About 3.5 years ago, I decided to take up this whole Alexis Drake thing back up again (I had taken a hiatus to have babies and get my master’s degree). What I didn’t realize is how quickly things would grow and how the accessory industry had drastically changed. Instead of competing with companies who were providing pieces at low prices/low quality and mass markets — customers were wanting handmade quality.
One of the things that got me excited to start back up again were these vintage typeset printing press letters. Unfortunately, because of my lost wax casting process, it was difficult to figure out how I could use them in my designs. Then I tried clay…my not so favorite, clay. And it worked. I pressed these awesome metal letters in the clay, cropped a portion out of the clay and made earrings and necklaces out of them. The part that didn’t work for me was the fact that they were ceramic. They were difficult because of their size to glaze and fire in the kiln. Nonetheless, they sold and were well received by my customers. My goal, however, was to figure out how to make them in metal - my material.
So I finally figured it — it only took a couple years to make it happen, but we did it. We have these beautiful vintage typeset letters in metal. We have earrings with the ampersand “&” sign and necklaces with letters on them. The best part about these designs in metal, however, is the shine and the crispness of the letters themselves in metal, the font and the knowledge of where it came from —- it makes sense. Frankly, they rock. Check out our Ampersand Earrings HERE and the Initial Necklaces HERE.
