|
|
|
Angels, flowers and photographs are just a few of the unique options Mike’s Laser Etching offers clients looking to design a monument to honor their loved ones.
Mike Walters, owner of Mike’s Laser Etching, has been in the monument business for about 40 years. He moved to the local area nine years ago when he found out Sartin Memorials was for sale in St. Georges.
Mike’s Laser Etching has four locations in the Delaware/Maryland area. The main shop is in St. Georges, next to the St. Georges Cemetery.
Mike’s does laser etching of traditional photos as well as sandblasting. Black granite is used for the laser etching and all of the photos. Gray and other light colors are for laser sandblast. They have white pearl, a couple different shades of gray, different blacks and at least 15 different colors of tombstone, Walters said. He said black from two different places can look different. As every piece is unique, there are more than 15 different colors.
All photos have to be laser etched on. Walters does laser etching and sandblasting on site. While they don’t make the actual tombstone, they can cut and design to a client’s liking.
“We do almost everything in house,” Walters said. “We specialize in sculptures.”
Sometimes Walters brings in others to help with the hands-on work, but does most of it himself.
Graphic Artist Heather Rice does the computer design. Clients tell her what they want and she creates a design on the computer. She said it usually takes half an hour to an hour to design a traditional monument. The more elaborate requests may take a couple hours to complete.
“Usually they give me a picture and I find images to fit their needs,” she said. “I usually say, ‘I’ll try and you can tell me what you think.’ If you tell me a couple things I can add them. If you alter a picture too much it’s obvious you altered it.”
Rice said for anything in stock it takes about three to five weeks to have an order ready. Any custom-made order not in stock would take about four to six months to go through the process and come in stock.
Rice said she started working with Walters when she was looking for a career change and heard he was looking to hire someone with computer skills.
Angels, flowers and photographs are just a few of the unique options Mike’s Laser Etching offers clients looking to design a monument to honor their loved ones.
Mike Walters, owner of Mike’s Laser Etching, has been in the monument business for about 40 years. He moved to the local area nine years ago when he found out Sartin Memorials was for sale in St. Georges.
Mike’s Laser Etching has four locations in the Delaware/Maryland area. The main shop is in St. Georges, next to the St. Georges Cemetery.
Mike’s does laser etching of traditional photos as well as sandblasting. Black granite is used for the laser etching and all of the photos. Gray and other light colors are for laser sandblast. They have white pearl, a couple different shades of gray, different blacks and at least 15 different colors of tombstone, Walters said. He said black from two different places can look different. As every piece is unique, there are more than 15 different colors.
All photos have to be laser etched on. Walters does laser etching and sandblasting on site. While they don’t make the actual tombstone, they can cut and design to a client’s liking.
“We do almost everything in house,” Walters said. “We specialize in sculptures.”
Sometimes Walters brings in others to help with the hands-on work, but does most of it himself.
Graphic Artist Heather Rice does the computer design. Clients tell her what they want and she creates a design on the computer. She said it usually takes half an hour to an hour to design a traditional monument. The more elaborate requests may take a couple hours to complete.
“Usually they give me a picture and I find images to fit their needs,” she said. “I usually say, ‘I’ll try and you can tell me what you think.’ If you tell me a couple things I can add them. If you alter a picture too much it’s obvious you altered it.”
Rice said for anything in stock it takes about three to five weeks to have an order ready. Any custom-made order not in stock would take about four to six months to go through the process and come in stock.
Rice said she started working with Walters when she was looking for a career change and heard he was looking to hire someone with computer skills.
She said even though she designs many monuments, she still remembers some of the custom-made requests.
She said one client gave her a picture of a guy in a car and wanted her to add a mountain to make it look like he was driving. Another client gave her a photo of a guy standing at a grill. They cut him out of the photo and put him with a fishing pole in front of a pond, she said.
Rice handles the online orders as well.
Mike’s Laser Etching ships anywhere in the United States and has customers all over the country. Many of their out-of-state customers order online, Walters said. About half of their customers are online and the other half are local.
Rice said she likes this job because she gets to work closely with people.
“I feel like I make a difference in peoples lives,” she said.
Mike’s Laser Etching is located at 4376 St. Georges-Kirkwood Road, St. Georges.
For more information go online to www.mikes laseretching.com or call (877) 836-0332.
