Book Stamping Archives

Leather Engraving vs. Leather Embossing: What’s the Difference? (One is Toxic!)

May 15, 2024 By Desiree Colonna

When it comes to personalizing leather items, two popular techniques often come to mind: laser leather engraving and embossing. While both methods can create stunning, custom designs, they are vastly different in their processes, safety, and outcomes.

Leather Engraving

Leather engraving involves using a laser to etch designs directly onto the leather’s surface. This method allows for precise, intricate details and can achieve very fine lines and complex patterns. However, there are significant safety concerns associated with laser engraving leather. Most leather is chemically tanned or chrome tanned, including common types used for Bibles and general goods. The worst is PU or “pleather” which is made of non-laserable plastic. These items all contain chemicals and dyes such as bleach that can produce toxic gases when exposed to the intense heat of a laser. These toxic gases are harmful to both the engraver, the machine, the recipient and the environment, making this method less desirable for those who prioritize safety. Also these items can melt or burn unevenly under a laser leaving your item ruined and the writing burned beyond recognition. The only time leather engraving is safe is if the material is vegetable tanned which is a natural process of tanning and finishing leather. Our company will only laser engrave leather that is tested and proved as vegetable tanned.

Leather Embossing

In contrast, leather embossing is a safer and more traditional technique. This method involves using heat and pressure with a stamp or die to create a raised or recessed design on the leather’s surface. Since no harmful gases are released, embossing is a much safer process. Additionally, embossing can create a more durable and long-lasting impression, as the design becomes an integral part of the leather material. The leather is not burned or scorched using this method which is much safer than laser engraving. Most of our bibles and leather promotional materials are decorated using this method. We can add gold, silver or any color foil but you are limited to creating a logo die which can be very expensive. Fonts are also limited on bibles this way.

Cold Embossing

In addition to engraving and heat embossing, we also offer a cold embossing method which uses no heat, is price competitive and looks beautiful. This method was invented our CEO, Desiree Colonna. This decoration technique is what we use to monogram leather items for events for companies like PricewaterhouseCoopers, Marriott, Workday and many more worldwide.

UV Printing

Another option is uv printing directly onto the leather with a uv printer. The ink is non-toxic, eco-friendly and you can choose over 1,000 fonts and colors with this method. It lasts forever because it’s bonded to the leather with a uv light during the process. It’s also cost-effective. We can print logos, names, monograms, photos, you name it with this technique.

Choosing the Right Method

When deciding between leather engraving and embossing, uv printing or cold embossing, it’s essential to consider the type of design, the material of the leather, and the importance of safety. For highly detailed and intricate patterns, engraving might seem appealing, but the associated health risks cannot be ignored. On the other hand, embossing offers a timeless and elegant result without the hazards of toxic fumes, making it a preferable choice for most leather projects.

In conclusion, while both engraving and embossing have their merits, embossing stands out as the safer, more environmentally friendly option. Whether you’re customizing a Bible cover, a wallet, or any other leather item, opting for embossing ensures a beautiful, durable design without compromising safety.

Blog, Book Stamping, Engraved and Embossed Leather, Experiential Marketing Events, Leather Monogramming, Leather Stamping Events, Live Embossing Events, Live Monogramming Events, On-Site Events

Leather Embossing Experience in Lisbon for PitchBook Data

November 9, 2019 By Desiree Colonna

Our leather embossing experience is always a favorite activation at events for our clients and their guests. If you want lines in your booth, this is the way to do it. Our leather stamping experience is always a big hit at conferences around the world! Our latest embossing event was in Lisbon, Portugal.

We were invited to create our leather embossing experience for guests at the PitchBook Investor booth at WebSummit 2019. We embossed journals one day and luggage tags a couple days later at the event. After we were done on day one, people never stopped coming by looking for us. There was even a line waiting for us the second day of our leather stamping activation!

