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Jackie McGowan
12-20-2008, 12:59 AM
Hello Everyone,
I think I read a thread here on wooden roses a while back but wanted to remind everyone about them. I bought some for a little over .06 each. A small starter kit was $150.00 with free shipping (2400 roses - you get to pick up to 15 colors). I had it in mind to make some engraved bouquets for valentines day, St patty's day, Mothers day and easter. I do craft shows flea markets and consignment in a craft/gift shop. Well I made a couple Christmas bouquets for gifts for my hubby to bring to work (with stock sayings and clip art - Santa etc.) and now I'm getting lots of orders for bouquets with family names on them, Everyone loves them! I had planned on selling bouquets (1 doz) with the stock things for each holiday on 6 of them and 6 would be blank for $14.00 or $15.00 per doz. But the custom name ones I'm charging $20.00 and no one seems to mind. They don't take long at all to laser and I just add a faux grass & put a plastic sleeve (they were both included in the kit) and a pretty ribbon to finish. Anyway it seems to be a money maker so far. I with post photos soon if I can.

James Jaragosky
12-20-2008, 1:05 AM
Hello Everyone,
I think I read a thread here on wooden roses a while back but wanted to remind everyone about them. I bought some for a little over .06 each. A small starter kit was $150.00 with free shipping (2400 roses - you get to pick up to 15 colors). I had it in mind to make some engraved bouquets for valentines day, St patty's day, Mothers day and easter. I do craft shows flea markets and consignment in a craft/gift shop. Well I made a couple Christmas bouquets for gifts for my hubby to bring to work (with stock sayings and clip art - Santa etc.) and now I'm getting lots of orders for bouquets with family names on them, Everyone loves them! I had planned on selling bouquets (1 doz) with the stock things for each holiday on 6 of them and 6 would be blank for $14.00 or $15.00 per doz. But the custom name ones I'm charging $20.00 and no one seems to mind. They don't take long at all to laser and I just add a faux grass & put a plastic sleeve (they were both included in the kit) and a pretty ribbon to finish. Anyway it seems to be a money maker so far. I with post photos soon if I can.
Can you post a picture when you get time?
Thanks
Jim J.
Also who is your supplier?

Jackie McGowan
12-20-2008, 1:10 AM
Hi James,

Here is the link to the supplier:

http://www.woodenrosesfactorydirect.com/

I will post a photo or two tomorrow :)

Jackie McGowan
12-20-2008, 1:13 AM
Also I forgot to mention that they are not really round as you would think, they are kind of square but rounded. If you look down at it from the top you can see what I mean. I mention this because it gives a good surface to laser on and also lays in the machine pretty well. I will try to take a photo of that as well.

Bill Cunningham
12-20-2008, 7:44 PM
There was a thread posted last year that has a lot of info and some pictures too
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=501334#post501334

Al Popowski
12-20-2008, 11:45 PM
check out alkatllc.com go to the store look in the roses section.
I sell the bouquets but I have not engraved any.

Jackie McGowan
12-21-2008, 1:31 PM
Ok Here are the pictures I promised (sorry I couldn't get to it yesterday). In the one where I'm holding the rose you can kind of see the squareness at the base. Gee maybe I should charge more for these!

Jackie McGowan
12-21-2008, 1:36 PM
...And they come in many colors!

Jackie McGowan
12-21-2008, 1:46 PM
Al,
Do they sell well at those prices? If they are and there not engraved then I'm gonna try raising the prices some (maybe somewhere in the middle). They are really beautiful but I was afraid to overcharge and scare people away.

Tim Baude
12-21-2008, 6:04 PM
Hi Jackie,
I have several event I could use these for. Can I ask what your settings are for these? There are a ton of Father Daughter Dances around our area. Thank you in advance.
Tim

Jackie McGowan
12-21-2008, 9:27 PM
Tim,
I have a 25 watt laser and I use 23 Speed / 12 Power.

Ray Uebner
12-22-2008, 3:17 AM
Very nice and thanks for the idea. My wife loves it and we are thinking of doing some. The pictures are great and thanks for the settings.

James Jaragosky
12-22-2008, 12:12 PM
Very nice and thanks for the idea. My wife loves it and we are thinking of doing some. The pictures are great and thanks for the settings.
I actually got on the site and started to buy some.
Unfortunately they are out of stock on all the desirable colors, like red pink etc....
I searched the web for other suppliers and found they are also out of the same colors.

