At Pen Heaven we specialise in engraving personalised messages onto pens. Around 60% off all pens we sell are engraved and on a daily basis we get enquiries asking what to engrave or how certain messages should be written.

What can Pen Heaven engrave?

"If you can type it into our engraving box, then we can engrave it!" If you can type it into our engraving box, then we can engrave it! It really is as simple as that. There is one small proviso though… it must be accepted and show in the basket details/confirmation email! If your message or parts of it do not show in these places, then we will not receive it as you intended. So YES! That means we can engrave Arabic, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, in fact any language you like and we can engrave symbols too! For symbols to be accepted by our system, they must be in UTF-8 format. These will show on your basket details if they have been accepted. We’ve added some of the most popular below so you can copy and paste into the engraving box:

Filled in Heart: ♥	Outline Heart: ♡
Filled in Star: ★	Outline Star: ☆
Smiley Face: ☺	Flower (Daisy): ✿
Copyright: ©	Degrees (for angles, co-ordinates or temperature): °
Musical Notes: ♪ or ♫	Shamrock: ☘

 

What looks best?

 

Try and make sure the engraving colour matches the trim!

During engraving, the machinery we use reveals what the pen barrel is made of and this does not always match the plated trim sections of the pen. (For more info please see our Pen Engraving Service page). We do not add colour to and we can not change the colour of the engraving. You can use the engraving preview available on the product page. This will show you the colour of the engraving so you can see if it’ll match up nicely.  

Try to keep the message short and sweet!

Messages on pens look best when kept to a minimum. Longer messages can crowd the pen and look a bit tacky. If you have a long message, why not add our gift wrapping service (Additional £2.75 per item/set) and add the long message as the gift card. Keeping it short and sweet is the best for all pens, but especially pens that have caps. If you have a long engraving message, capping the pen can block out some of the message and spoil the final effect.  

Conventions!

This is one we get asked regularly. There's three main things to keep an eye on:

• CAPITALISATION - Consistency is key.

Eg. David Cole - Pen Heaven - London Not... david cole - Pen heaven - LONDONWe do recommend sticking to the capitalisation of first letters for names, places and things though; not capitalising everything. WE JUST FEEL THAT THIS CAN LOOK A LITTLE CLUMSY.

• INITIALS

In English, the correct way to write initials is with a full stop then a space after each letter. Eg. D. N. Cole or D. N. C.However, we think this can look too elongated on a pen and we suggest using just a full stop after each letter. Eg. D.N.C. or D.N.C 

• DATES

If you want to write the date out in full, always capitalise the first letter of the month. Eg. 3 April 2016 or 3rd April 2016We recommend abbreviating to all numbers though to shorten the date and use up less of the character limit. In English this is generally written Day, then Month, then Year. Eg. 03.04.16 or 03.04.2016  

Things to watch out for

 

• SPELLING!!!!!! We engrave the pen as we receive the order. We can not spell check every order and we are not liable for the mistakes!
• Check the engraving has been received successfully. If it has, it will show on the product details in the basket and again on your order confirmation. If it doesn’t then Pen Heaven can’t engrave it!
• Be careful when copying and pasting. We have a set character limit for each pen. It can’t be over ridden by copying and pasting a message in. If you’re trying to copy and paste something long, the box may chop off some of the message.
• Customer created errors can not be fixed. Engravings can not be removed and re-done. We’ll try our very best to help you, but it’s best to contact us immediately if you notice an error or you want to change something.

 

What's the pen with the longest engraving limit?

Our record holder is the USUS Pi with a limit of 60 characters. Here's our favourites in each price range for long engraving limits.

Price Range*	Ballpoint	Rollerball	Fountain Pen
£0 - £25	Parker IM - 35 characters	Parker IM - 35 characters	Parker IM - 35 characters
£25 - £50	Sheaffer Prelude - 30 characters	Waterman Hemisphere - 35 characters	Waterman Hemisphere - 35 characters
£50 - £100	Laban 925 - 40 characters	Lamy Scala - 35 characters	Lamy Scala - 35 characters
£100+	Lamy 2000 - 45 characters	Waterman Exception - 35 characters	Waterman Exception - 35 characters

*All pens suggested are within the price range shown excluding engraving costs (as per the Pen Heaven website)