Word got out quickly among conference attendees the first day of our activation and spread like wildfire. Our client, PitchBook Data, even asked us to stay 30 minutes later the first day and also add more hours our second day in order to fulfill everyone’s orders. That’s how popular our leather embossing experience always is, no matter where in the world we go! Our client was blown away at the popularity of the activation and very pleased at how many people came to the booth.

The key to successful event activations is making sure there are enough salespeople in your booth to talk to guests while they are waiting in line for their personalized items. Keep in mind, they aren’t waiting long. Each embossing only takes less than one minute. PitchBook understood this from day one and made sure their Investor Relations folks were on hand to talk about their platform with everyone.

Our leather embossing experience was so popular, we had to turn people away at the end of the activation time. The lines never stopped! Everyone loved their stamped journals and luggage tags. It really makes a difference when you give away a high quality, personalized item at your events. People remember your company and will keep your beautiful gifts for a long time to come.

If you are interested in learning more about our leather embossing, please contact us at 833 INK-WE11 or 833-465-9311. You can also email us by filling out this form. You are welcome to set up an appointment by clicking here. We love traveling all over the world to bring our leather embossing experience to your guests no matter where they are!

Blog, Book Stamping, Engraved and Embossed Leather, Experiential Marketing Events, Leather Debossing, Leather Monogramming, Leather Stamping Events, Live Embossing Events, Live Monogramming Events, On-Site Events

Experiential Events for Autograph Collection Hotels in Washington DC

June 4, 2019 By Desiree Colonna

Experiential events in Washington DC can be quite an experience, especially when we bring leather luggage tags and journals to emboss with gold and silver foil.

Autograph Collection Hotels by Marriott wanted a unique, old-fashioned experiential marketing experience for their ASTA Legislative Conference guests. The theme was Roaring 20s and everyone dressed in their favorite 20s costume.

Our CEO embossed over 150 journals and leather luggage tags at the experiential event in 3 hours. However, no one waited more than a minute for their luggage tag. Desiree can emboss one item per minute, 60 in an hour.

Our leather embossing experiential events are very popular especially when our clients want a classic, elegant experience. Our machines are the same they used in printing houses in years gone by with a modern twist. They really fit into the old-fashioned decor.

Our embossers wear a black uniform which is very nondescript and fits into any type of event. Our CEO, Desiree Colonna, did the embossing herself. Her favorite part of the evening was when the Event Director gave her a big wink letting her know the experience was a big hit with partygoers.

Guests love our embossing events and always enjoy the overall theme of personalized gifts, especially when they are created in front of them. We were able to provide a seamless experience during the three hour event from start to finish.

Our set up at the event is a very small footprint and we were able to fit our machine and accessories on a beautiful old table right out of a 1920s living room. The table matched the decor perfectly and the candlelight was beautiful, in character with the theme of the evening.

If you would like an old-fashioned modern experience for your next corporate event, please contact us directly at 833-INK-WE11 or 833-465-9311.

Blog, Book Stamping, Corporate Gifts, Engraved and Embossed Leather, Experiential Marketing Events, Hand Engraving, In-Store Engraving, Leather Monogramming, Live Embossing Events, Live Monogramming Events, On-Site Events, Pen Engraving

Experiential Marketing Artists Dual Activation in Las Vegas

March 7, 2019 By Desiree Colonna

Experiential marketing artists, Desiree Colonna and Joe Krupa, were the hit of the ExhibitorLive 2019 show in Las Vegas. The team worked simultaneously in the Unigroup Booth for both Mayflower and United Van Lines corporate executives. Desiree is the CEO and owner of Inkwell Designers.

Desiree engraved pens on site for Mayflower while Joe embossed faux leather journals on the other side of the booth for United. This was the first time Inkwell offered two different experiential marketing artists at one show performing two separate activations. The services went well together. Once someone got their pen engraved, they could go get their journal embossed on the other side and vice versa. This increased customer interaction for the salespeople in both booths up to 50%!

