31 Days Of Button Ideas And Adventures

My project Putting buttons I own a mirror. Ready to hang.

I decided to make buttons the subject of this October's 31 day challenge. I first became interested in them when I won part of a button collection at an auction. I loved how neatly they were sewn onto a cloth according to type, size, color. It fit my OCD MO perfectly. That is my obsessive-compulsive-disorder method of operation.

Everything right where it ought to be and it can't move around! In this world, MY world, that makes it unusual and wonderful. 

However there is one catch. No one told me that with buttons 1 is never enough. One button leads to 2 buttons and that my friend is a collection of buttons. One collection of buttons is never enough which leads to more buttons and that is not bad, but there are more ways to put a design on a 1 inch circle than there are rabbit tails in a meadow. You've got all those? Well, my friend you are doing quite well, but...what about the square ones,

Czech  Glass

 triangle, rhinestones etc. You say you have them? In every color? How about glass, 

metal,

mother of pearl

MOP

 or bone, leather, clay studio buttons, ceramic, portrait, enamel, stone, twig,

Goofies or like a real item

 goofy buttons. What are they you ask? Just more ways to suck you in. It is button crack on steroids.

One day you are a normal slightly off kilter adult going about your business and then WHAM you are checking ebay, etsy, the clothes at Goodwill, and you come up for air and you have 42 storage boxes FOR THE SPECIAL ONES. THE OTHERS ARE IN JARS (if you catch a break). So then you start thinking, about what to do with all the buttons you have. Sell them, make crafts out of them, jewelry, put the really nice ones in a suitable setting so they don't get banged around, try to give some away, sit and sort?

Use in craft projects

Crafting

Sorting

more sorting

still more sorting

sorting

Add caption

It doesn't get cuter than this

More sorting

So I have lots to tell you this month. How to mount them on foam core. Crafts I have made, want make or that someone else made. Interesting things about buttons and their world and how they add pleasure to our world. I hope you will come back and follow me this month and enjoy it. I'll try to make it fun and maybe you'll get some ideas you can use, and leave me a message with your ideas, too.  

Buttons: A Whole World On A Small Disc

A small, but mighty attraction. Buttons are the fascinating toy of young and old, rich and poor.

Do you remember playing in your mother's or grandmother's button box when you were young?

Some of the buttons in the author's collection

They're small, usually plain, mostly made from inexpensive materials. When they fall off they are often not missed or even replaced when they are lost. But don't take them for granted. They sometimes hold the world together. Just a few centuries ago commoners weren't even allowed to own them.
They were ornaments owned only by the very rich and elite in Europe. Used as status symbols, the more ornate the more well connected the wearer.

These seemingly simple little wafers, generally no larger than 3" and most 1/3 or less than that, cross over realms of art and history being carved, painted, molded, rolled, pressed and decorated in every way imaginable. They are made from glass, metal, plastic, mother of pearl, bone, leather, Bakelite, covered metal, crocheted or woven and more.

They are collectibles today for everyone from the most modest home to the The Victoria and Albert Royal Museum as well as in France which originated the Button Makers Guild in the 1300's.

Glass, metal, plastic, mother of pearl, bone, leather, Bakelite

Some have 2 holes, 4 holes, shank, self shank, or stud buttons like those on blue jeans.

2 hole 4 hole

Metal

Shank Back

Glass

Stenciled Glass

MOP or mother of pearl

Brass Horse mounted on braided leather

So many possibilities all on a little piece of material. Affordable, beautiful, varied and endlessly fascinating. Buttons, or "boutons" in French, offer much in the way of entertainment. Start today. There could be an exciting hobby right as close as your sewing box.