Urgently need to have 75 glass jars etched in nyc

August 31, 2022 7:00 AM

What type of business (or which business specifically) do I need to have 75 3 ounce glass jars laser etched in NYC any borough at all with extreme urgency? (these jars need to be filled with something and handed off to someone else by sept 20)

I have the .svg file and the original plan was to use a stencil and glass etch cream but the image is not suitable for a stencil despite my asking several people to check this at several points in the process.

If I had more time I’d join a maker space and teach myself how to use the laser machines there but that is not an option.

posted by bilabial to Work & Money (8 answers total)

You need to search "glass laser etching nyc" and that will turn up dozens of options.
posted by momochan at 7:17 AM on August 31, 2022

Would it be easier and cheaper to just redo the image? If you post it people here may have suggestions on how to adjust it.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:20 AM on August 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Also, please be aware that the shop(s) may require a sample jar to facilitate the bidding process, or to determine if they can even do it in the first place. The shop may not have an appropriate workholding fixture or rotary attachment that will fit your jar, as very small objects can be trickier to fixture in the machine than say, a wine bottle or pint glass.

You'll also want to provide several extra jars of the exact same type to the shop along with your required 75, to account for accidental breakage or misprints. If the jar is round and has perfectly straight sides with no taper, that will make it a bit easier, but I would still assume a few failed prints while getting everything dialed in on a piece that small, and which is not a stock item for the shop. YMMV.

Some objects may require fabricating a special jig, and/or extra time in setting up, which could raise the cost and lead time. That's why so many shops work from their own stock. These are our pint glasses, our tumblers, our wine bottles, because we've already profiled the shapes of these objects and can quickly and accurately fixture them in the machine. If I do enough of them, I've probably got a dedicated jig or rotary fixture for each one, perfectly dialed in for that piece.
posted by xedrik at 7:50 AM on August 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

You're looking for a trophy shop with a C02 laser engraver, or a dedicated laser engraving service. Your .svg and a few extra jars should be all they need. Ideally also some kind of preview of logo placement.

Depending on the size of your logo and the curvature of the jar, they may need a rotary attachment for their laser. A rotary attachment rotates the little jar around. If you see laser-etched thermos-type things or wedding glasses in their portfolio, likely they have what you need. If the logo is small and falls on a mostly-flat area, they might be able to get away with not using a rotary.

In my shop a job like this would take about 1 day, I'd ask the client for 3 days to fit it into schedule.

Sorry I can't recommend a shop (I'm west coast) but hopefully this industry vocab is helpful.
posted by fake at 8:28 AM on August 31, 2022

Response by poster: The stencil cannot be redesigned (it’s a logo).

This is the jar and the first two places I have called asked if the jar is made to be laser etched. The supplier says nobody has ever done that with this product that they know of.

We have 30 spare jars.

Here is the jar

posted by bilabial at 9:44 AM on August 31, 2022

You are going to have to throw money at this. It looks like this is a thing in wedding world, for example these custom mini mason jars. Might see if there is someone in the NYC wedding industrial complex who can hook you up.
posted by rockindata at 10:12 AM on August 31, 2022

If it is made of glass, a CO2 laser (the most common kind for this task) will etch it.
posted by fake at 12:12 PM on August 31, 2022

Have you considered splitting up the logo into multiple stencils and etching it in stages? You'd have to be careful about lining up the later stencils but it might still be easier than convincing a shop, since you were already prepared to do it by hand.
posted by yeahlikethat at 6:05 PM on August 31, 2022