Looking for a beautiful gift for Diwali this year. Read On…

This year wish Happy Deepawali with our Dazzling Diyas. Paired with bamboo less incense sticks this auspicious gifts feels quite complete. Packed in a festive red gift box our dazzling diyas are a delightful Diwali gift for business, family and friends.

Our Dazzling Diyas are crafted from the finest quality porcelains once casted into beautiful star shape, individual pieces go through a unique and specialized process of electro-plating. In this process layers of metal in microns are coated on diyas turning our porcelain diyas into gorgeous and dazzling diyas. The coating of metal is quite durable it does not turn black from the flame of a lighted diya. Electroplating on porcelain is a very specialized art and a complicated process reason why this new craft is limited to luxurious porcelain products.

We have also designed the gift box keeping in mind that most corporate customers need to send their Diwali gifts all across India if not the world. This easy to pack and sturdy gift box can easily be put in courier without the need of extra padding. However we add a simple white outer box so that this gift reaches beautifully packed without any scratches.

We are really excited as this is first gift Pinnacle has exclusively designed for Diwali. We have just launched it and currently only taking advance bookings and we already have quite a few orders lined up. It feels nice when people like your work especially since we have been working on it for the past five months.

Happy Deepawali !!

Dazzling Diya Set includes: 4 Dazzling Diyas; 12 Bambooless Incense Sticks; 1 Incense Stick Holder; 1 Diwali Card; 1 Gift Box .

Dimensions : Diya: 3.25″ x 3.25″ x 1″ height (each), Incense sticks: 5″ height (each), Incense stick holder: 1″ diameter, Diwali Card: 5″x3″, Gift Box: 8″x8″x2″ height.

Looking for a fun desk gift or better still a crazy one. Look no further our Butt Station will pass with flying colors. Its rare to find a crazy looking fun gift which does have good functionality built into it. Somehow the two don’t seem to go together. But our [...]

Looking for a fun desk gift or better still a crazy one. Look no further our Butt Station will pass with flying colors. Its rare to find a crazy looking fun gift which does have good functionality built into it. Somehow the two don’t seem to go together. But our Butt station is a perfect marriage. You can store pins, Post IT pads and pens all at one place. But I think the part i like the most is the bowl which stores paper clips. Our little man has magnetic butts so when ever you need pins just lift our man and remove pins from his butts. Sounds crazy and fun too.

Need an exciting invitation idea for your next corporate event? Want to send a 3D invitation or a gift invitation but don’t know what to send? Not to worry. You are reading the right blog post. Following are the 5 great invitation ideas which have worked wonders every time we [...]

Need an exciting invitation idea for your next corporate event? Want to send a 3D invitation or a gift invitation but don’t know what to send? Not to worry. You are reading the right blog post. Following are the 5 great invitation ideas which have worked wonders every time we did them for our customers. Need more ideas as these don’t match up with your theme. No worries just write to us at customerservice@pinnacleworks.com and one of us would be happy to take this forward with you.

1. Put your message, theme or logo on a Shot Glass.

Small cute shot glasses always work wonders. They are easy to send. You could send a set of two or four depending on your theme and message. Most artworks looks really nice and best of all it usually ends up as a collectors item unless you have some very hideous artwork which people will not like to keep. Assuming this will never be the case with you. This is a must try item.

2. Invite etched on a Wine Bottle.

The mere mention of wine, and something magical happens. You can send you entire invitation card etched on the wine bottle. It makes for a perfect gift invitation. This works real wonders especially if you are celebrating a milestone achieved or some other special occasion.

If you are sending this within India the trouble is that you can only hand deliver them you cannot courier wine bottles as this is illegal.

3. Send an Engraved Coffee Mug.

Don’t want to associate with liquor? Send an engraved coffee mug. Works just as well and if it is creatively done or its a personalized mug, than chances are that it will find its rightful place on the desk.

4. Sand Timer

Sand timers have something of an old world charm. Its been around for centuries but even today when people like to own one. It makes for a good gift invitation. I personally like the sand timers which are finished in and old rustic style metal. Looks quite nice. if you have enough quantities your message or logo can also be embossed in the metal on the timer.

