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PC BIZ of the MONTH
Excerpts from the book, "101 Computer Related Businesses",
Copyright 1994 by Michael A. Tims.
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BIZ-045 GLASS ETCHING BUSINESS
This art medium, centuries old, can be incorporated and expanded upon
to create a business opportunity for the artistically inclined.
Glass etching has been around for a long time, in one form or
another. From grinding areas of glass to make them cloudy, to
sandblasting areas with fine silica sand, to chemically etching glass
to create artistic patterns. All these methods have been used
commercially through the years.
This PC business makes use of chemical etchant to create beautifully
etched mirrors, vases, glasses and other glass products which can
be retailed at flea markets and other outlets catering to hand
crafted products. The products could also be wholesaled to fancy
gift shops that specialize in one-of-a-kind, objets d'art. As
with most artistic objects, the selling price of etched glass is
usually many times the original cost of the plain glass object.
Suddenly, 50c glasses from the local K-Mart are turned into
elegant, one-of-a-kind dinner glasses selling for up to $5.00 or
more each.
This particular glass etching business is made possible only with
the advent of the personal computer. In order to chemically etch
glass in an artistic pattern (or lettering, monograms, etc.) you
must first produce an etching mask. This mask prevents the etchant
from touching, or clouding, the areas of glass you want to keep clear.
Many materials have been used for masking -- paint, varnish, masking
tape, tar, etc. Anything that will keep the etchant away from the
glass--while still allowing a pattern to be cut or scratched into the
mask to allow the etchant to do it's job on the glass. It was discovered,
by accident, that laser printer toner also makes an excellent masking
material.
The process works like this
1. You create an artistic design, picture, pattern, monogram,
etc., using one of the many good PC painting or drawing programs.
2. You print the output in reverse (most programs can flip the
drawing as an option) with your laser printer on special paper
called, "release paper".
3. Tape the laser printed "mask" onto the glass object and
heat it in an oven or with a heat gun to re-melt the toner.
With the toner hot, rubbing the back of the release paper
will transfer the toner to the glass.
4. With the glass object masked off where it is not to be
etched, the paste etchant is applied to the glass. After
2-4 minutes, the etchant paste is washed off the glass
object and finally the toner mask is removed leaving the
etched object ready for sale.
There are several books on glass etching available in most
libraries, but the best explaination of using laser toner as a
glass etching mask was written up in a magazine called, "Flash-
The Premier Journal of Desktop Printing", in the October/November
1993 issue. (Vol. 5, No. 3) Published by Blacklightning Publishing,
Inc., Riddle Pond Rd., West Topsham, VT., 05086. Contact them for
availability of reprints or back issues of this informative
article.
The following sources of special supplies for glass etching are
provided for your convenience, but should be considered only a
starting point. Contact them directly for availability, latest
pricing, etc. For other sources of supplies and information,
request sample copies or subscribe to periodicals such as "Flash
Magazine" or "New Media Magazine", published by Hypermedia
Communications, Inc., 901 Mariner Island Blvd., Ste. 365, San
Mateo, CA., 94404.
The computer requirements for this type of business are a little
more critical because you will be working with graphics programs.
A 386-33MHZ computer should be considered minimum, with at
least 4 Megabytes of RAM. A 486-66 with 8 Megabytes of Ram would be
a more realistic choice.
A hard disk, however, is a must to insure the most efficient
computer operation and the shortest waiting times when
working with databases, spreadsheets, and other memory intensive
type computer applications. For this business, the use of memory
intensive graphics programs, necessitates the largest hard drive
disk you can afford. There is an old saying that you can
never have enough hard disk memory space. Start with a minimum of
400 Megabytes of memory and if you will be running "Windows"
programs, think about an even larger hard disk.
A good laser printer is essential to the operation of this business
and with the price of the latest 600 dpi laser printers dropping below
$1,000, we would recommend one of these. A laser printer, along with
DTP software, can be used to produce your own laser printed advertising
flyers, brochures, catalogs, etc. It will even give your corrospondence
that professional, "Print Shop look".
