Favorite Customers, longtime Cubs fans Bob and Diane and the Baseball Necklace

Favorite Customers, longtime Cubs fans Bob and daughter Diane wearing her Tribute to Baseball Necklace in 4th of July colors

Over the years I've been blessed with some very special customers. Legendary Cubs #1 and #2 Fans Bob and his lovely daughter Diane are two of my very favorites. I first "met" Diane when she sent me an email asking questions about my making a customized baseball necklace for her in Cub's 4th of July team colors with a specific "fake" autograph on the miniature bat that comes with the necklace. She went on to tell me a bit of the story behind her desire for the necklace. She said that her dad, who has recently celebrated his 80th birthday, had "brainwashed" her as toddler and they have shared a passion for major league baseball (specifically for the Cubs) for her entire lifetime. I think their story is so special I wanted to share it with my readers. I'm so honored that my necklace is a small part of their ongoing celebration together of the Cubs and of Life.

She wanted the "fake" signature on the bat to read "Phil Cavarretta", his favorite player growing up. She wrote,
"I was initially going to get Ron Santo’s name, but then remembered my dad telling a story about writing Phil Cavarretta’s name on his ball glove as a child and trying to convince his friends he had gotten his autograph.......but he had spelled Cavarretta's name wrong!"

Diane and husband Steve at a Cub's game. Diane says, "Steve, who is a saint, and very tolerant of me and my love for the Cubs."

Diane and her dad frequently watch the Cubs games together on TV. She attends many games in person and they have made plans to attend a game this fall together with his 80 year old lifelong buddy, Dale.

This fabulous life sized, wooden, painted replica of Bob as a Cub's fan was created and given to him as a gift by Bob's very good friend and talented colleague, art teacher Pete, on the occasion of Bob's retirement. Bob and his family call it "Bob Crow" and it was used for years in Bob's garden to scare away the birds. Now it's a treasured family heirloom. 

The photo below shows Diane and Cub's owner, Tom Ricketts, during a game. As she was leaving the game and was on the phone talking to her dad she saw Tom again and he didn’t miss a beat when she asked, “would you mind saying hi to my 80 year old dad” He reached for her phone (Cubs phone cover OF COURSE) : ) and said “sure, what is his name” and proceeded to talk to her Dad for over 5 minutes. What a guy! What a team! What super fans!

Diane and friend Carol in Wrigleyville after a cold April game.

(edited: Necklace no longer available) Our "handmade from scratch" Patriotic 4th of July colored baseball necklace is available with beads in most colors as well as matching spiral baseball earrings at MelodyODesigns

Diamondbacks Baseball Necklace and Microperm pens for writing on / signing Polymer Clay

My husband and I are staunch Arizona Diamondbacks baseball fans. Last February, in honor of the opening of Major League Baseball, I had designed a baseball necklace out of polymer clay for me to wear to show my true colors, complete with fake pretend "autographed" bat, glove and dangling baseballs. The team colors for the Diamondbacks are Sedona red, sand and black. Sedona red is the color of the red rock of Sedona and alas, neither it nor sand are colors that are commonly available in beads. I was unable to locate any appropriate beads and didn't relish the labor intensive work of making my own, so I didn't make a "tribute to the Diamondbacks" necklace.

However, I kept looking online and one day I found Trash City, a wonderful wholesale bead company in Phoenix who had limestone beads that had been commercially dyed in colors similar to the Diamondbacks' team colors....... courtesy of Trash City owners, Chris and Jim McLennan who are avid  Diamondbacks fan. Eureka!

One of the technically challenging aspects of creating the bat was that I wanted to make a teeny realistic bat logo as well as making a signed pretend faux autograph on the tiny 2 3/4 inch bat.

I needed a black pen to write on the bat; something permanent on polymer clay and capable of writing tiny legible letters. I ended up using a black Microperm by Sakura (01 thinner, 03 thicker, 05 thickest sizes) from Markers Supply. I've been using the thickest tipped version (05) of this pen to sign the back of some of my pieces for several years. It has held up well over time and I've been very pleased with the choice. I highly recommend it for signing cured polymer clay pieces. There have been a few time when I've made an oops on the signature and immediately tried to remove the ink with alcohol. It's so permanent that, though the alcohol did cause the ink to fade a little, I ended up having to sand it off and start over. That's PERMANENT!

FYI I have found that the somewhat similar Pigma Micron COLORED pens by Sakura do not hold up nearly as well unless heat cured and gently sealed.

To read a blog post on making my neon yellow softball jewelry

Dangling Baseball Pierced Earrings are available at MelodyODesigns at Etsy