Wantage Lodge 3178: Crest Preparation for Tankard Engraving

Many masonic heraldic crests are created for paper, paint or embroidery rather than glass.

This commission began with a painted crest supplied by Wantage Lodge No. 3178 and required the design to be reworked for engraving before production could begin.

Preparing the Crest

The original artwork contained more than twenty individual elements, including supporters, shield detail, motto text and heraldic devices. Each section was reviewed and redrawn as engraving artwork, with line weight, spacing and internal detail adjusted for tankard scale.

The aim was to retain the structure of the crest while removing only the detail that would not remain clear once reduced for engraving.

Resolving the Layout

Alongside the crest, the commission included personalised text identifying the recipient, lodge and year of office.

The original request also included a decorative border around the crest and inscription. Even without the border, some crest elements were already reduced to around 1 mm in height. Adding a full border would have reduced the usable engraving area further and compressed the detail beyond a sensible working scale.

A lighter treatment using corner elements was explored to suggest a border without enclosing the full composition. The final layout prioritised the crest and essential inscription, preserving as much clarity as possible within the available space.

Extra decoration can reduce legibility when the artwork is already at the practical limit of the engraving area.

Engraving the Tankard

Once the Engraving Layout was approved, the artwork was prepared for stencil production and sandblasted onto the tankard.

The reduced linework and spacing allowed the smaller heraldic elements and inscription to remain clear at the finished scale.

Outcome

The finished tankard retains the complexity and recognisable structure of the supplied crest while adapting its finer elements to the scale and proportions of the glass.