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Linda Kroeker
03-01-2011, 6:16 PM
seems that the frames I talked about earlier might not be in their budget...any other
inexspensive laserable prom favor ideas?
Flute glasses I can get for $1.00. Voltive candle holders...any one seen anodized mint tins? I probably could do jds travel mugs pretty cheap...think there $2.74 ea...

Linda

Dee Gallo
03-01-2011, 7:07 PM
Linda,

There are wooden roses which are very nice. Teenaged kids like the anodized military style tags on long colorful ballchains, which they can either wear or use for their new car/dorm room/apartment keys. Jim Good (PM him, he's a Creeker) has some very small edge-lit LED lights for only $1.50 or so, which I've made for door prizes and everyone loves them. Another cheapie would be to make something to hang from a cell phone, maybe acrylic or wood with the school logo/mascot or engrave on a pre-made bead.

Just a few ideas to get your thoughts going, dee

Josh Richard
03-02-2011, 8:50 AM
Just a few simple ideas...
Key chains using mirrored acrylic
Ice tea glasses
Photo frame
Something to hang from car's mirror with school logo
A wooden puzzle to assemble http://wwwdotcardonizerdotcom/business_cards/wes_thomas

I would recommend that you avoid anything that could be seen as alcohol related. I have seen some folks get in hot water for giving wine and shot glasses to teenagers!

Dee Gallo
03-02-2011, 9:30 AM
Another idea for your prom quest, Linda:

Something to wear on their corsage/dress/hair/tux - you can attach a cutout to a pin, magnetic badge, hairpin, ribbon, pocket clip, etc. They can wear this at the prom and then save it as a memento. Or even a design engraved on a handkerchief might be a cool token, which can be used by either boys or girls.

Jim Good
03-02-2011, 11:36 PM
Linda,

I've attached a photo frame I did last year for a high school prom. They were well-received. The customer ordered 425 of these frames. I supplied the engraving along with the frame.

Let's put our head together and figure something out. Like Dee mentioned, I have some small LED glowboards that could have a theme engraved onto the acrylic.

Jim

Robert Walters
03-03-2011, 4:11 AM
Linda,

I've attached a photo frame I did last year for a high school prom. They were well-received. The customer ordered 425 of these frames. I supplied the engraving along with the frame.

Let's put our head together and figure something out. Like Dee mentioned, I have some small LED glowboards that could have a theme engraved onto the acrylic.

Jim

Why not find out what the theme of the/this prom is and engrave that on the photo frame?
"Class of <year>", etc


Jim,
Any photos of these LED glow boards you have by chance?

Dee Gallo
03-03-2011, 9:12 AM
Maybe a new twist on the old prom picture: LEDS!!

Lots of possibilities with these, both for personalized and generic prom theme. Believe me, everyone who sees these loves them, plus they are USEFUL which you can't say about very many mementos.

Then, when these kids take them home, watch how many people want another one for a Christmas present, wedding gift, birthday gift, I've even done memorials for people who lost loved ones. Make sure you make a sticker to put on the bottom so they can contact you.

If I was doing these for a prom, I'd come up with something like 5 different variations of the theme. When people have a choice, they love to agonize over it. And some will buy two.

cheers, dee

Linda Kroeker
03-03-2011, 11:46 AM
Oh my gosh...those glow boards are great! Very nice Dee & Jim

Jim as far as their budget, it's not much at all. They want to spend like $5 apiece on something...very very cheap! I do like the small silver frame attached to the board.
How much is something simple like that run?

I was even thinking of their school logo on those new jds colored ceramic tiles...if I could get something like that. Glass coaster might be good also.

Josh...I thought the same thing when they mentioned to me to do flute glasses...all the promotional sites have that kind of stuff...and that's the thing to, they
can get this stuff cheaper than I can sell to them...
Anyways I appreciated all the ideas...I will put somethings together that were mentioned and see what happens!

Linda

Jim Good
03-03-2011, 1:13 PM
Dee: I love the photo engravings! You'll need to tell me how you are processing your pics and also what settings you used. I've got a 35w epilog so the settings should be reasonably close.

Linda: I sent you a PM!

Thanks! Jim

Dee Gallo
03-03-2011, 3:08 PM
Jim,

I use several techniques depending on the look I want and the original photo quality. Normally I would start with removing the background and defects in PhotoShop. Then, I can just adjust the contrast and brightness. If I want more detail in the clothing for instance, I would use the highlight tool. I find the Gold Method action in PhotoShop to be pretty foolproof if your original pic is ready to go. For the more graphic look (like the four girls flashing the peace sign) I used PhotoGrav. It increases the contrast a lot in the final engraving.

For this Lucy light, I just started with a professional stock B&W photo and removed the background and ran it greyscale, no adjusting or filters or nothing, just inverted. The hardest part was cutting around the head for the silhouette.

~ dee

edit: I should mention that it's important in group pix to try to make all the faces the same brightness & detail levels. This takes some adjusting with dodge & burn, cloning and smudging... especially when you are combining photos like I did with the 3 kids in the heart - that was two different photos made into one.

Also, the settings: raster 100 sp/35 power, vector 20 sp/100 power/5000 freq. dither standard, 400 dpi - 600 dpi

Jim Good
03-03-2011, 3:54 PM
Dee, thanks for the info! Those are awesome looking. Have you tried putting your artwork in a frame? If you haven't tried one, I'll send you one.

I put an actual photo behind the engraved acrylic to highlight the picture but you could just put your engraved photo in there. Just a thought.

