To commemorate their baby’s first steps, many parents bronze their little one’s shoes. The art of bronzing baby shoes, pacifiers, and other treasured objects has a rich history. While these novelty items fell out of popularity for a time, they’re making a comeback. Here’s what you should know about the practice and how it came to be.

The New Age of Bronzing

What Is Bronzing?

Bronzing baby shoes and other treasured items like pacifiers, badges, and ornaments takes about four to six weeks. First, the bronzing technician applies a special formula to stiffen the object, followed by another coating to prepare it for electroplating.

Electroplating is the use of an electric current to dissolve metal and deposit it onto an object. The object must sit on a special electroplating rack for three to four hours. The bronzing specialist will then polish the item and apply another coating to protect the bronze. Over time, the item will develop a beautiful sheen called a patina. 

What Is the History of Bronzed Items?

People have bronzed treasured objects such as picture frames and statues since before the 6th century B.C. In the 1930s, the practice grew in popularity when a Cleveland kindergarten teacher named Violet Shinbach started the first baby shoe bronzing company. In 1930, she came across a pair of bronzed baby shoes in a department store. She learned how to bronze baby shoes herself and opened the Bron-Shoe Co., later called the American Bronzing Company, in 1934.

Shinbach promoted her business by going door-to-door, focusing on homes that had tricycles in the driveway or other signs of small children inside. Over time, the company began bronzing other treasured items like pacifiers, christening slippers, golf balls, and dog collars. Similar businesses started popping up, and though bronzed novelty items may not be as popular as they were in Shinbach’s time, they’re once again rising in popularity. 

Why Do People Bronze Treasured Items? 

Bronzing preserves an item for many years. Families bronze special items so they can have tangible, long-lasting memories of cherished moments.

Bronzed baby shoes and pacifiers, for instance, help parents remember their growing child as a precious toddler. Similarly, a bronzed badge commemorates the time a loved one spent as a first responder. 

 

 

To take part in the new age of bronzing, turn to the team at St. Louis Patty Cakes in St. Louis County, MO. Since 1946, this family-owned and -operated company has been bronzing baby shoes, pacifiers, badges, shadow boxes, and a variety of other special items for families to cherish forever. They even offer a lifetime guarantee against chipping, flaking, breaking, and cracking. Learn more about their novelty items online, and call (855) 785-7288 to discuss your needs with a caring team member.