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Zac Altman
07-06-2008, 10:27 AM
I have this gig with a gift business. They are having an open day in a few weeks where they display what they do. They do both specialised personal gifts, gift hampers as well as corporate gifts.

So...I will be displaying some of my work at their open day. The only problem is...I dont know what to display. Here are my ideas so far:
- Engraved Wine + Boxes (for the wine)
- Wine Glasses
- Metal Wine Coolers

For some reason, i can only think about wine at the moment. Please Help!

Darren Null
07-06-2008, 10:57 AM
coasters
art
engraved mirrors
gift/luggage tage
cut card products (http://www.canon-europe.com/paperart/)
name plates/ badges
signs (functional + humourous)
food

Hope that is something to start with.

John Noell
07-06-2008, 3:39 PM
The wooden handled pocket knives and metal pocket tools (e.g., from Lasergifts.com), as well as the wooden and anodized pens seem very popular and very easy to engrave.

Zac Altman
07-07-2008, 11:39 AM
The wooden handled pocket knives and metal pocket tools (e.g., from Lasergifts.com), as well as the wooden and anodized pens seem very popular and very easy to engrave.

Pens seem good, so do:
tags
coasters
food, as in...what food can you engrave?

Zac Altman
07-07-2008, 11:51 AM
haha...and when do you give chicken as a gift?...

Darren Null
07-07-2008, 12:14 PM
You can do meat of any kind.
You can do chocolate (or make custom chocolate moulds from acrylic)
You can cut icing sugar and marzipan into shapes (ideally rolled thin)
You can do pictures on toast (best results is bread with small 'bubbles' in)
You can do biscuits (my kids reckon that biscuits burned with a skull and crossbones and the legend 'dad's biscuits- keep off' taste at least twice as nice as the normal ones).

I'm sure theres more...

Angus Hines
07-07-2008, 12:32 PM
I sent a picture of the chicken(see laser tattoos post). to a friend of mine in Boston and I had the same response as you *puzzled look* "Good Idea???

This was her reply and it makes some since. And were talking all meat products not just chicken.

internet would be the vehicle. dry ice definitely and i was thinking the same thing with omaha steaks.

here's the thing- more people are entertaining at home - rather than taking trips. AND personalized gifts are huge - it's the easy lazy way to show that you care.

i would do a website- then start on craig's list and amazon - www.findgift.com (http://www.findgift.com/) too - food blogs - possibly team up with a deli that already does shipping (that way you dont' have to re-invent the wheel on the shipping side).

plus - no inventory. there's no upfront cost.





haha...and when do you give chicken as a gift?...

Craig Hogarth
07-07-2008, 12:52 PM
I've seen a lot of people talk about engraving food for customers. While I have done some food products out of curiosity, I would never sell to a customer. I see some nasty stuff in there when I'm cleaning the exhaust and I'm sure the engraver would fail any food inspection.

As for gifts, you should talk to the store owner and find what their customers want. Walk through the store and see products they carry that you can engrave as well as adding other products which complement those sold in the store. It's easy to come up with ideas on products. The hard part is figuring out what sells.

Angus Hines
07-07-2008, 2:30 PM
It could be done, dedicated laser just for food, cleaned after each process to HACCP standards.

Cost effective probably not.


I've seen a lot of people talk about engraving food for customers. While I have done some food products out of curiosity, I would never sell to a customer. I see some nasty stuff in there when I'm cleaning the exhaust and I'm sure the engraver would fail any food inspection.

As for gifts, you should talk to the store owner and find what their customers want. Walk through the store and see products they carry that you can engrave as well as adding other products which complement those sold in the store. It's easy to come up with ideas on products. The hard part is figuring out what sells.

martin g. boekers
07-07-2008, 7:10 PM
I tend to get creative with the woodstrips laserbits sell. There are easy to vector cut and you can make client's logos out of it. These work good when attached to non-laserable items are as embelishments to give a plain box a more dimensionable look. Also when "playing" with this try inverting the file that way your graphic or type rises up with the background burned deep. A tip for this is to adhere a metal strip on the back to limit warping of the wood.


Marty