Jim

Dee Gallo
03-03-2011, 4:19 PM
Yeah, Jim, I'd like to try the small frame- I'll email you!

thanks, dee

Dee Gallo
03-03-2011, 4:44 PM
So Linda, back to other prom favor ideas: kids always like to snack, plus you want to keep the cost down to under $5. How about taking a cloth napkin with the school logo or prom theme burned into one corner, then wrapping some M&Ms, trail mix or similar inside tying it up with school color ribbons? You could add a small tag which could be used as a keytag, zipper pull or car mirror dangle later.

:) dee

Mike Null
03-03-2011, 6:01 PM
Dee

Somehow I'm thinking I'm glad you weren't my prom chaperone.;)

Bill Cunningham
03-03-2011, 8:28 PM
I would recommend that you avoid anything that could be seen as alcohol related. I have seen some folks get in hot water for giving wine and shot glasses to teenagers!

Every year I get emails from high school prom organizers for quotes on etched shotglasses. I always tell them to please check with the principal, to see if this would be accepted. Sometimes I never hear back, but other times there is no problem. The students show the principal a glass, wrapped in Coloured cellophane, and full of jellybeans or something, and it gets accepted. One year I did about 200 Large Russian Beermugs brought in by one of the teachers, to have the school logo etched on the side. The students told the teachers they were punch mugs. You can stuff a tealight candle into a square shotglass etched with the school logo, and that seems to be OK too.. High school kids are not stupid, if they want shot glasses, champagne flutes, beer mugs, or even roach clips, they'll find a way to get them. I'm not the police, and far from anyone's moral compass guide. As long as their not requesting obscenities or anything racist, I have no problem filling an order, if they don't.

Dee Gallo
03-03-2011, 8:52 PM
I agree with you, Bill. A job is a job. Plus there is nothing illegal or immoral about etching a glass. It's the old "guns don't kill people" thing, and there is something to be said about a symbol of the "rite of passage" which graduation represents. It's not up to us to monitor these things. Each school should have its own policy and follow it, which we as engravers have nothing to say about.

I do however, find it boring to always come up with the same old trite suggestions. It looked to me that Linda was looking for some alternatives. Why not look at some of their other interests for ideas? Of course, it is not really up to her anyway, unless she's on the planning committee.

I know, I'm a dork, but I don't believe in pushing kids to grow up too fast, or accept that there is only one profile to "be adult"... there's enough of that already.

~ dee

Bill Cunningham
03-03-2011, 8:59 PM
I do however, find it boring to always come up with the same old trite suggestions. It looked to me that Linda was looking for some alternatives. Why not look at some of their other interests for ideas? Of course, it is not really up to her anyway, unless she's on the planning committee.
~ dee

Welllll I 'did' mention Roach Clips Dee... Ha.... Them darn roaches get into everything..:o

Dee Gallo
03-03-2011, 9:01 PM
Granted, Bill, yer hip.

Bill Cunningham
03-03-2011, 9:04 PM
Granted, Bill, yer hip.
I used to be.. But at my age, now I'm more worried about breaking one:D

Dewey Schramm
03-04-2011, 11:51 AM
Hi Jim

I'm also looking for your LED ideas... I have a similar quandry about the prom favors.

I tried PMing you, but I don't seem to be able to get through and your profile doesn't have a specific reference to your web site.

Thanks in advance...
Dewey

Jim Good
03-04-2011, 5:44 PM
Hey Dewey!

Been nursing my 17 month old boy back to health! Ear infection, high fever, and a bad cough. He won't let me hang out on the computer very much! Hey, shoot me an email to jim dot good @ a2zengraving.com or jim dot good63 @gmail dot com (This one I monitor more frequently.). I can send you a pricelist and we can discuss your needs!

Thanks!

Jim

greg lindsey
03-04-2011, 6:55 PM
I do these for some if the local high shools, girl scout's and local companies. They a $1 ea at the local "dollar"185161 store, the one by me has hundreds, lots of different colors. They are cheap and engrave extremely well and fast.

Dee Gallo
03-04-2011, 7:01 PM
Good idea, Greg! I thought of those, but didn't think they were that inexpensive - cool!

greg lindsey
03-04-2011, 7:08 PM
Thanks Dee, yea, I was surprized to find them that cheap, I sell them for $5 with engraving, cheap enough for the kids. Takes all of about two mins to engrave and I usually do 100 or so at a time, not big money, but something to run in the slow times and still make a few hundred dollars. The pic really isn't that good, but the quality of the bottles is actually decent.

Jamie Bell
03-06-2011, 2:32 PM
Dee, those photos are amazing!! That's acrylic, right? Where did you find the lights for illumination? Thanks!

Dee Gallo
03-06-2011, 3:05 PM
Dee, those photos are amazing!! That's acrylic, right? Where did you find the lights for illumination? Thanks!

Jamie, read back to post #21 - contact Jim, he'll hook you up!

Martin Boekers
03-09-2011, 5:43 PM
I know it's a bit late but I thought I'd though this out there if you do Dye Sub.

I bought these Polyester napkins online for about $.60ea. they transfered well.
They came into today and I got the first test on them.

They came out nice.

Marty

Dee Gallo
03-09-2011, 6:02 PM
Martin, I love these! And the price makes them something affordable for lots of occasions - makes me want to think about dye sub.... I don't have enough toys!

cheers, dee

Martin Boekers
03-09-2011, 7:04 PM
Martin, I love these! And the price makes them something affordable for lots of occasions - makes me want to think about dye sub.... I don't have enough toys!

cheers, dee

Can you EVER have enogh toys! Ricoh is a great system and they start at abot $450 with an ink set not bad.

I wish I had these a month ago as I have an event coming up that I could have sold 400 of these pretty easily ;-(

Marty