Guests absolutely loved Inkwell’s experiential marketing artists and watching both artists design unique, personalized gifts by hand right in front of them.

Once the buzz caught on at the show, there were lines of people waiting for their pen to be engraved on one site of the booth and journal to be embossed on the other side. Everyone talked about the experiential marketing artists activation the entire week and wanted to see them in action.

The booth owner, Unigroup, was so impressed with how smoothly the activation went and it’s popularity, they invited Inkwell back for several shows in 2019 and 2020.

The booth owners were amazed at how popular both activations were and how many highly qualified leads they received.

The three day show was a lot of fun. We engraved and embossed almost 1,000 items for guests who visited the Mayflower and United booths during the show.

If you are interested in booking dual services for your next show, engraving and embossing, please see more details on our events page. You can set up a meeting to talk directly with us here. You also have the option of texting or calling us at 833 465 9311. We look forward to working in your booth at your next trade show or conference!

Blog, Book Stamping, Corporate Gifts, Engraved and Embossed Leather, Leather Monogramming, Live Monogramming Events, On-Site Events, Unique Gifts

Personalized Journal Stamping for Nationwide Insurance at Black Enterprise Summit

June 18, 2018 By Desiree Colonna

Personalized journal stamping was the most popular marketing activation in the Nationwide Insurance booth at the Black Enterprise Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina. We hot foil stamped guest’s initials on custom leather journals for two straight days, averaging 150 journals per day, a total of 300 journals.

Nationwide booth guests love the personalized journal stamping and stood in line to wait their turn. It didn’t take very long, 5 to 10 minutes at most when the lines were the longest. (We stamped journals twenty times faster than the guy who had a laser machine across the convention center!) However it gave our salespeople in the booth a chance to give every attendee a survey and get them on their corporate email list. That’s gold at a conference!

We average less than one minute per item when we emboss at events around the country. People don’t have to wait very long but they love watching the personalization done right in front of them with a very old-fashioned looking machine.

What was really fun was to see attendees network with each other in line. There were a lot of business cards handed out and stories traded in the time they were waiting.

Our personalized journal stamping activation doesn’t take up much space. We fit into even the smallest booth with a 6 to 8 foot table and two chairs. Our embossing machine is a tabletop machine which can easily travel anywhere we go.

Nationwide contacted us through their event marketing company to help them bring something different to their guests a few months ago. They loved the idea of custom leather journals.

Guests loved seeing their monograms on the leather journals. Some even got a few for friends and family as well as other team members in their office who couldn’t make it to the event.

Nationwide also offered free headshots for all attendees which they received immediately on a USB after the photo shoot.

The Black Enterprise Summit was a great event. We enjoyed seeing the city of Charlotte, NC for the first time. It was absolutely beautiful.

If you’re interested in having us personalize journals at your next event, please go to our event page to learn more about our services. We also offer on-site event engraving, hand painting and other personalization activations. For more details call us at 833 465 9311. We’d love to work with you at your next event!

Bible Embossing, Blog, Book Stamping, Corporate Logo Stamping

Bible Embossing Creates Touching Tribute for Canadian Hockey Team

June 11, 2018 By Desiree Colonna

Bible embossing can evoke memories and help create a special feeling, especially when someone sees their bible with their name and fallen team member’s logo on it. Recently, we were asked to help create a set of personalized bibles as a tribute for a Canadian hockey team in Swift Current to their sister team, many of whom were killed in a bus crash. The team chaplain, Nathan Wiebe, reached out to us and inquired about our bible embossing services. He wanted the sister team logo to be put on each bible as well as team members numbers, names and coaches names. We were honored to emboss these special bibles for the Canadian team.

The bibles were sent to us with the Chaplain’s logo already embossed on them.

We added each players number and name and the Bronco’s logo in the lower right hand corner. We created a special die with their logo and stamped it in gold foil.

