Success Stories of Custom Ornaments
How St. Nicholas's Custom Ornament Was Born
The creation of custom ornaments presents a satisfying challenge. The job
is not done until those who have commissioned the piece smile in
satisfaction at the end result.
Gold plated, custom brass ornaments make great church fundraisers,
keepsake ornaments, gift ideas, and more. Ornaments are a bright and
beautiful way to bring your ideas to life. In order to illustrate the
process, let us follow the creation of a church keepsake ornament for Saint
Nicholas Parish in Pittsburgh, PA.
Initial Contact
In December of 2004, Saint Nicholas Croatian Catholic Parish of Millvale
announced that their second church building on East Ohio Street would be
permanently closed. The aging building required structural, mechanical, and
electrical repairs beyond the parish's ability to sustain. While the parish
will continue its 110 year tradition of serving the needs of the faithful at
its Millvale location, the closing of the East Ohio Street church affected
many who had spent a lifetime in worship there.
While a custom brass ornament commemorating the church does not answer
all of the issues involved with such an emotional loss, or soothe all of the
wounds a community feels in such times of change, it can provide a small but
important token of remembrance.
Brainstorming
We were delighted to be commissioned by St. Nicholas Church for the
creation of a custom brass ornament commemorating the old church.
Our first task was to learn more about St. Nicholas, its service to its
traditional Croatian Catholic membership and the more recent Bosnian
immigrants. We talked with our contacts at the church about their experience
and the meaning of the old church building in their lives.
 After
putting together a few ideas, it was time to sit down with our contacts and
start brainstorming.
Creating the Art
After the initial brainstorming, we began to pare down the ideas and to
offer suggestions.
We assigned an artist to create a conceptual sketch. Each of our artists
have a gift for designing unique and beautiful ornaments based on your
concepts.
Our artists have consistently demonstrated an amazing ability to work
with almost any resource. They have created concept art from match books,
post cards, old sketches, church bulletins, and vague descriptions. Ideally,
we have them work from photos of whatever has been chosen as the main image
for the ornament. A number of photos are taken at different angles to
achieve the best result.
After collecting all of our materials and reaching a consensus on the
best way to portray St. Nicholas Church, black and white line drawings were
created. These drawings show each side of the custom ornament, and they are
reviewed carefully to make sure all the factual information and details
presented by the piece are as accurate as possible. All artwork is
preliminary at first. We might have a piece that we really like or even one
that we are not sure of. Only upon review can the customer confirm how well
we have captured the essence of their idea.
Occasionally people will say something like "Oh, the door you have there,
it hasn't been on that building in fifty years. Can you take it off?" The
answer is "yes." Sometimes the requested changes are minor, sometimes
significant. We have had as many as 20 requested changes on a single
ornament.
The finished conceptual art is then mailed, emailed, or hand-delivered.
Approval
Once St. Nicholas Church reviewed and approved the artwork, which
incorporated the necessary changes, production on the piece began. It takes
about one month's time to get from the initial contact phase to the approval
of the conceptual artwork, depending on the schedules and approval process
of those commissioning the piece. Upon approval, another four to six weeks
are needed to deliver the finished custom brass ornament.
When St. Nicholas approved the conceptual artwork, they received an
invoice for $395 for technical artwork and tooling. They placed an initial
order for the minimum required 100 pieces.
Production
In the next step, conceptual artwork becomes technical art. Technical art
for a custom brass ornament, such as this commemorative work for a Millvale
Church, is unlike any other artistic endeavor, involving the detailing of
the piece using fine lines of incredible precision. These detailed pieces of
technical art are used in a photo-etching process to create the finished
ornament.
A thin, polished plate of brass is coated with light-sensitive film. The
art for the ornament is printed on this film, after which the exposed parts
develop a film layer that is inserted into certain acid solutions. The plate
is submerged in a bath of acid which etches the unexposed areas away. This
process can be done in stages, so surface details are added to the ornament
by repeating the actions with different exposures. The brass is then gold
plated. If necessary, color is added by a process known as pad printing.
From the time of approval, four to six more weeks were required for the
finished ornaments to be delivered to St. Nicholas Church. Our slimline
black gift boxes and ribbons can be added to the presentation as needed.
Delivery & Reorder
Visible in that final, custom brass ornament is the radiance and sparkle
of what becomes an unforgettable keepsake for a church which has meant so
much to Pittsburgh's Croatian community. Delighted with their initial order
of 100, the church soon ordered another 300 pieces. For the staff at Tom
Pollard Designs, there is no greater compliment than such an enthusiastic
reception of our efforts.
"As you can see from our process, the creation of your
commemorative custom ornament is a high quality, painstaking procedure.
These are not quick and easy knockoffs, rather they are outstanding, Made in
America, keepsake ornaments. Two to three months is the average timeline to
consider when commissioning a custom brass ornament."
-- Tom
Pollard, Owner
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