5. Engrave it on Stones

Small pebble stones crafted by nature over tens and hundreds of years and now you get to put your message on these beautiful pebbles in a matter of days and send it as your 3D invitation. This works even better if you are sending an invite for a green event.

Hope you find these ideas for sending 3D invitation and gift invitation helpful. Do leave me a comment or your question below. Your comments are an inspiration for me to keep writing.

Dazzling pins perfectly finished to the T but not sure what these tiny little pins can do for you and your brand. Don’t worry just read this post. Its packed with time tested ideas. Ideas which you can put to use instantly. 1. Let your Sales Force embrace your brand [...]

Dazzling pins perfectly finished to the T but not sure what these tiny little pins can do for you and your brand. Don’t worry just read this post. Its packed with time tested ideas. Ideas which you can put to use instantly.

1. Let your Sales Force embrace your brand and your message
If you have lots of people on ground meeting customers day in and day out. Giving a company pin to every one is a great idea. It makes for a good impression, people feel connected they feel they belong to a tribe. Don’t worry our pins don’t spoil clothes and since they are of real good quality people would like to wear them.

2. Promote your Special Event
Planning for a special event and you want to add a special touch. Let a custom event pin work a little for you. There are many ways in which lapel pins can help you promote your special event.

* Send an event pin (a custom lapel pin with the event theme) along with the invitation. If you are taking people abroad or to Goa or any other exotic place you could include the theme in the event pin. Lapel pin will look more interesting.
* Welcome every one with the event pin at the venue. Every one wears the pin during the event, once the event is over the memory and the message last longer with these pins.

3. A perfect Donor Gift which never fails
Are you an NGO? Or trying to raising money for a good cause? Make a donor’s pin in support of the cause and gift it to people who donate a certain fixed amount of money. People who contribute money get their own donor lapel pin which they can proudly wear. Its just a small gift but it feels real good. It also helps to spread the message silently. People may not go around telling that they have donated money or they strongly believe in something but yes they can always wear their pin and when any one asks, the whole story is shared.

4. Launching a new product or service?
Mark a small budget for Lapel Pins. It will go a long way.

* Distribute these pins for on ground promotion.

* Distribute it to limited first purchases.

* Make a 3D pin for the product and gift that as a memorable keep sake for the launch of the new product.

Compared to all other marketing expenses lapel pins cost far less but something of great value which delivers high on a brand recall value.

5. Recognition Pins
Though I am writing about this at the end but recognition pins are no less important. Recognition pins work very well. People who win these pins as awards can wear them proudly or pin them up on their pin board. Its works pretty much like the stars people get in armed forces which they wear proudly on their uniform. Recognition pin promise high visibility yet they are quite subtle. Additionally they are cost effective and any day a better option than poor quality low budget awards.

Hope these ideas work for you. if you have some better ideas which you would like to share please feel free to add a comment below. There is one more post on lapel pins which talks about different finishes in lapel pins. Chances are in you have made this far into my post you will find my other post equally informative. Click here to read the Post on Lapel Pins 6 different finishes to choose from.

Article talks about an interesting story about the invention of glass.

Recently I bought this beautiful book ‘The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World’ Edited by Brian M. Fagan. This book has one complete chapter dedicated to Glass. The book effortlessly transported me into a time when we humans lived in sync with earth and not as the most powerful creatures who’s hunger for resources never seems to slow down.

The book talks about the origins of glass; this is no ordinary story of invention where a scientist had his eureka moment. Instead its a story which can easily qualify to be in a children’s bed time story book. It goes like this…

“Once a ship belonging to some traders in natural soda (nitrum) put ashore here ( near the river Belus) and that they scattered along the shore to prepare a meal. Since, however, no stones for supporting their cauldrons were forthcoming, they rested them on lumps of soda from their cargo. When these became heated and were completely mingled with the sand on the beach a strange liquid flowed in steams; and this, it is said, was the origin of glass. (Pliny the Elder, 1st century AD). So the origin of glass is some what obscure but long predates the account given by Pliny the Elder.” (The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World’ Edited by Brian M. Fagan. Page 49)

Honestly up till now I always thought that glass was invented some where during the industrial revolution and of course I was wrong by hundreds and thousands of years. Well so much for my history knowledge. I found few other interesting notes which I found interesting.