Other office equipment you may want to consider might include a
FAX machine to be able to send and receive reports, etc. without
having to wait for the postal service or even over night priority
mail. An alternative, to a stand-alone Fax machine, might be a flatbed
scanner along with PC Fax software, such as "WinFax Pro" from
Delrina, to enable you to send a Fax right from your desk.
A telephone answering machine which can sense the difference
between FAX transmissions and voice may also come in quite handy
in the home office.
Software recommendations for a business like this are abundant.
From high power commercial drawing programs such as "CorelDraw",
or "Adobe Illustrator", to shareware programs such as "Desktop Paint",
"Fingerpaint", "Neopaint", "Painters Apprentice", and many more.
These and more are listed in most shareware catalogs, including
the one available from Matco Electronic Publications.
Basic and general software requirements for a business of this type
would consist of the usual word processing, database, accounting and
personal and business income tax preparation software. As with most
of the business ideas presented in this book, we feel that properly
selected SHAREWARE (try-before-you-buy type software) will prove
to be more than adequate for all your basic business software
needs.
For word processing software, if you can afford the $250 pricetag,
the best available is Wordperfect 6.1 for Windows (at least in my
opinion). As an excellent, and less expensive, alternative I would
recommend either of two shareware programs. "Super WP", is an
excellent WordPerfect clone that has many features superior to the
commercial program or "PC-Write", one of the best wordprocessors at any
price. Although neither of these has been written for Windows, they are
both very good wordprocessing programs with many features.
A database program is usually needed to keep track of customers,
client data, mailing lists and many other forms of data, etc. The
shareware program, "PC-File", is an excellent shareware database
program that has features such as custom report writing, letter
writing with mail merge, data analysis, plus charts and graph
support. "PC-File" also features dBase III and Clipper
compatibility, should you ever wish to write a custom application
for your business.
Every small business needs bookkeeping software to keep track of
income and expenses. What they don't need is a full blown
accounting package that takes more time than the business itself.
The shareware program, "Medlin Accounting", is an easy to use,
time saving IRS approved single entry bookkeeping system which is
more than adequate for the small to medium sized business. It
features a general ledger module, an accounts receivable module,
an accounts payable module as well as an inventory module.
Another financial program we would recommend to any small
businessman, or individual for that matter, is the shareware
program, "Checkmate Plus". "Checkmate Plus" is an easy to use,
yet powerful, checkbook style, double entry accounting system
which will also print checks on either laser or dot matrix
printers.
Spreadsheet programs are sometimes required by the small business
and we would concede that the industry leader is the commercial
program, "Lotus 1-2-3". However, an excellent clone to Lotus 1-2-3
is the shareware program, "As Easy As". Menu driven for easy use
yet a very powerful spreadsheet program. Features 8192 rows by
256 columns, dBase III import/export, macro playback, dot matrix
and laser printer support, worksheet linking, charting and much,
much more.
Communications software, for use with telephone line and computer
modem, is often needed by the small business owner. By using
communications software, the home based entrepreneur is able to
access remote computers, informational databases, bulletin board
services (BBS's), client computers, etc., right from his/her home
office over the phone lines. This makes many high tech businesses
able to be run successfully from any place a phone can be
accessed.
The full featured shareware communications program we would
recommend is "Procomm Plus". This time proven shareware program
is perfect for most communications needs, and features 100 number
dialing directory, script file capability and support for most
major file transfer protocols including XMODEM, TELINK, and
COMPUSERVE B.
For a complete listing of commercial as well as shareware programs
featured in this book, see Appendix A.
**************************************************************
If you have been looking for ideas to make money with your own PC,
"101 Computer Related Businesses" is available on floppy disk, as a
virtual book, directly from the publisher for only $29.95 Postpaid.
State disk size preferred when ordering from, Matco Electronic
Publications, POB 509 Suite 310A, Roseville, MI., 48066-0509. Many
other PC business ideas and opportunities are also available.
Excerpts are carried on AOL in the SMALL BUSINESS FORUM-STRATEGIES FOR
BUSINESS FILE LIBRARYand EPUB FORUM-NEW FILES LIBRARY. Excerpts are now
carried on Prodigy also. Just look for "PC Biz of the Month".
Thanks, Michael A. Tims MTims48021@aol.com
QQVE13A@prodigy.com