Here are some of the most popular types of jewellery and where they can be engraved:

• Rings – it’s common to include an inscription on the inner part of the ring that sits against your finger. Depending on the size of the ring, you might be limited to a very short message or initials. With hidden compartment jewellery, you can also choose to have the chamber entrance engraved with a single symbol.
• Bangles – if you want more space to engrave a message, then you’ll need to opt for something larger like a bangle. You’ll need a bangle with a flat surface rather than a rounded bangle.
• Pendants – a pendant necklace could have a large surface area for your engraved message. Or you might only have space for initials and a small symbol. It all depends on the size of the pendant.
• Dog tags – the largest item you could engrave would be a dog tag necklace. This will give you a much larger surface area, so you could include a longer message.
• Cufflinks – another popular item to engrave would be a pair of cufflinks. Since you have two of them, you could have matching inscriptions on each one, or you could have different messages.
• Signet rings – the inscription on your ring doesn’t have to be secret with a signet ring. It’s common to have initials added to personalise the design.

As you can see, there’s no shortage of options available. Now that you have an overview of the types of jewellery that could be engraved, let’s look at some of the most popular choices for an inscription.

Initials or name

Perhaps the simplest choice would be to have the person’s initials or their first name engraved on your jewellery. This is a simple way to honour their memory and mark the memorial jewellery in a moving way. If you have more space, you could also include your own initials to make it a symbol of your undying love.

Handwriting

If you have a sample of their handwriting and enough space for engraving, it could be a touching tribute to engrave the jewellery with a small message. You could even just use the first letter of their name written in their own handwriting. If you have a drawing of a heart by the deceased, this could also be a popular choice for engraving on something like a signet ring, cufflinks or dog tags.

Lyrics

You don’t need space for all of the lyrics to a song. Young people like to take the first letter of each word and put this together into a long string of letters. If you know the song, then these letters will be quickly recognizable to you. This is a highly effective way to include a long and memorable message that conveys a lot in a short space. This would be a popular choice for a ring or a bangle, as you could include a longer message in this kind of secretive code.

Symbols

With our secret chamber memorial jewellery, you’ll have the option to add a small symbol over the chamber. This could include something like a heart, a star, or a star sign symbol. These are religious symbols you could include to honour your loved one’s spirituality. You could also add a leaf or a flower if this helps to remind you of the person. For a pet, you might include a small paw print.

Dates

There are lots of dates that could be significant to you. The day you met, your wedding day, their birthday, or even their death day. Whatever dates are meaningful to you, you can add these to your jewellery. Roman numerals are often used to make the design more aesthetic, but you could choose any style that you like.

Quotes

It’s important to remember that the jewellery is really for you, not for the deceased. It can help to bring you strength in difficult moments, so you might want to inscribe it with a message to yourself. Popular quotes include things like “stay strong”, or “be you”. You might have a quote from your loved one that feels poignant and important, and this could help to bring some light into your darkest moments.

Final thoughts on engravings for ashes keepsakes

Take your time to think about what message you would like to include on your ashes keepsake. And remember that you don’t have to decide straight away. You could wear the jewellery for a while and think about what would bring you the most comfort.

If you choose to have your ashes jewellery engraved at a later date, make sure the engraver knows the significance of the piece. You should also point out the ashes chamber so they know not to disturb the contents. Engraving too close to the seam could put the ashes at risk. It’s far better to return to our studio for engraving, as we’ll be familiar with the layout of the jewellery.