Lapel pins are TBW's biggest item today. The conventions' organizers hang a big map on the wall and stick hundreds of city pins from all over the world on the map. Most pins have emblems on them. The emblem is then baked to melt the powdered glass. She says, the work is so intricate that the factories turn off the lights periodically so the workers can rest their eyes.
Pins vary in design with the purpose and place.
Barstow, Calif., has a pin in the shape of an interstate sign, sporting Route 66. TBW created a pin for Jello that looks like a box of the product. Saratoga's pin has an oak tree at the center, and the Los Gatos pin sports a vineyard, a sunburst, mountains and two cats. Judy is the one responsible for design. Her new vocation, ironically, came about because of her struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome, which she contracted in 1989.