The Princeton Historical Society has been busy this winter. Not only have they been working on 
Phase 2 of the renovation of the Folklore Museum, but they have also been creating Princeton themed merchandise. Sample items will be available for purchase at the Princeton Public Library during the April 22 Sturgeon Celebration and at the Folklore Museum after that. The Princeton Historical Society will be selling large 20 oz stainless steel etched tumblers for $25, small 12 oz wine stainless steel etched tumblers for $20, etched beer and wine glasses for $10, Can koozies for $4, and freeze pop holders with freeze pop for $4.
Creator and historical society member Chris Goulet said, “I received a Silhouette vinyl cutter for Christmas and have thoroughly enjoyed using it to make these items! Using the design program on the Silhouette, Vickie Wielgosh and I created all of the designs that you see.”
“For the stainless powder coated tumblers, glass beer and wine glasses, and all stainless cups, I print out a design on permanent vinyl, weed out the design to create a stencil, then put the stencil on the cup.”
“For the powder coated tumblers, I add Citristrip Paint remover and heat to the stencil to take off the powder paint coating to reveal the stainless underneath. For the glass cups, I use Armor Etch to etch the glass. For the all-stainless cups, I use ferric chloride to etch the design.”
“After a given amount of time, I wipe off the etching product, wash the cup off in the sink, and remove the stencil to reveal the finished etched design. For the cup koozies and the freeze pop holders, I print out words or designs on heat treat vinyl, weed out the part of the vinyl design that I don’t want, then use a heat press to iron the vinyl onto the item.”
“Our family has always wished that there was more Princeton merchandise to purchase in town.
Many members of the Historical Society are very creative and crafty. We put our heads together to come up with items that we could create and sell out of the Folklore Museum.”
“With the Sturgeon Celebration coming up on April 22, we decided to create designs that include sturgeon. As people started to see our tumblers they began asking if they could purchase one.
This is when we decided to start making more of our items and to start selling them at the library during the Sturgeon Celebration.”
“We will have a good amount of stock on hand, but will also take orders for particular cup styles, colors, and etched designs. We will be happy to take orders for any of our items that we sell out if and people would like. We are also willing to work with any Princeton shop owners or
organizations to create custom merchandise for their shop or event moving forward.” If you are interested in purchasing or having merchandise created contact Chris Goulet at princetonhistsociety@gmail.com.
