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Thanking your customers at Christmas

2014 Ornament—the flat pattern, rough draft, and the finished, folded present box.
Photo courtesy of Barnes MetalCrafters.

Every year the holidays seem to get here quicker than before. We all have things we need to do and friends and family we need to spend time with. Work tends to fluctuate and vacations are taken, but our shop always seems to stay busy.

Since we purchased the laser in 2008, a Christmas tradition has proved to be our biggest challenge of the year. Waiting until the last minute is never our intention, but it always ends up that way!

Tradition is important in my family. Many things we do are funny, and others tend to be a focal point of our Christmas. One thing my mom does is give all of her kids and grandkids an ornament that she hands out after Thanksgiving dinner. This has turned into quite an ordeal that we all look forward to. I mean, who couldn’t use a cool Christmas ornament?

My dad usually sits back and chuckles at the family, but I know he pays attention. One reason I know he does is that once we got our laser, he was adamant that we make laser-cut ornaments for our customers. We were still climbing the laser learning curve pretty hard when he hit us with that request.

It was our first year with the laser, and the economy had tanked. Everyone and every business was down in the dumps. We were hurting pretty bad, but my dad didn’t care how much time or money it took, we were gonna make Christmas ornaments!

We needed to show off our new equipment and its capabilities, so we went to the drawing board. It had to be lightweight and of a smaller size so that we could mail them with our Christmas cards.

We settled on 24-gauge stainless steel and went with a round ornament. The ornament could be twisted to give it a 3-D look and make it stand out on the tree.

It sounds a lot easier than it was. We cut out a lot of these, and they all were polished by hand because our cutting conditions needed improvement. It was a stressful ordeal trying to work these in and keep the shop going at the same time.

We managed to make the ornaments in time and sent them out to our customers. We received some good feedback, and people went out of their way to call and tell us how much they appreciated their gift.

Every year since then we have sent out an ornament. They have slowly evolved and have become our tradition. We always tell ourselves that we will start earlier next year and have them done before Thanksgiving, but that has yet to happen. Something always comes up, whether it is a rush job or something crazy.

2014 Ornament holding a business card.
Photo courtesy of Barnes MetalCrafters.

This year we were about to start cutting ornaments when Jason Barnes, our laser operator, asked if we had ever had a lens explode. I said, “Once, and it was a mess.” Literally one minute later, the lens burst, and we spent the rest of the day carefully cleaning and preparing the laser for the next day, making sure we could cut Christmas ornaments!

People ask about our ornaments months in advance, wondering what will be next. They want to make sure they have one to add to their collection. I’ll admit that the stainless does look nice shining off a well-lit tree.

Last year we made a sleigh ornament that could double as a business card holder. Everyone got a kick out of that! We always try to one-up last year’s ornament, but it keeps getting harder.

I like Christmas a lot, and one day I may reach Clark Griswold status. But for now, I think I’ll just stick to the laser-cut Christmas ornament tradition.

Does your shop have a tradition that you would like to share? Please comment below, and have a Merry Christmas!

About the Author
Barnes MetalCrafters

Nick Martin

2121 Industrial Park Drive SE

Wilson, NC, 27893

252-291-0925