Tom Buzz Bernard
09-03-2013, 11:12 AM
Creation of a Laser Product
Part 9
Each time we try to create a new laser product does that mean that we have to reinvent the wheel? The one unique thing about a laser is you can engrave onto many existing substrates, therefore providing a new product and increasing its value. Many times it’s what we engrave that makes one buy a product. Emotion causes spontaneous sales! A perfect example is that no one will buy a T-shirt saying “I Love Grandpa” just because they need a shirt.
I have seen many people engrave on everything from cell phones to pocket knives. I don’t want to confuse job-shop work from creating a product line. My definition of a job-shop is a place where people bring items to have them personalized. This is highly profitable work and can be quite challenging. It would scare me to have someone come in with Great Great Grandpa’s antique firearm and be asked to engrave something on the gun or even a Rolex watch. No room for trial and error, but I know many who will do this type of work and they are genuine experts and/or just a little plain crazy. I mean this in the most admirable way! :rolleyes:
What I am talking about is finding something that is currently being made and thinking, “I bet I can create a similar product and laser something on it to make it a more desirable purchase.” Like all my other creations, I still like to find something we can mark up 1000%, so this means we need to find something to make where we can buy the raw materials locally.
What events are happening in your area?
Last weekend we had an annual event in Atlanta called, “The Yellow Daisy Festival”. This was an art & craft show in Stone Mountain, Georgia. It lasted for 4 days and drew an estimated crowd of over 200,000. They had over 400 booths set up. What a great place to look for ideas to laser engrave.
I must admit the day I went I think (it felt like) there were 1 million people there! Traffic was backed up for 2 hours just getting into the park. While trying to walk around, the crowd was elbow to elbow – very very crowded (this did make me rush from booth to booth). I could barely stop to look. The crowd kept pushing us forward. I saw several possibilities but couldn’t get close to the booth to check them out. Besides I am the type who hates to shop. :(
My goal was to simply find one item to demonstrate this idea. Given more time one could hunt around for several new products, but I just want to show you how easy it is to start mass-producing a product line and keep your laser running all day long.
I am known for using wood a lot. There are several reasons. One is you can buy the substrate almost anywhere, and two, it is relatively inexpensive to work with, and three, I love the smell of freshly-cut wood. :)
At this art & craft show I came across a booth that had a lot of activity. They made a lot of wood products, mostly novelty things. One of the more simplistic items was a wooden wind spinner.
270112
This product is made with a bunch of thin slates of wood stacked together with a threaded rod running through the middle and a tightened nut to hold the shape. You will need to drill a hole in the rod to attach the hook for hanging. You can easily use a fishing swivel to allow the unit to spin freely.
270113
Depending how long you make this will determine how many different possible areas you could embellish the product with your laser. For my demonstration I will only try to do one image. Let me say most of the wood spinners I saw were less than six inches wide and tapered at the top and bottom to give the spiral image more definition.
I went to Home Depot and found wood called, premium furring strips, for 92 cents per eight foot length. You can buy the threaded rod, nuts, and washers there, as well. I bought a 12” inch long threaded rod, although I think you should go with at least a 2 foot rod to get the full spiral look.
270114270115
I drilled a hole in the center of each piece of wood to put the rod through. I put the nuts on and only slightly tightened them. Then I cut a taper on all four corners. (see picture)You may want to experiment. Note: Because my rod was so short I did cut longer pieces of wood to use it all up and to engrave a larger image. Lay the piece in your laser flat and apply the image you want. I decided to vector engrave and raster an image to see what it would look like.
Remember, the more emotional the design, the more impulsive it will be to buy. You could offer pet designs, names of people, or even portraits. Once the image is on the wood (note: you can do both sides) it is time to start the spiral process.
Offset the wood to get the look you are after and tightened down the bolts to hold them in place.
You will want to ship this flat for ease and expense, so I would make up direction on how to spiral, and then enclose instructions with the product. Have fun with all the possibilities. This was just one idea.
Let’s break down the costs. With the purchase of one-off supplies (bulk buying should make this less), it came up to a little over $2.00. At $2.00 the mark-up goal of 1000% would mean we would have to sell this for $20.00. At the art & craft show all of their spinner designs were selling for over $20.00, with some as high as $45.00. I think using the multiple spirals like they had and being creative with the artwork, one might be able to have some success. :confused: You never know till you try!
270116270117
The point of this exercise was to find something we can embellish with our laser to increase the product line we offer. More products hopefully equate to more sales! If we can hit a high enough mark-up it allows us to wholesale our products; therefore, it allows us to expand our market place to a larger geographic area. I know some may want helpful ideas to pay for their first laser, but I want you to curse me (in the most admirable way) because you have to buy a second laser to keep up with all the work you have. ;)
I certainly do love hearing a success story. Don’t forget your kids can come up with many ways for using your laser. I believe an idea is never bad, by trying new ways to use your laser it can lead to some exciting new products.
Next month I have some new substrate I tried out on my laser, I think it will be GREAT for the awards industry. With a little experimenting I bet this stuff could have many uses. I came across it while buying supplies for this month’s idea at Home Depot. I have done some preliminary test and I can’t wait to show you the results!
