Home Get Inspired Pendants Custom City Skyline Pendant With Engraved Name Plate

Custom City Skyline Pendant With Engraved Name Plate

$$$

10k yellow gold

A client wanted a city-and-brand pendant built from his own artwork — a skyline, a sunglassed sun, and a mascot character, finished with a bold hand-lettered wordmark. The first version came back heavier and costlier than planned, so the design was rescaled to fit a smaller chain he already owned, bringing the piece back in line with his original budget before it went into production.

'Yes, I like the bell housing. It looks very dependable' — on seeing the first render

'Yes continue with it' — on approving the rescaled design

Start your project

Daily wear For himself Make Your Mark Cultural or heritage, Identity expression

Quick specs

Design type

Pendants

Primary Metal

Yellow gold 10k

Primary Stone

No stone

Accent Stones

None

Style

Animals Building landmark Cut out Engraved Sun Word text

Design Complexity

Complex

Intent

Make Your Mark Cultural or heritage, Identity expression

Intent: Certainty

Medium

Size

Pendant approximately 2.75in x 2in (70mm cut-out plate scaled down proportionally). Bail sized for 13mm-equivalent chain, reduced in a later revision to fit a smaller personal chain.

How they made it distinctive

01
Cut-out construction rather than flat engraving — every shape is a raised or recessed solid element, not a surface line
02
Multi-element scene (sun, skyline, drink icon, mascot character) combined with two lines of raised lettering in one pendant
03
Bail custom-reduced to match the client's own smaller existing chain rather than a standard width
04
10k gold chosen for its added hardness, which helps the fine raised edges and lettering hold their shape
05
Pendant and bail were rescaled together as a matched pair after the first version ran too heavy, preserving the full scene at a smaller size

How you'd make it yours

Metal: this piece is 10k yellow gold — a new commission could use 14k or 18k for a richer color at added weight and cost

Size: this piece is scaled to roughly 2.75in x 2in — a new piece can be sized larger or smaller depending on budget and chain

Bail: this piece's bail was custom-fitted to a specific existing chain — a new commission's bail is sized to its own owner's chain

Finish: this piece is left as polished gold throughout — a new version could add oxidized or matte contrast between raised and recessed areas

One of a kind: this exact pendant was designed around one client's artwork and chain and is not reproduced — a new commission is an original piece inspired by this one, not a copy

Design changes made

The pendant and bail were both reduced in size after the first 3-inch version came in substantially heavier and more expensive than the original estimate; the client supplied a photo of his own smaller chain so the piece could be rescaled to fit it while keeping the design intact.

Who this is for

This piece is for someone who wants their own logo, mascot, or city identity turned into something solid and wearable, not just a flat nameplate. It's especially right if you already have a specific chain you want the piece to work with, and you'd rather have one dimensional statement pendant than a thin engraved tag.

How it's made

Once the revised design was approved, the piece was 3D printed in wax and attached to a wax tree inside a flask. The flask was placed in a kiln to burn out the wax, leaving a hollow mold shaped exactly like the cut-out pendant, bail, and raised lettering. Molten 10k yellow gold was then poured into that mold under heat and pressure, and once cooled, the raw casting was broken out of the investment material. After casting, the piece moved through cleaning and polishing to bring up the contrast between the raised sun, skyline, character, and lettering against the recessed background panel. The cut-out areas were cleaned of any residual casting material to keep the open silhouette crisp, and the bail was finished and polished to move smoothly against the client's own chain. Final inspection confirmed the piece was ready before shipping.

Key note

The pendant was deliberately redesigned around the client's own smaller existing chain rather than a standard bail size, which is why the bail and the pendant plate were rescaled together instead of independently.

Pricing guidance

A dimensional cut-out pendant combining a multi-element scene with raised lettering in 10k gold sits toward the higher end for custom pendant work, largely because of its size and gold weight. Cost in this category is driven primarily by how much metal the piece requires and how many distinct design elements need to be modeled and cleaned up after casting. Reducing the overall footprint is one of the most direct ways to bring the cost down without losing the design.

