Stone Engraving — New medium, same commitment to craftsmanship.

We’re stone guys through and through, and engraving into stone is an exciting and new way to work with our favorite medium. Custom stone engraving is a relatively recent offering at Stonescapes — and we wanted to give you our stone engraving origin story.

With over 20 years in the stonework business, we know and love this medium, and we know the quarries in Western Massachusetts and the folks who run them. 

But how did we get into engraving with stone?

A personal connection.

Five years ago, Bjorn’s dear friend had just lost her mother in a tragic accident. We were creating a memorial bench to honor her that would be sited at a local children’s playground. The bench needed to have engraved text on it, but we didn’t have those skills.

When we reached out to a local stone engraver, we didn’t realize that conversation would eventually turn into a new direction for our business. He’d been engraving stone memorials for over 40 years and was thinking about retirement. 

He’s the only guy in our area who engraves stone memorials, but lamented that there just aren’t young folks coming to this trade that he’d built his business on. Our conversation turned to this unfortunate broader trend — losing trade knowledge and craftsman’s skills in all sorts of sectors. 

A truly dying art, there are even fewer stone engravers than stone masons. This seemed like an opportunity to expand our offerings at Stonescapes.

Field Trip!

That fall, our team took a field trip to Barre, Vermont, called the “Granite Capital of the World” — during peak foliage season. Barre’s granite quarries attracted stone engraving artisans from all over Europe in the late 19th century, with a large Italian population. 

We spent the day exploring Barre’s numerous town cemeteries, including the largest, Hope Cemetery. We noted how the old-world traditions for monuments and memorials modulated through time aesthetically, with design concepts, typeface, and stylistic choices. 

These exceptional examples of engraved stone memorials inspired us to imagine what could be possible at the highest levels of this New England tradition. 

Off-Season Learning Project.

It was time to invest in the equipment for sandblasting and the software for creating the design templates. That winter, we cozied up in our shop and started the learning process. 

Stone can be an unforgiving teacher and working through trial and error helped us apply our existing technical skills with stone to this new craft — as well as how to manipulate the tools and refine concepts into designs. 

One of our biggest challenges was the software for creating engraving templates, which we found both dated and limiting. With our extensive experience with the more robust software we use with other Stonescapes design projects, we worked out a different process that allowed us more creative freedom. 

So then all that was left was time to practice, practice, practice.

2025: The Official Roll-Out.

We took about two years to refine our skills with stone engraving, and then last summer took on a handful of projects for clients. Stone engraving is a new way to express our passion for this medium to create beautiful, unique, and memorable pieces. We’re proud to continue this traditional trade that has deep roots in New England.

Our specialty is stone engraved memorials, commercial and residential signage, and fine art accent pieces. As always, what we create is custom designed in collaboration with you and your vision for the piece.

We’ve still got some space in our books for 2025 and would love to help you create a unique, lasting piece for your home, garden, business, or loved one. Email us to schedule a time to discuss your vision.

Natural stone engraved with gold leaf accent