Читать книгу One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money - Harold Morse Dunphy - Страница 216

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A young card writer in Los Angeles, who had bought an air-pencil for doing his work, after becoming thoroughly familiar with its use, concluded to take orders for various kinds of work from the city merchants, and follow this as a special line.

Aside from lettering show cards and the like, he also did considerable work in objects, done in relief with leaves, flowers, scrolls and other designs. He also did considerable work in home decorations, such as vases, flower pots, panels, picture frames, and other made designs, such as “Merry Christmas,” “Home, Sweet Home,” “Happy New Year,” and other placards, for which he found a ready sale.

The materials used were alabastine, bronze, flitters, diamond dust and analine coloring powders; white and colored cardboard of all sizes; white wood, glass, and metal ware, used to some extent for expensive pieces of work. He utilized many new and original ideas in his work, and showed remarkable taste and talent in execution.

An idea of his profits may be gained from the statement that plain lettered card signs that cost him from 1 to 8 cents to produce, he sold for 15 to 20 cents, while those more elaborately made with diamond dust, flitters, gold and silver lettering, costing 2 to 6 cents each, brought him from 20 to 50 cents each. Mottoes, finely executed, sold for 75 cents to $1 each. In many cases he gave instructions in lettering and sold outfits for doing the work at $2 to $3 each, and made considerable from that source.

For making his lettering waterproof, he used two parts alabastine, 1 part flour, 1 part linseed oil, stirring them well, then quickly adding cold water. For the work thus treated he made an additional charge that paid its cost many times over.