Tom Buzz Bernard
06-03-2013, 9:03 AM
Creation of a Laser Product 5
Ever heard the saying, “One man’s trash is another’s treasure.”? Well, in many cases this can be true for any creative person who can capitalize on an idea using scraps. What type of material is discarded in quantity that could be repurposed for a unique new Laser product?
During the building craze I knew of many who were getting pieces of corian countertops and making products from them. The sink cut out was turned into a personalized hot plate or fancy signage. Small trim pieces were cut up, lasered and turned into coasters and other products. My son even did personalized Jaguar drink coasters for the local dealership to give away with every car purchased – of course it had the salesman’s name engraved on it for future reference.
With a trash to treasure idea what other items can be had for zero investment and turned into a great product? This can be a fun exercise and very profitable with a good idea. I know this may not be an easy (in your face) concept, but I’m not talking about dumpster diving here.
You may be doing a favor for these other businesses. Most of us have to pay for trash disposal and bulky heavy waste cost $$$ to dispose of properly. So, taking it off their hands is saving them money.
Think about it, you do the same thing in your own business. I don’t care if you have a sign shop or trophy shop. In the beginning you “DO” (we all are guilty) save remnants of material thinking we are going to use it another day for something. Many times we can. Big industries just dispose of it. Is there something we can make from their trash/scraps? Will the profit be enough to build a product around it? Will this free supply run out?
Many times I have seen the “trashee” point out other materials in large supply that they need to dispose of properly. If you are creative what can you make? Don’t turn your shop into a waste-disposal facility - only take it if you have an idea. But what a great challenge if you can succeed.
So my quest for this Laser Product part 5 is to find trash/scrap and turn it into treasure. Of course I would like to hit the 1000% mark-up over material cost. I know the initial material is free but we will be adding something to the product to make a marketable item and that will have a cost. Let’s look at the other business in our area and determine what they make and what they have for scrap.
Next door to us is a frame/art shop. They purchase material in very long lengths and always have left-over pieces. One particular frame style they produce creates many short scrap pieces around sixteen inches left over. They had been stock piling them in hopes of other uses, but now have too much in storage (must be over a thousand) and was excited about disposing of it. We do not produce finished products, but we create product lines for laser entrepreneurs. So I asked if we could help them find a use for this wasted by-product. She (the owner) has been looking at ways to add to their product lines, so “Game On!” Let’s have some fun. :rolleyes:
263655
I immediately saw that the items could be cut into lengths and turned into Desktop name plates. When I tried engraving the top layer of the brown faux wood paint it left the black under-coat exposed for a good contrast. Looked nice but still didn’t pop, so I asked the frame shop what they used to hide imperfections, nail holes, or damage. She showed me an assortment of cans that contained different colors of wood filler. She says it takes very little material to get results. Boy was that an understatement! This stuff works great! The color we chose was gold. LaserBuzz does very little (almost none) rastering here, so we seldom experiment with color fill. Note: This is a great fill alternative for other projects. I am told you can get almost any color with this stuff. This is what you have to love about this industry; you never know when you may find new substrates or materials to use. Note: The small can of filler in the picture, some may already know of this product.
263656
The idea for desktop name plates for this scrap sounds good, but not everyone works at a desk and we have thousands of these pieces to use up and she makes more almost daily. Besides, she has no market for name plates, so it would not fit into her product line. What else could we create from it? I always say whatever you are currently producing can you create a new idea at a different price point. Her business does a lot of collegiate work. We can work with this. Many people are proud of the school they graduated from and may buy a product as a desktop display or a knick-knack item. What can we do with her existing art work to make a product she could use her trash/scrap? My hope is it can be sold to her current wholesale contacts, existing retail markets, and make her a high profit.
First we have to make the piece stand up like a desktop plaque. We drilled a small hole in the back and bought a bag full of these nicely designed pegs to be glued into it. I painted the back and sides black so it looked finished. We then stood the frame piece up where it was very sturdy. This will work very nicely. Now to the impulsive part of what will sell this item - the front of the product!
