Granite Monument Design Decision #6 - Monument Carvings and Etchings

Carvings are a great way to personalize a monument. Historically, carvings were mostly floral or religious in nature. While these carvings are still very popular, there has been a tremendous increase in carvings that better represent the person being memorialized. We have carved animals, organization logos, and other meaningful images in recent monuments.

Familiarize yourself with the three basic types of carvings, look through the sample images online, look through magazines, surf the web for graphics, visit your local cemetery and take photos of interesting carvings, then visit Star Granite Company to discuss your preferences. We can incorporate just about any graphic you select.

Flat Carving

Flat carvings are created by simply removing the polish finish to reveal the lighter steeled finish. The two colors create the resulting image. In some cases, deeper sandblasted lines are added to increase the detail. Flat carvings have very little relief and are generally two dimensional.

Shaped Carving

Unlike flat carvings, shaped carvings have a three dimensional look to them. Shaped carvings are much deeper than flat carvings and do not directly rely on the difference in finish color since the depth adds the proper shading for the carving.

Etching

Etchings are generally done on black monuments due to the large finish color contrast. A graphic or image is fed into a computer where it is translated into small dots. These dots are transferred onto the monument using lasers where the top layer of finish is removed. The resulting image is a type of flat carving with no relief. However, unlike flat carvings, etchings have a great amount of detail.

Examples

Look through the following examples and see if you can distinguish between a flat and a shaped carving. Also notice how each graphic has been incorporated into the monument design. Some carvings are located only in the corner of the monument. Others are centered on the monument itself. These images are an extremely small subset of carvings available. They are shown here to give you an idea of what carvings look like on monuments.

Sample Carvings

Design Decision #7 - Monument Lettering