Part 9
Each time we try to create a new laser product does that mean that we have to reinvent the wheel? The one unique thing about a laser is you can engrave onto many existing substrates, therefore providing a new product and increasing its value. Many times it’s what we engrave that makes one buy a product. Emotion causes spontaneous sales! A perfect example is that no one will buy a T-shirt saying “I Love Grandpa” just because they need a shirt.
I have seen many people engrave on everything from cell phones to pocket knives. I don’t want to confuse job-shop work from creating a product line. My definition of a job-shop is a place where people bring items to have them personalized. This is highly profitable work and can be quite challenging. It would scare me to have someone come in with Great Great Grandpa’s antique firearm and be asked to engrave something on the gun or even a Rolex watch. No room for trial and error, but I know many who will do this type of work and they are genuine experts and/or just a little plain crazy. I mean this in the most admirable way! :rolleyes:
What I am talking about is finding something that is currently being made and thinking, “I bet I can create a similar product and laser something on it to make it a more desirable purchase.” Like all my other creations, I still like to find something we can mark up 1000%, so this means we need to find something to make where we can buy the raw materials locally.
What events are happening in your area?
Last weekend we had an annual event in Atlanta called, “The Yellow Daisy Festival”. This was an art & craft show in Stone Mountain, Georgia. It lasted for 4 days and drew an estimated crowd of over 200,000. They had over 400 booths set up. What a great place to look for ideas to laser engrave.
I must admit the day I went I think (it felt like) there were 1 million people there! Traffic was backed up for 2 hours just getting into the park. While trying to walk around, the crowd was elbow to elbow – very very crowded (this did make me rush from booth to booth). I could barely stop to look. The crowd kept pushing us forward. I saw several possibilities but couldn’t get close to the booth to check them out. Besides I am the type who hates to shop. :(
My goal was to simply find one item to demonstrate this idea. Given more time one could hunt around for several new products, but I just want to show you how easy it is to start mass-producing a product line and keep your laser running all day long.
I am known for using wood a lot. There are several reasons. One is you can buy the substrate almost anywhere, and two, it is relatively inexpensive to work with, and three, I love the smell of freshly-cut wood. :)
At this art & craft show I came across a booth that had a lot of activity. They made a lot of wood products, mostly novelty things. One of the more simplistic items was a wooden wind spinner.
270112
This product is made with a bunch of thin slates of wood stacked together with a threaded rod running through the middle and a tightened nut to hold the shape. You will need to drill a hole in the rod to attach the hook for hanging. You can easily use a fishing swivel to allow the unit to spin freely.
270113
Depending how long you make this will determine how many different possible areas you could embellish the product with your laser. For my demonstration I will only try to do one image. Let me say most of the wood spinners I saw were less than six inches wide and tapered at the top and bottom to give the spiral image more definition.
I went to Home Depot and found wood called, premium furring strips, for 92 cents per eight foot length. You can buy the threaded rod, nuts, and washers there, as well. I bought a 12” inch long threaded rod, although I think you should go with at least a 2 foot rod to get the full spiral look.
270114270115
I drilled a hole in the center of each piece of wood to put the rod through. I put the nuts on and only slightly tightened them. Then I cut a taper on all four corners. (see picture)You may want to experiment. Note: Because my rod was so short I did cut longer pieces of wood to use it all up and to engrave a larger image. Lay the piece in your laser flat and apply the image you want. I decided to vector engrave and raster an image to see what it would look like.
Remember, the more emotional the design, the more impulsive it will be to buy. You could offer pet designs, names of people, or even portraits. Once the image is on the wood (note: you can do both sides) it is time to start the spiral process.
Offset the wood to get the look you are after and tightened down the bolts to hold them in place.
You will want to ship this flat for ease and expense, so I would make up direction on how to spiral, and then enclose instructions with the product. Have fun with all the possibilities. This was just one idea.
Let’s break down the costs. With the purchase of one-off supplies (bulk buying should make this less), it came up to a little over $2.00. At $2.00 the mark-up goal of 1000% would mean we would have to sell this for $20.00. At the art & craft show all of their spinner designs were selling for over $20.00, with some as high as $45.00. I think using the multiple spirals like they had and being creative with the artwork, one might be able to have some success. :confused: You never know till you try!
270116270117
The point of this exercise was to find something we can embellish with our laser to increase the product line we offer. More products hopefully equate to more sales! If we can hit a high enough mark-up it allows us to wholesale our products; therefore, it allows us to expand our market place to a larger geographic area. I know some may want helpful ideas to pay for their first laser, but I want you to curse me (in the most admirable way) because you have to buy a second laser to keep up with all the work you have. ;)
I certainly do love hearing a success story. Don’t forget your kids can come up with many ways for using your laser. I believe an idea is never bad, by trying new ways to use your laser it can lead to some exciting new products.
Next month I have some new substrate I tried out on my laser, I think it will be GREAT for the awards industry. With a little experimenting I bet this stuff could have many uses. I came across it while buying supplies for this month’s idea at Home Depot. I have done some preliminary test and I can’t wait to show you the results!