Month: September 2023

This fabric button is made of very intricately wound fine black braid forming a flower in the centre. It is deeply shaped with a black plastic plate and shank and is very well made. At 3 cm in diameter it is quite large.

Here is a modern synthetic or some type of plastic button. It is a nice button but does not show up well in the photo. It is black with red shimmering through it and has a large daisy etched in the top half. The small diamantes are set in the centre of the flower. It measures a little under 3 cm.

This button is of white metal with open work in the centre. It is surrounded by 8 large black glass stones set in the metal. It is quite showy with the black and silver colours contrasting nicely. It measures 3 cm.

This brass button has a simple effective border, the rest being painted purple. It has a large facetted black glass stone in the centre which contrasts nicely with the purple. It measures 3 cm. I have the same design button in two different colours both with the black stone.

These two modern buttons show the head of Medusa from Greek Mythology. She is the logo for Versace – connecting Modern Fashion and Myth. She has a head of snakes for hair. The buttons are of metalized plastic with a high gloss green and blue added for contrast.

Louie the fly has been the face of Mortein since 1957. Their slogan was “When you’re on a good thing, stick to it” Mortein factory in Sydney moved offshore in Feb, 2012. This button was worn by the Mortein workers in the 1960s. It is a fairly small button.

This button is known as “crystalized tin” and dates from the late 19th century. It is first lacquered in a dark colour then the design is etched through the colour to reveal the tin base showing a frosty silvery image. This particular button has a figure on it. It is not a very big button and is hard to photograph.

This set of six porcelain buttons were handmade in 2007 by Tracey Sharkey of Victoria. They are real Australiana depicting a cockatoo, kookaburra and blue wren, also a koala, platypus and green frog. The porcelain is a crisp white and I believe they are transfer printed.

These four colourful porcelain buttons were handmade by Jennifer Warburton of Phillip Island, Victoria in 2012. They are quite unique with their sort of embossed designs made under the label Embellish a Little. They took my fancy .

I do not know if these buttons were made in Cambodia or not but the fabrics look different. As the card says they are made to help Khmer women to better their lives. They were given to me by a friend and I don’t know where she bought them. The fabrics remind me a little of aboriginal designs so perhaps they are native to Cambodia.