Here is the story of why these emboss bibles were important in Nathan’s own words.

My role on the Swift Current Broncos is the team chaplain. With this being my second year serving in that role.

The Swift Current Broncos, in 1986 were in involved in a bus crash that tragically took the lives of 4 young men. It was an event that I was not alive for, but in my four years of living in this small town, I have noticed it’s a noticeable scar that has left a mark on many. The Swift Current Broncos wear a 4 leaf clover patch on the shoulders on their jerseys to remember those guys… so every time you come to the rink you’re reminded of those boys.

The Humbolt Broncos and the Swift Current Broncos play in two different leagues in Saskatchewan Canada. To say that they are in two different levels of hockey doesn’t matter. They obviously share the same name, and have been closely connected with players from either team running through each others organization … But, hockey is a brotherhood. It’s a small world. There’s friendships shared through guys on both teams, which makes a loss like this so much harder to deal with.

My position with the team is purely a background one with the guys on the team. I try and take them out for coffee or breakfast throughout the year to see how they are doing and encourage them. I played junior hockey for 4 years and know the feeling of leaving home at a young age to play hockey… by taking guys away from the rink and forgetting about the hockey aspect, and focusing on the life part of things is more or less my objective.

When the bus crash happened on April 6th, I had just gotten home from work and was about to put our two boys in the bath prior to an afternoon of playing outside. I got a text message from a friend that told me to pray for the Humbolt Broncos team because they were just in a serous bus crash. A couple hours passed. I didn’t put my phone down due to hitting refresh on news sites to check up on the boys and the team… my battery was just about dead when I got a call from my cousin who said he had heard there was 14 deaths. My cousin played college hockey with the head coach of the Humbolt Broncos and was talking with a bunch of old teammates who were close to the situation.

I decided to put my phone down after that. It was a numb feeling. I rode the bus from age 15-24 because of hockey… this is something you just don’t think would ever happen.

With my phone in my room, my wife came running back at me after she had heard it ringing and saw that the name was the coach of the Swift Current team. I picked up the phone and was asked if I could join the team in the morning to talk with the boys. The guys were in shock and a couple of the guys were especially struggling.

So, I left about 20 minutes later that night to the town where they were at…

The first person I called when I got the position of chaplain was actually the chaplain on the Humbolt Broncos team. He’s become a friend and someone who I bounce things off of from time to time. He was following the bus about 10 minutes behind when the crash happened… he saw what was left of the bus. He held the hands of guys that passed away. Cried with families at the hospital…. I encourage everyone to youtube “Pastor Sean Brandow – Humbolt Broncos Vigil Speech”. It’s powerful and needs to be watched by everyone.

I was approached by Sean’s (Humbolt Chaplain) old church that he used to pastor in our Swift Current area. They had talked to Sean wanting to help them in some way. Sean said, “Why don’t you help out the other Broncos? We are overwhelmed with support.” So the church asked if they could buy the team Bibles. Now, my philosophy as a Christian is to be an example first in foremost. My intention for the boys and team staff is not to push faith on them… but to support them with a loving Spirit. A Bible is something I hope they will pick up, but being as that it has been such an emotional run for this team, it’s very appropriate that this is something they get.

I have had the opportunity to be with he team before and after every game since the bus crash – praying before and after the games at the coaches request. The words that have come out of my mouth to those guys in those times are in that book. So I hope that one day they open up their Bible and read it. It was a privilege to walk along side these special guys during this time.

They just won a league championship and came up just short of a national championship. The joy that the championship brought those guys was something I’ll never forget! They were playing for a lot more this time around, with a few more Broncos from another team that were helping them along the way. Thank you, Desiree, for your help in creating these embossed bibles for our team.

Nathan, thank you for the honor of creating these tribute bibles for your team. Thank you also for the kind words you shared on Google about our company. We wish you and your team all the best in the future! — Desiree Colonna, CEO — Inkwell Designers