Moves price up ↑

↑
Increasing the overall height and width of the pendant, which adds gold weight
↑
Upgrading from 10k to 14k or 18k gold
↑
Adding more individual design elements or finer detail that require extra hand-finishing after casting
↑
Making the piece solid rather than a thinner cut-out plate
↑
Adding gemstones or enamel color fill to the scene

Moves price down ↓

↓
Scaling down the overall pendant and bail dimensions, as was done on this piece
↓
Simplifying the scene to fewer individual elements
↓
Choosing a lower karat or alternative metal such as gold-plated silver
↓
Reducing the bail size to match a standard rather than oversized chain
↓
Leaving the background panel open rather than fully cut out

Questions people ask

Can you turn a flat logo or graphic into a 3D pendant?

Yes, this is a common request — a flat image or sketch is translated into a cut-out metal piece with raised and recessed sections to add dimension. The modeling team builds a 3D version of the artwork digitally before anything is cast, and a photorealistic render is shared for approval first. Fine details from the original graphic, like small facial features or thin letterforms, usually need slight simplification to cast cleanly in metal. The final piece reads as a sculptural version of the original design rather than a flat engraving.

Why did the price change after the first design was approved?

A render approval confirms the look of a design, but the exact gold weight isn't finalized until the 3D model is fully built out, especially for larger or more dimensional pieces. In this case, a taller and thicker version of the pendant used roughly double the gold of the original estimate, which raised the cost significantly. The fix was to scale the entire piece down to fit a smaller existing chain, which reduced the gold weight back toward the original budget. This kind of size-driven price adjustment is specific to large, solid, or dimensional cut-out designs rather than thinner stamped pieces.

What's the difference between a cut-out pendant and an engraved one?

An engraved pendant starts as a solid flat plate with lines cut or etched into the surface to form an image or text. A cut-out pendant like this one is different — the background around the design is actually removed, so the sun, skyline, character, and lettering stand as solid raised shapes against open space or a recessed panel. Cut-out pieces tend to use more metal and more casting and finishing labor because every edge of every shape has to be cleaned up individually. The visual effect is more sculptural and three-dimensional than a simple engraved surface.

How durable is a 10k gold pendant like this for daily wear?

10k gold is the hardest of the common gold karats used in fine jewelry, because it has the highest proportion of alloy metals mixed with the pure gold. That makes it more resistant to scratching and bending than 14k or 18k gold, which is a practical advantage for a larger, dimensional piece like this one that will take some daily knocks. The tradeoff is a slightly less rich yellow color compared to higher-karat gold. For a sculptural pendant with fine raised detail, the added hardness also helps the cut-out edges and lettering hold their shape over time.

How long does it take to make a custom pendant like this?

Once a design is approved and moves into production, a piece like this typically takes about three weeks to craft. The process starts with a 3D wax print of the approved model, which is then cast in metal using the lost-wax method, followed by cleaning, polishing, and a final quality inspection before shipping. Revisions to the design before approval — such as resizing a pendant to fit a different chain — add time before production even begins. Rush timelines are sometimes available but are not the standard process.

Can the bail be sized to fit a specific chain I already own?

Yes, the bail opening can be custom-sized to fit an existing chain rather than a standard width. On a piece like this, the bail was reduced specifically to match a smaller chain the client already owned, which also allowed the pendant itself to be made in a more proportional size. It's helpful to send a clear photo of the chain, ideally next to a common object like a coin, so the actual width can be judged accurately. Getting the bail-to-chain fit right matters both for how the pendant hangs and for how smoothly it moves on the chain.

Can you combine multiple separate design elements into one pendant like this?

Yes, combining several individual elements — in this case a sun, a skyline, a drink icon, a character, and two lines of lettering — into a single cohesive piece is a standard part of custom pendant design. The challenge is arranging the elements so they read clearly at the finished pendant's scale and don't compete with each other visually. More individual elements generally mean more modeling and finishing work, which is a factor in the overall cost. A good layout groups elements by size and importance so the eye knows where to look first.

Will the gold color in the photo match the finished piece exactly?

Not exactly — the color and luster of yellow gold in a photorealistic render is a close approximation but can vary somewhat from the finished metal piece. Lighting, screen calibration, and the render software's material settings all affect how gold appears on screen. The actual cast piece will have its own natural luster once polished, which often looks slightly different in person than it does in a rendered image. This is a normal and expected difference, not a sign of an error in production.