* The first known objects in glass were beads and amulets dating to 2500 BC from Mesopotamia region.
* The first glass vessels was probably made before 1500 BC around western asia.
* Glass Blowing, a technique use to produce our artistic awards such as Regency Crystal Award and Signature Crystal Award was discovered sometime around 1st century BC on teh coast of Syria.
* Float glass or window glass which we use for awards was a roman invention used in Italy around 1st century AD.
(The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World’ Edited by Brian M. Fagan. Page 49-51)

As I mentioned all the above information is from the above mentioned book if this information is not correct please leave me a note and I would correct it here for every ones reference.

Planning to make your own custom lapel pin. Great Idea! Confused which finish is right for you? Worry no more. I have explained 6 of the most popular finishes below. Choose the one which fits your artwork the best. Still have doubts and questions write to us us at customerservice@pinnacleworks.com [...]

Planning to make your own custom lapel pin. Great Idea! Confused which finish is right for you? Worry no more. I have explained 6 of the most popular finishes below. Choose the one which fits your artwork the best. Still have doubts and questions write to us us at customerservice@pinnacleworks.com and we would be happy to help you.

1. Dye Struck Enamel Color Lapel Pins :

Each piece of lapel pin is casted in metal from a mould. Once casted all pins are individually polished, plated in gold or silver color and finally sent for color filling. Vibrant enamel colors are filled as per your artwork in the lapel pin one color at a time. Finally your perfect lapel pins are ready for you.

When your lapel pins are dye struck your artwork appears as high relief. That is if you run your finger over the pin you can feel all the lines of the artwork in metal quite distinctly.

2. Photo Etched Enamel Color Lapel Pin :
Lapel pins made from this process look almost similar to the Dye struck enamel color pins the only difference being the metal pin is not made from a dye. Your artwork is etched on metal. All your lines in your artwork look much finer in metal. If you run your finger over the pins you cannot feel the lines if your artwork clearly.

3. Dye Struck Copper lapel pin without coloring :
Rustic, macho, different. You can call this finish anything. Different people have different reasons to go for this finish. This pin is casted from a mould and platted with copper. No additional colors are filled in this pin.

4. Printing on Metal with lamination :
Make no mistake this is no ordinary printing. Your artwork is printed through a special process directly on metal and than laminated for that perfect gloss finish. Many times an artwork cannot be casted in metal from a dye. For example our Lapel pin for the Indian Flag. There was no way we could make a perfect chakra with 24 spikes in the Indian Flag Pin using the casting process and than filling in enamel colors.

5. 3D Model Lapel Pins;
Yes, we can make 3D or a 2D design for a lapel pin. In this process first a perfect clay model is made by an artist for the object looking at various pictures from different angle and than a master mould is prepared from which the pieces are casted. Once casted each piece is polished and perfected before plating in silver or gold color. This method needs detail and precision working especially in you are making a scaled down model of aircrafts.

6. Custom Cut acrylic pins and badges :
Made from acrylic sheets this is the fastest way to get two color Lapel. Any custom shape is possible. However no additional color can be added. We can ship these pins in 3 days after artwork approval.

Hope this information was helpful. If you have questions do feel free to leave me a comment.

New to engraved coffee mugs. No worry. Just read this blog and hopefully all your questions would be answered.

This questions comes up many times when our customer hear first time about our engraved mugs. Its quite understandable since engraved mugs are rather uncommon. Personally speaking I just love engraved mugs. In some manner it is more like an everyday art piece.

Engraving on a coffee mug is done one piece at a time, pretty labor intensive and a time consuming process. Little wonder why it cost more than commonly available printed mugs which can be printed all at once in batches of hundreds if not thousands.

When we engrave on a coffee mug we are actually removing the top color on the coffee mug revealing the inside bare white mug. Engraving comes out best when done on a a dark color mug as the sharp contrast between the dark outer color and white bare mug makes the artwork look good.

