musings, mutterings, and creative muddle. . .





Friday, September 12, 2014

Back to Buttons

Button, button, who's got the button?

Most of us have memories of playing with a relative's box or tin of buttons. Sorting them by size. By color. By how much we liked them. I used to play with my Great-Grandma Clara's buttons. She kept them in a round tin (I wonder where that tin went. . . and the buffet it was kept in?). There weren't that many - but definitely enough to keep me occupied while she was busy at her sewing machine. Some of the buttons were shiny mother of pearl, some were clear glass (some of those were large enough to pretend they were bowls for my Barbie's dining room table), a few were wood, several had rhinestones, and more were plastic in every shade and color you can imagine.



My own kiddos played in my button tin - by this time it was a conglomeration of buttons I had purchased, a few of those extra-special ones from my Great-Grandma Clara, some from Hubster's Grandma Ellen, and others from here. . . there. . . and what-not. On occassion a button (or two or three or eight) would go missing to only show up later in His pocket or as Her teeny-tiny Polly Pocket puppy's bowl. 

Several years ago,  I was brought back to the beauty of buttons by a cousin (shout out to Stacy - Thank You!) who suggested making rings with them. Wire-wrapped rings to be precise. And I did -


as well as dabbled in a few other super-fun (and totally adorable) creations along the way. How about some Bon-Bon Button Barrettes?


Or over the top quirky (with a few added 1970's 'flora') brooches?


But I gradually gravitated away from the button mindset and focused more on my love of pearls, crystals, and semi-precious stones in my jewelry creations. But those buttons were always calling me.

One recent evening found me obsessing over my buttons. . . I decided the studio collection needed to come out again and become a larger part of my treasures to be shared with everyone. And, let me tell you, I have a heckuva collection thanks to friends, family, and estate sales. Check out this set of camp-dishes I re-purposed specifically to help me keep track of all my beautiful buttons!


So much button-love in those five felt-lined pans!  I spent an evening sorting buttons - picking my favorites and brainstorming. . . then getting creative!

A bracelet: 



Necklaces: 



Brooches:


And I even included some on up-cycled bottles & jars!





Yup. Back to Basics. . . Back to Buttons - it's a good place to be!

Got Button?

Have a Beautifully-Buttoned-Up kind of day -

Robin Z

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