Phil Garcia
12-22-2008, 3:40 PM
Jackie those are great, what a great idea. Thanks for the post and the pics. I think I will order a few and see how they do with my current customer base. I agree with you on the pricing, I think you could charge closer to the $20 to $30 dollar range with stock engraving. Thanks again.

Ray Uebner
12-22-2008, 3:53 PM
Yes I noticed that after I posted and went to the site. I am hoping that it is because of Christmas and that they will have them after the holidays.

Jackie McGowan
12-23-2008, 12:44 AM
Hi,
I just took a look. A lot of the colors I ordered are still available and they are beautiful. Most of the ones I got are two toned White/red, white/burgundy pink/burgundy, etc. The solid pink is still available. The solid red is out but it would be too dark to engrave on anyway. The two toned ones are really pretty. I'm hoping they get more in though too because I need more greens for st patty's day!

Dee Gallo
01-27-2009, 9:35 AM
Just to bump this thread in case someone is looking at Valentine's Day, weddings, etc. I thought I'd show a dark purple rose, which engraves in reverse so the lettering is light. Looks nice, but as Jackie says the results are better on the lighter colored roses.

This was done on a 25w Epilog, 90 speed and 40 power. I got good results on lighter ones with 100 speed and 30 power.

ps- I got 200 assorted colors on ebay for 99 cents so patience paid off!:D

cheers, dee

Frank Corker
01-27-2009, 5:44 PM
It's a very nice job Dee, change a few names and Steve Clarkson will buy it? :o

Dee Gallo
01-27-2009, 6:22 PM
How about a nice generic "Steve Loves You!"

That way he can use it on everyone he runs into on Valentine's Day...

Frank Corker
01-27-2009, 6:54 PM
In that case you are going to need to get hold of several dozen.

Steve Clarkson
01-27-2009, 10:32 PM
SEVERAL DOZEN??? After my mother and four sisters there's........OK, five should be good......

Jackie McGowan
01-28-2009, 2:50 PM
Dee,
I think your light engraving on the darker color came out very nice. I didn't even tried that because I had assumed they were dyed all the way through. I had received a message from Carl Sewell that he was doing the darker ones and just skimming the dye off the top. I still haven't tried it yet but I will. I have another Idea that I'm working on for these. I've had a quite a few people ask for bunches with names of family members engraved, so I was thinking there must be a way to construct a bouquet into a tree (a family tree) and have it stand on a table. I saw a standing bouquet on a website so I tried it using floral tape (see pict) so this may work for the bottom but I need the top part to look more like a tree (like branches). Anyway if I figure it out I'll post another image.

Dee Gallo
01-28-2009, 4:17 PM
Hey, Jackie, that sparked a concept you might want to try: use the long stem wires to create an espalier look kind of a flat "tree", with the named flowers fanning out. You could have more on the bottom (grandkids), some in the middle (kids) and parents at the top. You could use florist tape to attach a few leaves in there too. Just another hairbrained idea that popped into my head while reading your post.

cheers, dee

Belinda Barfield
01-28-2009, 4:26 PM
SEVERAL DOZEN??? After my mother and four sisters there's........OK, five should be good......

Remember by girls' getaway Steve? There will be 16 of us and I think we all need a remembrance of the weekend! :D

Thanks for keeping me posted on your efforts ladies.

Belinda Barfield
01-28-2009, 4:27 PM
Jackie & Dee,

Great ideas. Those should sell really well for Mother's Day!

Thanks!

Steve Clarkson
01-28-2009, 6:00 PM
Remember by girls' getaway Steve? There will be 16 of us and I think we all need a remembrance of the weekend! :D

Thanks for keeping me posted on your efforts ladies.



Uhhhhh.....you DO mean 16 wooden roses, right? I was getting scared for a minute.......

Jackie, I think the "family tree" bouquet is a GREAT idea!

Jackie McGowan
01-28-2009, 7:41 PM
Dee,

That espalier idea is cool too (and I learned something cause I had never heard of it) I looked it up in wikipedia... Thanks, I think I'll try both versions.

I'll keep you all posted on it :)

John W. Love
02-04-2009, 2:58 PM
Hey all, Mrs. John here, aka Alicia...

We ordered a starter kit of these and I'm very excited about making them, I really think these will sell! I waited anxiously for them to arrive, checking the tracking dozens of times each day...and they are finally here! I want to try and engrave some of the ones with the darker color at the top / lighter color at the bottom, but I'm not sure what settings I should use for my laser. The picture that Dee posted looks so cool! I see that Dee posted her settings, but my laser is a 40 watt laser, so I'm not sure where I should start. I'm guessing I can go with less power...but anyone have any suggestions on how much less?