263657
She has artwork of over 150 colleges she works with, so we took the graphics and shrunk it down so it could be applied to the front. Let me say 20 images can be printed on a single piece of 8 ˝” X 11” paper. We then cut two sheets at a time on the laser to speed up the production. Took a small amount of Polycrylic clear coat and dapped it on the front to initially stick the paper, then put a clear coat over everything to seal and gloss up the finished product. Note: we found too much Polycrylic would dissolve the frame faux finish. It only takes a small application to get the look we were after. We chose Polycrylic because it says “fast drying”, but there may be other products you could try.
263658 263659
This is going to be a hard one to break down for material costs. The scrap frame piece is technically free, the color fill is pennies or less, the pegs cost $1.47 for a package of 25 so the cost rounded up is .06 cents each, printed piece of paper (my guess) is .50 cents divided by 20 then rounded up is .03 cents each, the paint and polycrylic used would have to be divided by how many pieces it will make. The black paint was .96 cents for a spray can and the polycrylic could be bought for less in larger quantities, but this can was almost $4.00. I dare say this item could be made for well under a $1.00, but let’s use the $1.00 price. Could this item sell for $10.00, $15.00, or $19.95? Value is what a buyer will pay, my goal (challenge) is to try and create a product that has a retail of at least 1000% mark up over material cost, I think we have achieved that, but what happens if this item goes viral and we have to start purchasing the frame pieces? Can we still achieve a good mark up? This depends on what the perceived value is. She is currently marketing the finished item at $15.00 and they are selling. Time will tell as she tries to expand the line. What is the price one gets for a desktop name plate? Adding a name or personalization would certainly add value and hire profit. I think we have just repurposed some scrap and made a beautiful product with it :cool:
You know while working on this month’s product creation I came across an idea. I think it could be made by any laser owner. I have ordered the substrate and will discuss the details. This is something everyone with a car can use. Actually I think it may have other applications. I can’t wait to tell you about it! This is my favorite new idea so far! :)
Ever heard the saying, “One man’s trash is another’s treasure.”? Well, in many cases this can be true for any creative person who can capitalize on an idea using scraps. What type of material is discarded in quantity that could be repurposed for a unique new Laser product?
During the building craze I knew of many who were getting pieces of corian countertops and making products from them. The sink cut out was turned into a personalized hot plate or fancy signage. Small trim pieces were cut up, lasered and turned into coasters and other products. My son even did personalized Jaguar drink coasters for the local dealership to give away with every car purchased – of course it had the salesman’s name engraved on it for future reference.
With a trash to treasure idea what other items can be had for zero investment and turned into a great product? This can be a fun exercise and very profitable with a good idea. I know this may not be an easy (in your face) concept, but I’m not talking about dumpster diving here.
You may be doing a favor for these other businesses. Most of us have to pay for trash disposal and bulky heavy waste cost $$$ to dispose of properly. So, taking it off their hands is saving them money.
Think about it, you do the same thing in your own business. I don’t care if you have a sign shop or trophy shop. In the beginning you “DO” (we all are guilty) save remnants of material thinking we are going to use it another day for something. Many times we can. Big industries just dispose of it. Is there something we can make from their trash/scraps? Will the profit be enough to build a product around it? Will this free supply run out?
Many times I have seen the “trashee” point out other materials in large supply that they need to dispose of properly. If you are creative what can you make? Don’t turn your shop into a waste-disposal facility - only take it if you have an idea. But what a great challenge if you can succeed.
So my quest for this Laser Product part 5 is to find trash/scrap and turn it into treasure. Of course I would like to hit the 1000% mark-up over material cost. I know the initial material is free but we will be adding something to the product to make a marketable item and that will have a cost. Let’s look at the other business in our area and determine what they make and what they have for scrap.
