Master Engraving at Graceland/Fairlawn
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Engraving is the art or technique of carving, cutting, or etching a design
or letters into a surface.
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For thousands of years, men have engraved and carved in stone. The Sumerians,
Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans left many inscriptions carved in stone. One of
the most common engravings that can be seen today can be found on grave
monuments in cemeteries, which stand as a tribute of respect and honor to the
deceased.
Our monuments represent beautiful craftsmanship. Granite is often used for such
monuments, because it can be polished so smoothly and, at the same time, is
hard and not easily damaged.
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Carvings and inscriptions on granite withstand weather for thousands of years.
Each memorial must be as unique as the person it is for - expressed for all the
ages.
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At Graceland/Fairlawn, the time-honored engraving tradition is continued by
Charles Pinnell, a master engraver of forty-one years. His work can be seen not
only in the Graceland and Fairlawn cemeteries, but throughout cemeteries in
central Illinois, where he has spent a lifetime perfecting his fine
craftsmanship. Because of the care he takes in his work, he is well-known and
respected throughout the central United States.
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SOME OF THE ENGRAVING STEPS
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At the drafting table, the first step is to lay out the chosen custom design, in
reverse, on a paper stencil. The preparation of the stencil requires a precise
and steady hand.
The customized part of any design, such as the artwork, is hand drawn onto the
paper stencil.
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Much of the lettering is transferred to the paper stencil via a carbon rubbing
across plastic letter dies. Next, the design must be transferred to a rubber
stencil.
This is done through the process of "rubbing" the paper stencil directly onto
the rubber stencil, which leaves an impression of the design.
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The same plastic letter dies used in the carbon rubbing process, can then be
used at a stencil press to machine pre-cut the letters into the rubber stencil.
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The granite monument is hoisted onto a "banker" and its surface is finely
cleaned for the application of the prepared rubber stencil.
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Once attached to the monument, the final cutting of the letters and artwork into
the stencil is carefully completed by hand.
The monument is then rolled into a sandblast room, where it is sealed in, and
100 pounds per square inch of sand is repeatedly air blasted across the stencil
through a 3/16" nozzle air hose.
This process is the most demanding, as it requires constant care and adjustment
to achieve the desired design.
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No mistakes can be made, when the granite records any stroke across its surface
for thousands of years.
When a design requires even more chiseling than the sandblast process can
provide, an air jack is used to complete the work by hand.
Once the desired design is achieved, the rubber stencil is stripped off the
monument, and again, the monument is finely cleaned.
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It is now ready to take its place as a lasting memorial.
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