I not quite positive, but I think I statred etching glasses around 2001. It just started as way to make some really unique gifts for people. In a few years I guess I got good at it. My wife and I were traveling to Horror conventions all over the country and eventually this lead to me vending glasses at these shows. Bill Mosely (Otis from House of 1000 corpses, Choptop TCM2) actually gave me the final push to start selling when he contacted me through ebay after I posted an Otis pint. He wanted to know where he could get a dozen glasses. I made that dozen which lead to him ordering another dozen glasses of his other popular character ChopTop, which I hand delivered to him in Texas at the Frightmare convention.
Right now I vend at the Cinema Wasteland show in strongsville, Ohio in april and october. I have a lot of cool friends at this show and I've meet some awesome Horror celebrities.
For every show I make around 75 new glasses. It takes me anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to finish a glass. Although I make mostly horror oriented glasses I've done tons of custom orders out of the genre, including pets ,logos and tv characters.
If anyone's interested in having a custom glass done they start at $25 for a portrait on a pint glass. All I need is a photo with good resolution. I take paypal or money orders and turn around is about two weeks. Email for more info.
Most of the cups I've made I have posted on :
www.myspace.com/mnetching