Following are some more questions we are commonly asked. Hope they will be helpful. If you have some specific questions do feel free to ask me and I would be happy to reply on Just Ask Pinnacle.

Are engraved mugs safe?

Absolutely. We have been making them for over 10 years and many more people around the world have been making it even longer. No complaints till now.

Does the artwork get spoiled over time?

No. The artwork stays the same. The only way it can get spoiled is if you break the mug.

Can you fill in color in engraved mugs?

Technically color filling can be done. But practically I don’t advice color filling especially if you are using it for drinking coffee or tea. The color will come out as you will be washing the mugs after every use. Their are no permanent colors which are not guaranteed to fade with repeated washing so we never advice color filling on coffee mugs. But yes we have done it for many of our customers as they were using their personalised mugs essentially as a pen stand.( see Engraving Mug with color filling)

Hope this post was helpful if I have left any question unanswered feel free leave me a comment below and I would be happy to answer.

This Blogs explains in a very basic way how do we get beautiful 3D engraved images inside crystal while the top surface remains plain.

Any one who looks at 3D engraved crystals for the first time is bound to ask this question. How did we do it? How come nothing has happened to the surface of the crystal? Seems quite impossible. The first time I saw this, I asked the exactly same question. But I was lucky as I saw it in a store in Las vegas in 2003. The machine was installed in the store and I could see everything in action They even had a 3D camera. People could get their pictures clicked and get their entire 3D face inside crystal. It was beautiful. Quality was impeccable.

Sure at that time this technology was quite ahead of time in India. In fact first I saw these pieces in India was not before 2005 and machines came much later. Now there should be about 40-50 machines in India but sadly most people are not concentrating on quality work.

These 3D engraved crystals or 3D laser crystal as they are popularly called are made through lasers. The crystal piece is placed inside a big box like laser machine which is than closed. All machines are controlled by their own proprietary softwares which can work with 2D or 3D images.

Once the command is given the sharp laser beam penetrates through the crystal and starts to rupture the crystal from inside leaving the outer surface untouched. Images is formed using hundreds and thousands of dots. They vary in side and density. Minutes later you have your perfect piece. Take your piece out from the machine and your get a perfectly finished piece.

In this process artwork and settings can make all the difference between a poor piece and a high quality piece. Of course ! machines and crystals matter. But they are of little use if the artwork is not made correctly or the density of the dots is compromised. Every small details adds to the final finish.

I had a chance to see this machine in action in china as well. A big difference. I was shocked to see that chinese had invented a new way to increase their production. They had opened the machine from all 4 sides, added multiple laser heads and made the engraving bed closer to the floor. It was a fairly large machine. Now 4 people sitting on 4 sides of the machine could sit comfortably on the floor and keep changing the pieces. No need to open the machine. Even when the laser was working the machine was open from all 4 sides. It was shocking to see things in action. I am no expert on the harmful effects of lasers but common sense says there are bound to be harmful side effects.

Still have some questions on 3D laser engraving ? Don’t hesitate to ask me.

Green is in and so are Green Gifts. Most green gifts that I have seen look quite boring and drab. So I set out to add an interesting eco friendly gift to our collection. End Result: Our Eco Friendly Folders which are made from recycled papers and is completely biodegradable. [...]

Green is in and so are Green Gifts. Most green gifts that I have seen look quite boring and drab. So I set out to add an interesting eco friendly gift to our collection. End Result: Our Eco Friendly Folders which are made from recycled papers and is completely biodegradable.

But what makes our folders exciting is the work we do on our folders using felt cloth. Each element is cut out and than pasted on our folders all by hand. Once finished our folders look bright, happy and stunning. So go ahead and choose the theme you like or tell us your conference or promotion theme and we will design an exclusive one for you. Click here to see our designs for Eco Friendly Folder.

Doing our bit for Mother Earth. What do you think about green gifts. Are they just a fad or do they really mean anything?

This article explains the most common methods used for printing on coffee mugs especially used in the promotional products industry. If you are placing an order for printed coffee mugs for the first time or you do so on a regular basis this article will be quite useful. It will build a good understanding of different options available to you and the advantages and disadvantages associated with it. I hope it helps you make a better decision.

