The Lisa Angel guide to personalisation

If you're looking to combine style with sentiment when searching for a great gift, a personalised piece can be just what you need. A personalisation adds a unique touch to a product, and gives the recipient even more reason to treasure your gift for time to come. We specialise in personalised giftware from jewellery to home accessories, and boast many different personalisation styles and designs to ensure you find the perfect present for that special someone. We've put together a useful guide on our personalisation styles and methods to provide you with clear information on how your product will look once your personalisation has been engraved, stamped, printed, or embroidered. 

Personalised jewellery makes a meaningful gift for a friend, family member, or partner, and even a special treat for yourself. We boast a range of engraving techniques to make each piece truly unique, and have an expert in-house team who will carefully turn your vision into a reality.

Attaching

All personalised jewellery and accessories that are handmade or require some form of assembly go through our attaching process. This is where our dedicated handmade teams carefully add chains, charms, and spring rings by hand to build bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and keyrings from scratch.

Clean engraving

Blackened engraving

The blackened engraving finish is created using a laser and computer programme for charms and pendants on bracelets, necklaces, and other jewellery pieces. The effect is a deeper, clear engraving, with a strong black infill to allow the lettering to really stand out. We do not offer the choice to change the colour of the engraving, but as with clean engraving, fonts, accents, and alphabets can be changed, as well as extra characters included if desired. Much like the clean engraving method, this method also gives the opportunity to engrave handwriting on some of our products.

Hand stamping

The hand-stamping technique has long been a favourite of our customers, and is often what we are best known for due to its timeless vintage typewriter effect. Charms and pendants on bracelets and necklaces are stamped by hand with the lettering of your choice, in either a clean or blackened finish. As it is a completely handmade process, we don't have the capacity to change fonts, accents, or alphabets. We also cannot offer extra characters due to the sizing of the stamps, and the stamped letters will always appear in capitals. We can, however, stamp punctuation such as ? ! & ( ) . , ' @ and a heart outline on some of our hand-stamped products.

Whether you're looking for a truly personal pint glass for a beer drinker, or a unique kitchen accessory for a pizza lover, we offer a large range of personalised homeware, ideal for gifting. Almost all of our glass and wood products can be personalised via a laser-engraving method to ensure a clean, professional, and personal product the recipient will want to reach for every time they choose to host or celebrate. We use a couple of different methods for engraving glass and wood, depending on whether the surface is flat or curved. 

Flatbed engraving

For flatter items such as mirrors, serving boards, and accessory stands, our team use the flatbed machine. This machine uses a computer programme and allows us to engrave and cut a variety of products and materials - providing the surface is completely flat - including wood, glass, acrylic, leather, and paper. We have the capacity to change fonts and engrave special characters, accents and alphabets. Much like the rotary method, the flatbed allows us to engrave handwriting or images on some of our products, and for extra characters the personalisation would need to be resized to ensure it fits neatly on the surface of the product. Unfortunately the machine cannot engrave with colour, so the finish will always be a darker brown shade on wood. 

Rotary engraving

The rotary engraving method allows our personalisation team to engraved on a curved surface on a variety of products and materials including wood, glass, and metal. The process uses a computer programme so we are able to change fonts, engrave special characters, accents, and alphabets, and gives a clean finish. This clever method is often used on drinking glasses and carafes and also allows us to engrave handwriting or images on some of our products. For extra characters, the personalisation would need to be resized to ensure it fits neatly on the surface of the product. Unfortunately the machine cannot engrave with colour, so the finish will always be a translucent white.

We offer a wide variety of practical personalised accessories to slip seamlessly into your everyday. Many of our jewellery cases, Airpod cases, pocket mirrors, and keyrings can be personalised using a range of different methods, meaning you can gift a handy item that is also sentimental to the recipient.

Vinyl

Many of our jewellery cases are personalised in-house via a simple but effective method of vinyl application. A delicate vinyl film is precision-cut into the shape or wording of your choice before being applied to hard surfaces such as ceramics and glass, or fabrics like cotton or velvet. This process uses a computer programme to get the job set up and ready to apply, giving us the precision to be able to change fonts and apply special characters, accents, and different alphabets. This method can also print handwriting or images onto some of our products if a more bespoke personalisation is required. For any extra characters desired, we would need to resize the personalisation to make sure they fit neatly onto the product. This type of vinyl usually comes in a black or white colour roll, but on a few of our products, you can choose which colour vinyl you would like applied.

Printed vinyl

The printed vinyl method is much like the other vinyl process, only this machine is capable of printing in full colour as well as cutting. This process also uses a computer programme and has the capacity to change fonts and apply special characters, accents, and alphabets. Similar to the vinyl method, both handwriting and images can be applied using the printer, and extra characters can be added with a slight adjustment and resize of the personalisation for a precise fit on the product.

Foiling/Letterpressing

For many of our initial personalised products, our team uses a foiling method via a letterpress to stamp initials onto flat surfaces. The products we typically use this method on are cards, notebooks, compact mirrors, bags, and jewellery cases. The letterpress can also be used without foil if a clean debossing if preferred. The process uses brass dye in a heated vice and has the capacity to press in a limited number of foil colours. We unfortunately don't have the capacity to change fonts or print special characters, accents or alphabets, due to the tools used. We are also unable to offer extra characters due to the precise sizing of each letter stamp, and all stamps come in capital letters for a timeless embossed look.