Thanks for any suggestions/help!

Alicia Love

One of these days I'll just register myself...

Dave Lyda
02-04-2009, 6:33 PM
We are doing them on our 40 watt laser at 90 speed and 35 power and having to do 2 passes. Hope this helps.

John W. Love
02-07-2009, 2:00 PM
Thanks Dave, those settings with the two passes worked great!

Bob Keyes
02-13-2009, 8:39 PM
Dear Jackie,

Thank you so much for the wooden rose idea. I just finished up the Valentine rush from 3 high schools in the area. Roses in their school color with their mascot engraved on them. 2 of the schools are going to use them for their homecoming festivities.

I ordered 200 dozen and I only have about 5 dozen left of the orange ones. I am all out of the others.

Thanks again. I appreciate it.


Hello Everyone,
I think I read a thread here on wooden roses a while back but wanted to remind everyone about them. I bought some for a little over .06 each. A small starter kit was $150.00 with free shipping (2400 roses - you get to pick up to 15 colors). I had it in mind to make some engraved bouquets for valentines day, St patty's day, Mothers day and easter. I do craft shows flea markets and consignment in a craft/gift shop. Well I made a couple Christmas bouquets for gifts for my hubby to bring to work (with stock sayings and clip art - Santa etc.) and now I'm getting lots of orders for bouquets with family names on them, Everyone loves them! I had planned on selling bouquets (1 doz) with the stock things for each holiday on 6 of them and 6 would be blank for $14.00 or $15.00 per doz. But the custom name ones I'm charging $20.00 and no one seems to mind. They don't take long at all to laser and I just add a faux grass & put a plastic sleeve (they were both included in the kit) and a pretty ribbon to finish. Anyway it seems to be a money maker so far. I with post photos soon if I can.

Anthony Welch
02-13-2009, 9:12 PM
We wanted to come up with something to put these roses in that might generate some added income.

I'll tell you later how it turns out.

Steve Clarkson
02-14-2009, 7:09 AM
I ordered 200 dozen and I only have about 5 dozen left

Bob......how long does it take to engrave 200 dozen!!!

That's a great idea about the mascot......can I ask how much you charged and how much they sold them for?

Bob Keyes
02-14-2009, 11:40 AM
Steve,

I made 2 plexi jigs that hold 1 doz. each. It takes 8 minutes to do a dozen. While one is engraving I unload and reload the other jig. I also made a fixture to lay a dozen in with a sleeve over them and tie a ribbon around bundle. Make the packaging go quite fast.

I charged the school $7.00 per dozen. My cost about .80 per dozen. They sell them to the kids for $14.00 per dozen. Pretty good profit margin for both of us. Especially me!

Ray Uebner
02-14-2009, 12:52 PM
We wanted to come up with something to put these roses in that might generate some added income.

I'll tell you later how it turns out.

Well looks good to me. Let us know, nice work both of you. Like the idea for the schools. If you have the cdr of the holder of the roses and would like to post it I am sure we would enjoy having it. Thanks for the posts.

Tim Bateson
02-14-2009, 2:16 PM
Here are a couple I made for my wife. I decided to try a picture. Not great, but not bad either. I use the flowers from: petalbypetal.com

Dee Gallo
02-14-2009, 2:55 PM
Neato. Amazing what we will try isn't it? Even more amazing what some people can accomplish!

Ray Uebner
02-14-2009, 4:02 PM
Great work, Looks good to me I know you want it better though but it is the thought. Did you do the photo in Photograv? I have to get some of these.

Tim Bateson
02-14-2009, 4:29 PM
Ray, I use Epilog's Dithering options in their print driver. It's tricky getting a decent burn without going through the thin wood.

Ray Uebner
02-14-2009, 8:02 PM
Thanks for the info. I will have to try it when I get some roses....Busy time of the year so will most likely be after July.

Bob Keyes
02-14-2009, 11:52 PM
Tim, That's who I bought from. Seem like nice honest people. Roses were good, price was good, delivery was excellent.


Here are a couple I made for my wife. I decided to try a picture. Not great, but not bad either. I use the flowers from: petalbypetal.com

Bob Keyes
02-14-2009, 11:53 PM
Ray--I'll post it tomorrow when I get back home.