Promo coffee mugs, printed mugs, logo mugs, personalized mugs call them by any name. They are done to death in our promotional products industry yet they remain as the most popular merchandise product. Reason is simple you will always need a coffee mug and they break too often so you don’t mind another one. Often I have talked to my customers and explained the different options available to them for getting their own printed logo mugs. I have written this article so that everyone can benefit from the little knowledge that I have learned while working in this industry for 10 years. This will especially be helpful to you if you are placing an order for the first time. Do leave me a comment about how I can improve this post or how it was helpful to you.

I am quite sure many more experts from our industry may also end up reading this article. Please do let me know if I am missing a piece of information or I have not covered a new method for printing on coffee mugs which is useful for the promotional products industry. I would love to hear about it.

Transfer Printing / Decal Printing

This is the age old method of putting print on ceramics. All ceramics that you use in your kitchen are printed using this process. High quality artwork is printed on special papers (called decals) through machines which are especially made for ceramics industry. Even their ink is different. These paper prints are pasted on coffee mugs which are than put inside a kiln and baked on high temperatures. The artwork gets transfered on to the coffee mug permanently. This is the only method to use if you have tens and thousands of pieces to print. This process is not just economical it also gives you vibrant and perfect artwork which is permanent. However this process has its own limitation. You can only get this printing done in a factory setup and usually needs a large quantity order. Typically 2000 pcs as a minimum while some people may do it for 1000 quantity or less also. A longer timeline is required for this typically between 20 to 45 days for production.

Advantages of Decal Printing

* Lowest per piece cost for full color printed mugs.

* Permanent & Vibrant Artwork which does not fade with time or repeated washes.

Disadvantages of Decal Printing

* Large Quantity order required.

* Longer delivery time line.

* No Personalization is possible.

* High initial setup charges

What should you do when you want only 10 pcs with 10 different photographs and you want it tomorrow. Sublimation printing is your answer.

Sublimation Printing:

Newly Printed Sublimation Mugs

Sublimation Printing After couple of washes.

This process is quite similar to decal printing. We need to make a paper sticker which is pasted on a coffee mug and than heat is applied so that the artwork gets transfered on the coffee mug. The big difference is that this can be done out of garage space and needs no factory setup. However one does need a sublimation system. A special paper to print your artwork, an inkjet printer in which sublimation ink system can be attached, a round heat press machine in which you can fix your coffee mug to transfer the artwork and a sublimation coffee mug which is a normal ceramic mug but with a special coating so that the artwork can be transfered on the coffee mug perfectly. Sublimation printed mugs are quite popular now around the world. Infact if you have all types of products which you can print using sublimation inks.

Advantages of Sublimation printing

* Print any color artwork on even a single coffee mug. No setup cost.

* Fast Delivery: Printing one coffee mug takes just few minutes.

* Personalize every piece with a different name or different picture.

Disadvantages of Sublimation Printing

* Expensive: Sublimation mug is typically 2 to 5 times more expensive that a decal printed mug. But of course if you need only one coffee mug or few numbers than this is the only option.

* Permanency: Artwork does fade away over a period of time. Whether this time is few days, months or few years depends on many factors including quality of sublimation ink, quality of artwork, quality of transfer paper, quality of sublimation coffee mug and of course the skills of worker who is transferring the print.

While sublimation process looks quite simple one needs to be careful while selecting a vendor. I have heard many vendors say that if you don’t wash your coffee mug than the artwork would stay for a long time. To me it sounds funny especially when we are gifting coffee mug as a promotional product. We cannot tell a customers Don’t wash our coffee mugs so that our artwork will stay longer or This looks like a coffee mug but its actually a pen stand.

Pad Printing or Printing through a Round Printing Machine:

This is not a very popular method for printing on coffee mugs so I am covering it up briefly. In this method there is no heat applied for transferring the artwork. Its almost like screen printing, they use same colors just that the machines are setup in a manner that it can print on a curved surface. Just like screen printing you can print in single colors and maximum of 2-3 colors. So if you want a photo color image or any image with shading it will not print through this system.

Hope this post was useful. I would love to hear from you. Cheers !