Calligrapher for Team USA - 2016 Rio Olympics
Houston calligrapher and wine bottle engraver
Crown Royal Spirit Bottle Engraving Houston
I recently realized that I have been engraving wine and spirit bottles here in Houston for over a decade. It was an interest that became an obsession that somewhat accidentally became a career. Engraving spirit bottles is what I do and I enjoy it. In this video, I share a portion of the process for engraving Crown Royal. Cheers!
Once upon a time when I enjoyed whiskey, I was introduced to bourbon. I quite recall enjoying it immensely. However, interestingly enough, I don’t believe that I had ever had Maker’s Mark. In my 20’s, it seemed to be one of those drinks that you had to mentally prepare for on some level. In my 30’s, I had become enraptured in scotch so it wasn’t on my radar so much. By my mid 40’s, nothing was on my radar anymore :-). With that said, I have engraved a fair amount of Maker’s Mark over the last year. It’s really a cool bottle to engrave…especially the “46” bottle. For us engravers, it’s almost a gift. The bottle designers have graciously provided all of this empty real estate and these particular bottles were presented with the labels removed. Even better.
On this bottle, I was asked to etch first and last names for an event. I had initially planned to go with my usual size of script lettering on wine & spirit bottles with the x-height at roughly 1/6”. However with all of that space dead center in the middle of the bottle, I thought “no, if we are going to do it, then let’s do it.” I decided to make the x-height closer to 1/4”. I think that that was the right call. It gave the lettering a slightly bolder look to go with the feeling that this brand evokes.
So of course, I knew nothing about the Private Selection prior to engraving these bottles. I found a little information about it on their website:
At Maker's Mark, our wood-finishing series was created to explore new, unique expressions of our signature whisky. Beginning as fully matured Maker's Mark® at cask strength, Private Selection is created by adding 10 custom wood finishing staves to each barrel. It's then aged in our limestone cellar to extract a unique, flavorful taste profile. Participants in this special barrel program get their say in the selection of these wooden staves. The finishing staves can be any combination of five flavor profiles chosen especially for this program. With 1,001 possible stave combinations, each expression of Private Selection has a customized finish and taste profile that is unique, yet undeniably Maker's®.
Houston calligraphy & engraving
Oftentimes these days if I am writing, it is actually engraving in glass, wine bottles, fragrance bottles, spirit bottles, mirrors etc. However, this is how it all started. I simply wanted my written correspondence on paper with friends & family to be beautiful. I began to take calligraphy & Spencerian classes around the country like an obsessive along with becoming curious about engraving and here we are….. a full-grown calligraphy & engraving business.
It is so easy to fire off a text, a tweet or an Instagram post. The recipient reads it and understands the message as it is conveyed. However when you send an actual handwritten letter, there is a shift in the perception of the recipient. That person understands that time was set aside specifically for them to convey this message. It doesn’t have to be written in calligraphy for the recipient to love it.
Are my letters perfect? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I am not nor have I ever been that type of penman. I’m a practical penman and there are no calligraphy & lettering police. However, I do have standards and try to observe them. At the end of the day though, it’s not about the technicality of the lettering. It is about the feeling that you evoke in the reader. THAT is paramount.
I have a neighbor who has become a dear friend. He has no cell phone, let alone a smartphone. All of our correspondence is outside as neighbors, via his landline telephone or (yes, you guessed it) mail. Actual letters in the mail. He will send a note simply to tell me about someone he met while walking or the happenings of his day. There is something nostalgically beautiful about that that I absolutely adore.
Next time that you want to say hello to a friend, take the time to write a letter. Obviously not everyday, but just try it. They will love you for it. Cheers!
I have engraved a fair amount of Maker’s Mark Bourbon bottles over the years. The glass bottle itself is really simple to etch as the bottle is made of solid quality glass and poses minimal resistance. The label designers were also kind enough to provide plenty of space for engraving. However, I stumbled across the website and learned a bit about the brand and their mantra. We have something in common. We both believe in quality over quantity. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Here’s how they put it:
There's an old joke at the distillery that goes, "If we could make it any faster, we wouldn't." Because at Maker's Mark, it's one bottle at a time. Every time. That's as true today as it was when our founders filled our first bottle. And since then, it's been a widely held belief around here that character isn't made by machine.
Love it. Cheers!
It’s interesting how certain items, scents & places will transport you to a particular time in your life. Certain fragrances remind me of 7th grade, certain songs remind me of someone from my past. Buffalo Trace Bourbon Whiskey reminds me of someone special to me. I haven’t had a drink in a few years, but when I did indulge, I loved champagne, burgundy wine, scotch and bourbon…neat…always neat. This person introduced me to scotch and bourbon. Upon my initial taste, I thought that scotch and bourbon was strong. But once I overcame that impression, I began to appreciate the nuances between various scotches and bourbons. Buffalo Trace has notes of honey & vanilla which appealed to me. They also say that there was a note of caramel as well, however I never quite caught that likely because I didn't eat much caramel.
The dear friend that introduced me to Buffalo Trace is a lover of spirits and has a passion for the nuances that they present. I am grateful for that period of discovery of which I was introduced.
Engraving these whiskey bottles was very easy. The glass for this bottle was great and relatively smooth to work with. There was little resistance while engraving it, which is always welcomed. I have had the pleasure to engrave here in Houston for many onsite corporate events, however this particular project was brought to me by an individual for a private event. As much as I love engraving onsite, engraving in my studio is great as it is my sanctuary, my controlled environment and everything moves at a relaxed pace.
Cheers