Next door to us is a frame/art shop. They purchase material in very long lengths and always have left-over pieces. One particular frame style they produce creates many short scrap pieces around sixteen inches left over. They had been stock piling them in hopes of other uses, but now have too much in storage (must be over a thousand) and was excited about disposing of it. We do not produce finished products, but we create product lines for laser entrepreneurs. So I asked if we could help them find a use for this wasted by-product. She (the owner) has been looking at ways to add to their product lines, so “Game On!” Let’s have some fun. :rolleyes:
263655
I immediately saw that the items could be cut into lengths and turned into Desktop name plates. When I tried engraving the top layer of the brown faux wood paint it left the black under-coat exposed for a good contrast. Looked nice but still didn’t pop, so I asked the frame shop what they used to hide imperfections, nail holes, or damage. She showed me an assortment of cans that contained different colors of wood filler. She says it takes very little material to get results. Boy was that an understatement! This stuff works great! The color we chose was gold. LaserBuzz does very little (almost none) rastering here, so we seldom experiment with color fill. Note: This is a great fill alternative for other projects. I am told you can get almost any color with this stuff. This is what you have to love about this industry; you never know when you may find new substrates or materials to use. Note: The small can of filler in the picture, some may already know of this product.
263656
The idea for desktop name plates for this scrap sounds good, but not everyone works at a desk and we have thousands of these pieces to use up and she makes more almost daily. Besides, she has no market for name plates, so it would not fit into her product line. What else could we create from it? I always say whatever you are currently producing can you create a new idea at a different price point. Her business does a lot of collegiate work. We can work with this. Many people are proud of the school they graduated from and may buy a product as a desktop display or a knick-knack item. What can we do with her existing art work to make a product she could use her trash/scrap? My hope is it can be sold to her current wholesale contacts, existing retail markets, and make her a high profit.
First we have to make the piece stand up like a desktop plaque. We drilled a small hole in the back and bought a bag full of these nicely designed pegs to be glued into it. I painted the back and sides black so it looked finished. We then stood the frame piece up where it was very sturdy. This will work very nicely. Now to the impulsive part of what will sell this item - the front of the product!
263657
She has artwork of over 150 colleges she works with, so we took the graphics and shrunk it down so it could be applied to the front. Let me say 20 images can be printed on a single piece of 8 ˝” X 11” paper. We then cut two sheets at a time on the laser to speed up the production. Took a small amount of Polycrylic clear coat and dapped it on the front to initially stick the paper, then put a clear coat over everything to seal and gloss up the finished product. Note: we found too much Polycrylic would dissolve the frame faux finish. It only takes a small application to get the look we were after. We chose Polycrylic because it says “fast drying”, but there may be other products you could try.
263658 263659
This is going to be a hard one to break down for material costs. The scrap frame piece is technically free, the color fill is pennies or less, the pegs cost $1.47 for a package of 25 so the cost rounded up is .06 cents each, printed piece of paper (my guess) is .50 cents divided by 20 then rounded up is .03 cents each, the paint and polycrylic used would have to be divided by how many pieces it will make. The black paint was .96 cents for a spray can and the polycrylic could be bought for less in larger quantities, but this can was almost $4.00. I dare say this item could be made for well under a $1.00, but let’s use the $1.00 price. Could this item sell for $10.00, $15.00, or $19.95? Value is what a buyer will pay, my goal (challenge) is to try and create a product that has a retail of at least 1000% mark up over material cost, I think we have achieved that, but what happens if this item goes viral and we have to start purchasing the frame pieces? Can we still achieve a good mark up? This depends on what the perceived value is. She is currently marketing the finished item at $15.00 and they are selling. Time will tell as she tries to expand the line. What is the price one gets for a desktop name plate? Adding a name or personalization would certainly add value and hire profit. I think we have just repurposed some scrap and made a beautiful product with it :cool:
You know while working on this month’s product creation I came across an idea. I think it could be made by any laser owner. I have ordered the substrate and will discuss the details. This is something everyone with a car can use. Actually I think it may have other applications. I can’t wait to tell you about it! This is my favorite new idea so far! :)