Thursday, February 4, 2010

Those Elusive Flower Petal Punches....


Casey, over at Casey's Minis, was making geraniums on her blog yesterday. She mentioned that she got the flower-shaped punch from an online manufacturer whose name she couldn't recall right at the moment. Go see what she is up to....
http://caseymini.blogspot.com/2010/02/

I have that very same punch (plus about 6 more!) and I remembered that I got it from the PJ Mieth company which, at the time, was located in New Jersey. I tried to find them online and discovered that the brothers (PJ and MC) parted ways a while back. MC has kept the punch manufacturing alive in Florida.

These are high quality, heavy duty, die-cut percision punches. Your favorite coffee house may still use them for their customer reward cards. I know mine does...

Anyway...they have 1645 different shapes to chose from...WOW! 120 are always in stock and the rest have to be ordered. They will also make a custom shape for your particular needs if one of the 1600+ doesn't suit you. But the price, I noticed, for their stock punches has gone up to $48!

You can see what they offer here: http://www.ticketpunch.net/

I used to belong to a club that enjoyed making flowers. We would each buy a punch and then get together to punch petals and make flowers. The cost of a punch back then was $30 which wasn't bad if you made and sold a lot of roses.

I am not a purist about these things. I know there are folks who only cut their own petals...and God bless them for their patience. I have a punch that makes beautiful rose petals...and I can punch faster than I can cut.

Which reminds me...I must see if I have any red roses to display with my Phantom Mask....

Tabitha


10 comments:

Caseymini said...

Tabitha, thanks for the info. It would have taken me days to find out who the manifacturer was. There is/was a company that used to advertize their punches in the back of Miniature Collector and Nutshell News. They are very expensive. I managed to get them through a couple of dealers that were willing to get them for me for wholesale. That really helped. I have 5 of them and expect them to last a lifetime and more. They are good quality, heavy duty tools.

Tabitha Corsica said...

Casey..I think that is Ruth Hanke from HankyPank Miniatures. I have not bought any from her...haven't bought any in at least 10 yrs. I bought right from Mieth. Even when they were cheaper they were still expensive although you are right; they will last a lifetime and I understand that they will sharpen any that might go dull.

Tabs

Jo Raines said...

Thank you for the link. I'll check them out when i'm not supposed to be working . . . back at it!

Jody

nikkinikkinikki72 said...

Great site Susan. Thank you for sharing.
Nikki xxx

Tallulah Belle said...

Thanks Tabitha...I've not heard of this company.

I dont' have any punches like that at all simply due to the cost. Although some days I swear I will buy them all.

yes I hand cut most of my stuff...but not because I prefer it lol.

Ruth Hanke has a fair selection as well but again..pricey.

I love your clubs idea of buying one each...perfect solution.

Tabitha Corsica said...

I first heard about these years ago from an artisan named Sandra Henry Wall. She was making gorgeous flower arrangements, based on old paintings, and teaching classes. Not only did she use these punches almost exclusively, she had quite a few made especially for her. Of course, with the amount of flowers she made, she needed to streamline whatever she could LOL! I think she is still around...had IGMA fellow status(if I remember correctly). I was once told she put her son through school on her mini flower arrangement sales...who knew??!!

Ara said...

Thanks for the info! I am in LOVE with punches but I am not sure $48 is going to convince my husband - haha. I'm not even daring to go to the website until maybe I have some of my own spending money!! hugs, ara

Tallulah Belle said...

I've been googling Sandra Henry Wall but there isn't much about her...at least not in terms of looking at her work. Seems she goes by the name of Rubin or Ruben Wall as well.

Tabitha Corsica said...

Jayne...tis the same gal. She got re-married around 10 yrs ago and hence the name change but I cannot honestly remember which came first LOL. Anyway, Miniature Collector has a long article on her in the Jan/Feb 1996 issue, if you can get a hold of one. If not, I'll try to scan it and e-mail it to you.

She used to do all the Tom Bishop shows and apparently did quite well for herself but I haven't heard much about her lately. Her "heritage" flower arrangements were beautiful but very pricey.

Tallulah Belle said...

1996 issue...lol. No I have only been doing this a couple of years :-)

I expected to find some pictures at least but nothing. It does seem she has something in the Thorne rooms though and I am off to Chicago next week. Long way to go to check her out :-)

If you have time to scan it yes I'd love to see it please.