We design and engrave rings. . .
Create a ring that tells your story.
With over 4000 years of history signets are worn as rings of personal identity, cultural belonging, divine protection or amuletic powers.
Choosing from our library of antique and vintage signet rings, we will work with you to create a personal sigil based on the stories, passions, mythologies and symbols that represent you. Something beautiful and deeply personal.
Your sigil will be hand-engraved into precious metal or stone using ancient tools and techniques.
. . . hand-carved intaglios on gold and stone.
Sigil noun /ˈsɪdʒɪl/
1. an inscribed or painted symbol considered a sign, word, or device held to have occult power
2. [archaic] a seal or signet. "the supply wains bore the High King's sigil"
How it Works
The Process
1: Your Sigil. We will work with you to design a sigil that is meaningful and personal to you.
You may have a very clear vision in mind or a concept we can refine together. Or you might have no idea or lots of ideas - that's fine too. We can talk about the themes and values that are sacred to you and offer guidance from resources that cover symbolism from many eras and cultures, European heraldry and family crests, classical mythology and protective deities, talismans and amuletic spells, astrology, alchemy, mysticism, ogham, floriography, symbolic animals and poetry. The pool is deep and the options are endless. Scroll down to our Gallery of Sigils Past below for inspiration.
We can chat over email, DMs, or book in a call - whatever is most comfortable for you.
2: The Ring. Choose a ring and engraving style.
3: Engraving. Your design is hand engraved using ancient techniques.
Note: Engraving onto gold can take up to 8 weeks and onto stone up to 12 weeks, this isn't fast jewellery but once finished your ring has the potential to last for many thousands of years.
Engraving Types
There are two:
Intaglio carving. This technique has been used for millenia to create a traditional seal in clay or wax. The design is usually mirrored to make its imprint read the correct way. Intaglios can also be carved "deep-for-show" for bold visual impact on the ring itself (and not mirrored).
Surface engraving which is shallower and gives more scope for texture and shading. Surface engraving is only possible on gold (not on stone).
Examples of each engraving types are pictured below in our Gallery of Sigils Past.
An inscription or secondary design inside the band or behind the head, where space permits.
The Rings
We source antique and vintage signet ring blanks for our Ring Library.
Each ring is unique and displays its own history in its beautiful patina gained from love and wear. We are highly selective, we only choose rings of the best quality with many decades or centuries of wear left in them. We endeavor to step lightly and reverently on this Earth and believe vintage rings are the only truly sustainable and ethical choice when it comes to jewellery.
Scroll down to browse our Ring Library...
Gallery of Sigils Past...
Spells & Sigils: The Story
Work With Us
Alice and Alex share a fascination with the glyptic arts and in particular the signet ring, they have spent many years collecting, admiring and learning about antique and ancient rings, discovering the symbols and secrets they hold and wondering about the people of the past who chose to wear them. In this time they have amassed plenty of knowledge (but even more books!) on heraldry, symbology and mythology.
After the birth of their second daughter Alex designed a sigil, drawing inspiration from classical mythology, that tied in with their daughter's name and had it engraved onto an antique signet ring from Alice’s collection. The process of taking an already cherished possession and imbuing it with something deeply personal that can be passed on to their daughter in the future was pure magic and was the seed that has grown into Spells and Sigils. It was also the start of a relationship with finest hand engravers in Europe that realized our vision in metal and stone our designs to life.
For as long as we have been human we have sought to identify and express ourselves through jewellery and the signet ring is, perhaps, the perfect blank canvas.
The Glyptic Arts
The art of engraving images on gems, hardstones, and precious metals is known as glyptography, or the Glyptic Arts. When the subject is cut down into the surface it's an intaglio, and when it rises up in relief it is called a cameo.
The glyptic arts were mastered in antiquity. Some of the finest examples came out of workshops in ancient Greece and Rome (well, Naples), used by officials and dignitaries as a personal signature for signing legal documents.
As the artform waned with the fall of Rome, ancient carved gems were collected and incorporated into the finery of monarchs and popes right through to the early Modern period.
The glyptic arts saw a resurgence in popularity during the Renaissance, when gem carving was championed in Italy by the Medicis in Florence; then again did the skills of the artisans rival their ancient counterparts. Since the 19th century the Arts have been in decline, but there are still a few masters of the craft around today if you can find them...
We work with master engravers. Engravers working at the head of a lineage of glyptic artists stretching back thousands of years; a lineage that has been at risk since the turn of the 20th century when demand for glyptics began to wane. Our engravers use traditional hand tools and ancient techniques to carve your design into the face of the ring.
