A long-ago customer (from my long-time fragrance era) I did work for at Nordstrom, years ago, reconnected with me just before Christmas. Her need was to get an expensive box engraved for her sweetheart’s watches. No Mickey Mouse faces in this box for sure.
She knew the exact words she wanted and just where they had to be. Her message and date had to be sized to this relative size of the glass, and centered, with the layout just as you see it here. I told her that her name and date could not be much lower than the position it is. There was a 1/4″ lip of wood border all around the glass and there must be a slant to the drill when engraving.
STEP ONE: I created a box on the computer screen the exact size of the glass on the top of the box. In that box, with the Edwardian font that looks similar to the script we engrave… and is in most computers….I typed the message with the line break as shown. I had to adjust the point size a couple of times to get the right fit. When I had it right, I printed the sheet with the box and typed message.
STEP TWO: I drew vertical and horizontal center lines on the paper message, then trimmed the sheet down to smallest possible so I could match the lines on the paper to corresponding ones on the glass.
STEP THREE: I then drew vertical and horizontal center lines on the glass.
STEP FOUR: When the message’s lines were aligned with those on the glass, I put 3-4 small strips to tape to hold the paper in place.
STEP FIVE: I then placed the edge of a small, clear plastic ruler alongside the S in Shawn and drew a short vertical line on the glass. Same thing at the end of the first line and the left edge of Love. Those lines gave me the start point of those words to be engraved. At the end of Shawn, want, forever, and 2014, I projected their baselines off onto the glass with a short line.
STEP SIX: I peeled up the typed sheet and, careful to keep baselines STRAIGHT and parallel to the edges of the glass, drew a baseline for each of the 5 different lines of text.
STEP SEVEN: I determined a #3 round carbide would do the trick and then engraved each line’s words. Everything matched perfectly.
STEP EIGHT: Listened to the customer’s oohs and ahhhs as she peeled off six twenties. Total project time was just under 25 minutes.
BOTTOM LINE: Jewelry and gift stores abound that sell stuff like this every day. Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, proposals….all that mushy stuff….are happening every day, every weekend. With a minimum of effort in taking around a few photos of your simple pieces, these retailers will love the sight of you and your work. Rest assured, it would be a cold day in hades when you’d find a retailer who could do this job. You’ll be their hero and the recipient of nice wads of pay for your skill. Pie in the sky? No way. This is real.
I can teach you how. You can learn how. This could be your skill earning at a rate of over two hundred fifty bucks an hour.
What time is is now??
Ken
214.250.6958 SEMINAR DETAILS
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