Welcome to Etchellence
Hi! We’re Clive and Kyle, a father and son who have a passion for making things and aviation.
Our Story
Welcome. It started when one of our friends, training to be a career pilot, was about to take their first solo flight. We wanted to do something special to commemorate their achievement. Following tradition, we planned to cut off his “shirt-tail and sign it, yes, they do that! (see more about that here). We wanted to do more.
A commemorative plaque seemed like a good idea, but we wanted something more personalized than we could find. We thought about the information we wanted on the plaque then about how we might create one.
To create what we wanted would require a laser engraving machine, like the ones you can find for a couple of hundred dollars. While we like our friend a lot, spending hundreds of dollars to create a personalized plaque for him seemed a little too extravagant.
When we talked about our challenge with others, we were surprised by the amount of interest in the first solo plaque and other laser-engraved products they suggested. Some of the ideas would require a much larger laser engraving machine that we originally had in mind.
After considering the interest and feedback we received, we believed we had enough interest to form a viable company. We decided to invest in the equipment and supplies we needed to create our unique first solo design and other products that people had suggested. Etchellence was born!
We created a website and asked for a couple of volunteers to try out the order process and give us feedback to make sure everything worked. Both were happy with the experience and product they received, but they did give us some ideas for improvement. We took those ideas on board and implemented them along with a slight refresh that resulted in the web site you see today.
We hope you get as much joy from the products we offer as we do in creating them for you.
Our Story
We started Etchellence because we could not find a commemorative plaque for a first solo flight that recorded the elements we thought important.
How did we come to make that decision? One of our friends is training to be a career pilot, and we wanted to do something special for the completion of their first solo flight. Following tradition, we planned to cut off his “shirt-tail”, but we did not want to stop there. Yes, they do that! (see more about that here). We wanted to acknowledge their achievement with something more. Commemorative plaques looked good but, while we liked some printed and laser engraved awards we found, we wanted something more personalized.
Creating the plaque we wanted required a laser engraving machine like this one, which is not cheap.
We like our friend a lot, but spending a few thousand dollars to create a personalized plaque for him seemed a little too extravagant.
When we discussed the idea with others, we were surprised by the amount of interest in getting a personalized plaque for themselves.
After considering the interest and feedback we received, we formed a company and invested in the equipment and supplied we needed to create our unique design. Etchellence was born!