How to Send a Fingerprint for Jewellery (Any Format) | Tag A Paw
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Most jewellers will tell you what they can't do.
A blurry photo. A mortuary print that didn't come out well. A picture taken on an old phone, in the wrong light, against the wrong background. A fingerprint on the inside of a ring you can't bear to part with. All the awkward, imperfect, real-life starting points families actually arrive with — and most workshops send them away.
We don't.
We've engraved thousands of fingerprints over the last 20 years, designed and handmade in our Essex workshop. Some arrived as crisp, clean photos. A lot didn't. Most of the time, we can make it work — and this post tells you exactly what to send us, and how.
The short answer
There are four ways to send us a fingerprint:
- A photo of the finger — the easiest, and usually the best
- A photo of an existing piece of fingerprint jewellery — to recreate
- A mould or print from a kit
- A fingerprint on paper
If you have a mortuary print, send that too. We're used to them.
Whichever option you've got, send it as it is. Don't crop, don't edit, don't try to fix it. We'll take it from there.
Option 1: A photo of the finger (preferred)
This sounds too simple to be true, but it's the method that works best. A phone camera, good light, a steady hand. That's it.
Here's what matters:
- Close-up. Fill the frame with the fingertip — not the whole hand
- Daylight. Sit by a window. Soft, even light reveals the lines on the skin
- No flash. Flash flattens the ridges and bounces back as glare. Skip it
- No blur. Brace your elbow on a table, hold the phone steady, tap to focus
- Send the photo as it is. Don't crop, sharpen, or filter — those tools usually make things worse, not better
A simple test: look at the photo on your phone before sending it. If you can see the lines clearly with your own eyes, the engraving will be very good. If the lines are faint or smudged on screen, the result will be softer too — we can still work with it, but the source matters.
This is the route we'd recommend first, every time. It costs nothing, takes thirty seconds, and gives us the most flexibility.
Option 2: A photo of existing fingerprint jewellery
Maybe a previous jeweller made a pendant for your mum years ago. Maybe there's an old ring with a fingerprint engraved on the inside. Maybe a charm bracelet has one print and you'd like the same on a new piece for a sibling.
Send us a clear, well-lit photo of the existing piece. Whole fingerprint in the frame, in focus, on a plain background. We'll recreate it on the new piece you choose.
This one comes up more than people expect. We've written about it in more detail in Yes, We Can Take a Fingerprint from Your Mum's Old Ring.
Option 3: A mould or print from a kit
If you've already used a fingerprint kit — the small clay-style impression kits sold online — you don't need to post the physical mould to us. A clear photo of the impression is enough. Same rules as Option 1: daylight, no flash, no blur.
A photo of the mould is usually better than the mould itself, because we can magnify and study it without risk of damaging the original.
Option 4: A fingerprint on paper
This is the traditional route — ink pad and paper, or the pencil-and-Sellotape method. It works, and we can absolutely engrave from it.
Honestly though, a phone photo usually gives a sharper result with less fuss. Paper prints can smudge, the ink can bleed, the pressure can vary. If you're choosing between the two, take the photo.
But if you already have a print on paper, don't throw it away. Photograph it on a flat, well-lit surface and send the image. Don't worry about scanning it — a phone photo is fine.
What about mortuary prints?
This is the situation that brings most people to our inbox.
When someone dies in a UK hospital or hospice, families are sometimes given a fingerprint — taken by staff, on a small piece of card, in ink. They're rarely well-taken. The ink often pools. The lines blur. The print is fainter on one side than the other.
We can usually work with them. Mortuary prints are a real part of what we do, every week, and we've made hundreds of memorial pieces from prints that other workshops refused.
If you're in that situation right now, we've written a separate piece for you: When the Funeral Director Hands You a Fingerprint. It walks through what to do, what to expect, and what's possible.
What we can't do
We don't do miracles, and we won't pretend otherwise.
If the image is completely blurred — no visible ridges at all, just a smudge — there's nothing there to engrave. If the photo is destroyed by flash glare, with bright white wiping out the centre of the print, the same applies.
But these are rare. Most images people worry about — "I don't think this is good enough" — turn out to be fine. Send what you've got. If we can't use it, we'll tell you straight, and we'll suggest the simplest way to get something we can use.
What to do next
Pick the piece you'd like. Browse the fingerprint jewellery collection here — pendants, charms, rings, all designed and made by hand in our Essex workshop.
When you order, you'll be asked to upload your image at checkout. That's it. We don't drag you through approval cycles or weeks of email back-and-forth. The photo goes to the workshop, the engraving is made, and the piece is dispatched in 2–3 working days. If you have a tight deadline — a funeral, an anniversary, a memorial date — message us before ordering and we'll prioritise it where we can.
Every piece is solid sterling silver, deeply engraved, hand-finished, and guaranteed for life.
FAQ
What's the best kind of fingerprint to send? A close-up photo of the finger taken in daylight, with no flash. If you can see the lines clearly on the screen, the engraving will capture them well.
Can you really make jewellery from a mortuary fingerprint? Yes. Most mortuary prints are imperfect, and many other workshops refuse them. We can usually work with what you've been given. Send a clear photo of the print — no need to post the original.
Can you recreate a fingerprint from a piece of jewellery I already have? Yes. Send a clear photo of the existing piece, with the whole print visible. We'll engrave a new piece to match.
Will the fingerprint actually be recognisable on the finished piece? Yes. That's the whole point. After 20 years and thousands of prints, we know how to bring out the ridges and detail — even from imperfect images. We don't promise perfection from a destroyed image, but we'll be honest with you about what we can and can't do.
How long does it take? 2–3 working days for standard dispatch. If you have a deadline, message us before ordering — we can often prioritise.
Is back engraving included? Yes. Name, date, or a short message in one of our fonts — free with every piece. A second fingerprint on the back is £10.
The short version
Send us what you have. A photo, a mould, a piece of paper, an old ring, a mortuary print. Most of the time, we'll be able to work with it. Twenty years of doing this means we've seen almost every kind of starting point — and we'll tell you straight if we can't help.
Browse the fingerprint jewellery → /collections/fingerprint-jewellery