I started engraving in 2017 and grew Frog Pond Engravings into a full-time business with my wife, Jesslyn.
My first Laser was a small, tired, worn-out 1-Watt diode laser. I started engraving with it in 2017, making small photo engravings on wood. With a maximum engraving size of 8-inches by 8-inches, I was extremely limited with what projects I could do.
Over the years, I worked around the small size of that first laser by splitting projects into multiple pieces, engraving individually, and then combining them once finished. Over the next four years, I became increasingly frustrated with the inconvenience and long engraving times. So I decided that I would build a bigger laser, using the parts from the original laser, but simply expanding certain parts to allow a larger engraving size.
I found a laser online that was similar to what I wanted, but was beyond my price range as I was in college at the time, pursuing my degrees in aerospace and mechanical engineering with a minor in physics, along with a degree in applied physics (I met my wife and the physics minor and applied physics degree fell through so I could help plan our wedding). I quickly found that the parts for this new laser alone would cost more than the dream laser online. But this laser had to be able to pay for itself.
In October of 2021 I took the leap and bought the new laser, a 30-Watt diode laser with a maximum engraving size of 18-inch by 32-inch. After a few months of playing with it and developing several different exhaust systems, Frog Pond Engravings was operational in December 2021/January 2022.
The shop started with simple slate coaster engravings, the laser paying for itself quickly. Within a few months I started engraving ceramic platters, although by mid 2023 a supply chain issue prevented further sale of the platters. Market saturation quickly removed coaster profitability.
I married my wife, Jesslyn, in May of 2023. We received a custom-engraved bible as a gift at our wedding. We began engraving similar designs on bibles, soon moving to more unique designs, sales skyrocketing.
In July of 2024 we bought our first fiber laser, allowing us to engrave metal products. The sale of custom daggers and medals quickly paid off the fiber, sales continuing to rise.
In April of 2025 I left my job as a facilities project engineer at Texas Instruments (Long Story) to pursue Frog Pond Engravings full-time. May of 2025 we purchased our second fiber laser to aid in product processing times.
This shop is affiliated with my other Etsy shop, MillstoneEngraving.