Well looks good to me. Let us know, nice work both of you. Like the idea for the schools. If you have the cdr of the holder of the roses and would like to post it I am sure we would enjoy having it. Thanks for the posts.

Steve Clarkson
02-15-2009, 1:38 AM
Thanks Bob.

I just picked up a dozen at the mall today.

Bob Keyes
02-15-2009, 10:29 PM
Here is the jig I promised. Sorry so late. It was glued together with weldon 3. I saved it in v12 just in case you don't have x3.

Tim Bateson
02-15-2009, 11:29 PM
Thanks Bob, This will work great for the closed roses. Looks easy to modify for the larger roses too.

I'm assuming you slide the roses in steam first from the front?

Ray Uebner
02-16-2009, 2:53 PM
Looks great will have to get on it and GET ER DONE as they say. Thanks.

Bob Keyes
02-16-2009, 3:14 PM
Yes, or I let the top unattached. I load from the top and then use masking tape to hold the top in position. I also put a piece of 1/4" foam in the bottom to give the rose a little spring and keep it pushed against the top.

Have fun and PROFIT!


Thanks Bob, This will work great for the closed roses. Looks easy to modify for the larger roses too.

I'm assuming you slide the roses in steam first from the front?

Jackie McGowan
02-16-2009, 3:58 PM
Bob That's great Congrads on your success with the schools. Were the whole dozen engraved or just one rose in the dozen? Just curious as to what the schools liked/accepted for the $7.00.

Bob Keyes
02-16-2009, 6:53 PM
Jackie,

I did the whole dozen. It takes about 6-8 min to do a dozen in the jig. I figure at .96 cost per dozen and 7.00 selling I'm doing OK.

I have a restaurant lined up, O'Malleys, for green ones on St. Patties day.

Tim Bateson
02-26-2009, 10:33 PM
Bob, I built the jig, it has helped but am getting inconsistent results. This is due to inconsistency of the roses, the leaves, or the curvature of the bud, or the focal length. I’ll get one that burns through, and another that doesn’t burn enough. All of this seems different from one rose to another. How have you dealt with this and what is your rate of ruined roses?

Thad Nickoley
02-26-2009, 10:46 PM
Tim, are you getting the inconsistant results on the wood roses or real ones?

Tim Bateson
02-26-2009, 10:52 PM
On the Wooden Roses

Bob Keyes
02-27-2009, 1:03 PM
Bob, I built the jig, it has helped but am getting inconsistent results. This is due to inconsistency of the roses, the leaves, or the curvature of the bud, or the focal length. I’ll get one that burns through, and another that doesn’t burn enough. All of this seems different from one rose to another. How have you dealt with this and what is your rate of ruined roses?

Yes, there is some inconsistency. I placed a square of 1/4" foam under each rose. This presses it up tight against the lid. That helped a lot. Now I throw out about 1 or 2 every 3 or 4 dozen.

I try to move the rose under the lid until the surface to be engraved is as flat as possible. Not real easy, but that's what they pay us for.

Tim Bateson
02-27-2009, 1:13 PM
Thanks Bob. I had place wood wedges under the roses. Foam sounds like a better idea. I have also increased the holes in the top to .8x1.1. I'm going to build a similar jig for the half open roses. If I recall they have a working area around 1.5x1.5. Although more expensive, I include a couple with each dozen. It looks more real with the mixture.

Do you have any pics you can post of your work?

Michael Kowalczyk
02-27-2009, 7:04 PM
check out alkatllc.com go to the store look in the roses section.
I sell the bouquets but I have not engraved any.
Cześć (http://www.dict.pl/dict?word=cześć&lang=EN) Al,
Jak się masz?
Are those full size roses that are half open?

Tim Bateson
02-27-2009, 9:15 PM
Michael, Here is a pic of both the closed bud and the half open rose.

Bob Keyes
02-27-2009, 11:50 PM
Good idea. I'll have to make one myself. I have some folks that want about 10 doz. half open to use in a wedding. I really want to make the new one hinged on the front with latches on the back instead of using masking tape. Might work better.

I like the idea of using a couple half open in a doz roses!!:D

I don't have any pix. I will take some and post as soon as I can.

Michael Kowalczyk
03-01-2009, 4:06 PM
Hey that half open one gives you more flat area to engrave on. Next ? Are those mini or long stems? I have only worked with mini's and have made a simple jig for 5 at a time. It's about a 2-3 minutes turn around to set up and laser "I love you very much" one word on each rose.

Tim Bateson
03-01-2009, 9:30 PM
These stems are 13" long.