Embroidered personalisations are timeless and add a sweet, sentimental touch to some staple everyday accessories and clothing pieces. We offer different styles of clothing and accessory personalisations, but tend to use one method more often - embroidery.

Embroidery

This timeless method is a great way to give a personal touch to a soft accessory or item of clothing, whether you're choosing to gift the item or keep it for yourself. The embroidery process is used on a wide variety of products such as scarves, wash bags, clothing, and socks, and uses a computer programme to set up the job so we have the capacity to change fonts and embroider special characters, accents, and alphabets. Much like many of our other methods, this technique can be used for handwriting and image personalisations, but usually only as a simple outline or silhouette. If extra characters are desired, we would need to resize the personalisation to ensure a clean, clear, and precise fit.

UV printing

We offer many products that can be UV printed by our talented team to create a piece with an endearingly sweet sentiment. Often gifted to family members and loved ones from children, our products with handwriting personalisations give a unique twist to an otherwise ordinary product such as a compact mirror or a travel jewellery case. The UV printing process uses a computer programme to set up the job and gives capacity to change fonts and print special characters, accents, and alphabets. Another clever personalisation style the UV printer can create is a photograph personalisation. This allows the customer to feature a personal photograph on some of our products, to serve as a wonderful reminder of a happy memory or occasion. These personalisations may have to be resized to fit the product more precisely, but our customer service team will always guide you through the process to ensure your finished item is as perfect as can be. Simply send an image of the photograph, drawing, or handwritten message you would like applied to the product to cs@lisaangel.co.uk.

We understand that despite all the above information you may still have questions, and we're dedicated to ensuring no questions or requests go unanswered. Our brilliant customer service team are regularly on-hand to help with any questions you may have about your desired personalisation, both before and after your order has been placed. Just in case your question is one we can answer already, however, we have put together a list of some of the most frequently asked questions to help you with your personalised purchase.

1. Can you hand stamp symbols? 

Yes. We are able to stamp punctuation such as ? ! & ( ) . , ' @ and a the outline of a heart symbol on some of our products.

2. How strict are the character limits? Can I add one or two extra letters?

The character limits on most of our products aren’t set in stone, but they’re there as a guideline. For any processes where a computer programme is used, e.g. clean engraving, blackened engraving, flatbed engraving, rotary engraving, and vinyl, extra letters can be requested. Simply send CS an email to enquire about your extra characters, and they will confirm if this is possible. Please bear in mind, however, that for extra characters, quite often the personalisation will need to be scaled down to fit the product more precisely. For more handmade methods such as hand stamping and foiling/letterpressing, we unfortunately cannot offer any extra characters due to the absolute sizing of the tools used. 

3. Can you engrave and hand-stamp in languages other than English, like Greek or Chinese?

If we can look up your language or special characters of choice online, then we can engrave it onto your product. Unfortunately, much like with adding extra characters, if a more handmade personalisation method is used (such as hand stamping or foiling/letterpressing), we are limited to letters from the English alphabet. We can use our punctuation tools to create accents and umlauts, but for completely accurate language personalisations, we advise that you choose a product with an engraved personalisation. We also will not personalise products with offensive, racist, sexist, or defamatory language.

4. It looks like hand stamping only comes in capital letters. How do I enter it into the personalisation box?

If the image on the website is in capitals, then the product will likely be personalised completely in capitals, no matter how you type it into the personalisation box. If a product offers either capitals or lower case lettering (only methods where hand stamping and foiling/letterpressing is not used), on the website image, this likely means you can choose to personalise with either. This means we will personalise however your personalisation is entered into the box. For example, if you want to capitalise the first letter of a name to be personalised onto a product, we recommend you type it in this manner. We do not, however, change any grammatical errors or spelling from what you have typed into the box, so please be careful when you type in your personalisation request. If we believe there might have been a mistake with your personalisation, our customer services team will alert you to check you're happy with that personalisation before the order is fulfilled. 

5. The back of my stamped charm has some marks on it, why is this?

Our charms and pendants are made from brass with either a sterling silver or 14ct gold plating, so it can sometimes take a little extra force to get the letters clearly stamped onto the surface. Because of this, it is normal for marks to sometimes appear on the other side of the charm from where it has been pressed down or clamped in the stamping process. Our team do their best to remove the marks with cleaning cloths, but unfortunately, due to the handmade nature of the product, we are unable to stamp the charm or pendant any lighter. We think the marks often add a unique handmade feel, for more a bespoke, vintage-effect product finish.

6. Can logos and pictures be engraved, and can I choose a different font if I see one I like elsewhere?

With both our blackened engraving machine and our laser engraving machine, we are able to engrave logos and pictures onto some products. We can only engrave using fonts we have the rights to, so we only offer a limited range of fonts for your personalisation. If you have a very specific engraving request, it is always best to email CS so they can confirm if your idea is achievable. 

7. My engraving appears to be very small. Can it be any larger?

Due to the size of the vices that hold the jewellery and accessories in place in our machines, the engraved lettering is usually smaller than the width of the item, and at times can be very small. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do differently for this, so if you're keen on a bigger personalisation, we recommend taking a look at some of our other products with larger surface areas to engrave, as we offer so many different styles, designs, and sizes of personalised products.