Conference moira::parenting

    Hi Cheri,
    
    There is a booth-type place in the Searstown Mall that does bronzing.
    
    Nancy

    
    	Let me guess? You are bronzing those hard white baby shoes? If I am
    right......children should not wear those, bad for their feet. 
    	I can find out for you, my mother had my older sister's
    bronzed..ofcourse that was about 25 years ago, but I can ask her where
    one would go.
    
    	Katy

re: .2

I'm not .0, but I've seen bronzed baby sneakers.
Also, my impression is that those hard white baby
shoes aren't made anymore.  Stride-Rite makes 
white baby shoes that *look* like the old-fashioned
kind, but they're really very flexible.

- Deb B.

    I kind of wish we'd gotten Aaron some shoes to bronze.  His first pair
    of real shoes were bought a little over a month ago and are a size 6
    Wide!  Up until now he was wearing "thumpers" soft cloth shoes in the
    house and cloth boots when to go out in (we usually carried him to the 
    car).
    
    I'm afraid it would lose the effect if we had size 6 bronzed!  We did 
    receive a really cute pair of cloth shoes as part of an outfit someone
    bought for him, but they were too small and it just wouldn't be honest
    to have them bronzed.  Those shoes might have fit when he was at 8 mths
    gestation!
    
    sandy

    
    
    I'm positive I've seen ads for this in Parenting Magazine.
    
    Karen

    Nope, no hard white shoes (why did you assume that?!)....
    He has a pair of fabric sneakers and a pair of soft leather
    Gerber 'boots' which were his first 2 pairs of walking shoes that
    he's just outgrown and I'd like to get bronzed (they're size 5,
    but they were his first shoes). 
    
    I bought the February Parenting (my subscription ran out
    awhile ago)....but there was nothing in this issue.

    
    	I assumed they were the hard white ones because every time I have
    ever seen bronzed shoes, they were those. I don't have shoes for my
    little boy(Kyle) below a size 6. 
    	He was barefoot 99% of the time. Until he started running around
    outside and kept cutting his feet, then I just bought a pair of
    sandels. 
    	What's the cost to get them bronzed?? I'd like to, but man, how
    silly it would look for a size 7 shoe!!
    	
    			Katy

    Personally, I've never understood the appeal of bronzed anything!  I
    certainly have enough bric-a-brac sitting around catching dust, and 
    when I feel like wandering down memory lane, I have the *actual shoes*
    to touch and play with.  (My grandmother's first shoes were too small
    for any of us [Mom, me, or my daughter] to wear as newborns!)
    
    Leslie

    The only price I've gotten anywhere so far is 39.95 for a pair
    of shoes (this is from an engraver in Ayer).  This is just to have 
    the shoes bronzed.  You can also get them mounted on a display stand 
    with a picture frame, or on bookends (I didn't price these).  I'm
    going to check out the booth at Searstown this weekend.
    
    I love to keep memorabelia (sp) of my son's life, and think it
    would be nicer to have the bronzed shoe sitting on the shelf than
    the plain leather (or fabric) shoe.  They also make nice gifts for the
    Godparents and dad.....       

    Another option is to have your child's feet bronzed - actually a 
    cast of their feet !  The end result is a bronze impression of 
    the bottom of their feet complete with toes, detailed enough to see 
    and feel texture in the skin.
    
    A company called Patty-Cakes does this.  Their headquarters is in 
    Birmingham, Alabama and they can point you to the closest franchise 
    business.  It's at least worth a look at their brochure.
    
    We did this for our 2nd son and have antique bronze feet on a
    black marble background along with his name.  It's something we shall
    always cherish.

    I went to Searstown in Leominster this weekend, and the Jewelers 
    Bench, where the bronzing was offered, has closed (the jeweler
    now works for Zales, and the bronzing is no longer available).
    So if anyone else has inputs, I'm still looking!

    Here are 2 pointers, not local to you however.
    
    American Bronzing Company
    PO Box 6504
    Columbus, OH 43209
    614-252-7388
    
    Patty-Cakes
    Denver, CO
    303-431-7157

    
    Check with the maternity section, at your local hospital.  I know that
    when I delivered my kids, I got these PACKAGES of information, and I'm
    100% certain that there was at least one (and I thought more) of those
    cardboard-coupon things for bronzing.  
    
    Another option (particularly for soft or colored shoes) might be a
    "clear dip".  Something like what's used for Ceramics, that will harden
    to a glass-type finish.  A craft store such as Ben Franklin or
    Michael's should have something suitable.  
    
    My grandmother used to "harden" baskets.  She'd crochet a basket-shape,
    drape it over a wicker basket, and then coat it with egg-white and maybe
    something else too (sorry, it's been ages!), and when it dried, it was
    hard as ever.  She used them for candies or sometimes easter baskets,
    or whatever she needed.  Since it was clear, it retained the color, and
    since it was "shiney" it protected her work from dust and discoloring.
    
    For Jonathan, we have a stuffed bear that his dad bought for him at the
    hospital.  Things that I really want to keep for him, go on the bear. 
    The bear goes on a shelf in his room.  It could have things like his
    hospital bracelet, baby clothes, shoes, a snip of hair, a pacifier and
    blankie,or whatever .... (and if I was a more diligent mother, it would
    have many more things!)  I'm lucky I remember the kid - much less
    "keepsakes" (-:
    

    After looking 'everywhere', it seems the American bronzing company
    is the company most other places use (if you go to an engraver,
    such as I mentioned earlier, they send them to American Bronzing).
    I finally got their information packet, and to have a pair done
    (without mounting or anything) is just 21.95.  So the shoes have
    been sent on their way, and we're just waiting the "6-8 weeks"
    for them to come back!