FIRST….remember that YOU can do what I do. The skill is acquired. No magic or genetic artistic ability. I have neither. I can teach you how. The MAY 21-23 Workshop still has only four $1600. seats available for $1400. each. With PayPal, you get an extra $100. off. $1300. for three days than can come back to you in mere weeks…or less….when you get back home to sell your skill. Deal ends this Wednesday, May 13. Unless you call and twist my arm to extend it through Friday.
When the woman in the marketing company emailed me in March and asked, “Can you do stainless steel and do you travel?” My immediate reply was “Yes and Yes!” After a few additional phone conversations and negotiating, Gail and I were sent tickets to New York with a 7 day gig in SOHO for me, and several days for her to visit her favorite spots. If you’re not familiar with SOHO, it’s an area of several square miles waaay down toward the south end of Manhattan. My assignment: Engrave 700 growlers in a ‘pop-up’ store with invited guests several nights to sample the beer and get their personalized growler. The store was open to the public the rest of the times during 7 days. Growlers? That’s those shiny jugs on my table.
As most of you know, I don’t do beer bottles but, in this case, I did since they were promptly emptied before I engraved them. Of course the contents of the bottles went into a growler or two. Or three. So none was lost. They were done as ‘thank you’ notes to some of the souls who put together a fabulous week of promotion for a brand new beer flavor for OMMEGANG BREWERY. This is their first IPA. What is an IPA? I asked the same thing. It stands for INDIA PALE ALE. I can think of another treat that takes ME to Nirvana. But for a beer, this is a fitting name and a tasty new addition to their product line.
TIP: If you’re asked to do engrave a beer bottle, I’ll save you a minor explosion. First, DO NOT fly into any 12 ounce beer bottle that still has beer in it. The glass is just the other side of paper-thin. The beer is carbonated, with some amount of pressure against the glass. The drill, even with a very light touch, compromises the glass enough that you don’t have to unscrew or pop the cap to get the beer. I must confess that in my eagerness to please the host, I said, “Sure, I can engrave the bottles.” The first one blew and I got a beer bath! Thus the process of emptying the batch for the engraved thank you notes.
In retailers….and probably in some bars….you’ll find the craft beers from Ommegang. I give them a hearty thumbs up for the four flavors I’ve tried. This one is in a 750 ml bottle, the same size as the regular size wine bottle. The glass is thick enough so that you have no worries about thin glass if you want to engrave them. This was done as an appreciation gift in the company. Worked great and was well-received as a cool memento of the occasion.
More on the NY trip in an upcoming BrownLines.
BOTTOM LINE: If you engrave 12 ounce beer bottles, empty them first. I’d think a 6 pack would be a good start to get the feel of it, but careful on your personal mix of drill and beer until you get that ‘feather touch.’ No problem in doing beer in the 750 bottles but, still, no pressure like you’d use on a piece of crystal or other glass. Just etch the glass enough for it to pick up color when you fill the engraving.
Hope to see you in the May class so some day soon you’ll probably have some engraving experiences of your own to share!
-Ken
214.250.6958 • Details on the May Workshop.
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