All things buttons & more …
Here are two more buttons bought in 2011 at The Button Shop in Brighton.
They are both gilt with fake “diamonds” set into them.
One has a swirly design with one stone in the middle and measures just over 2 1/2cm. The other has a hammered background with six small stones and is smaller at 2 cm.
When I visit my nephew Graeme in Melbourne he sometimes finds a button shop for me. He took me to The Button Shop in Brighton where I bought these buttons in 2011.
The two wooden buttons have been painted, one has a lady with flowers, the other pictures a couple. They measure 2 1/2 cm.
The other button is really colourful with a house in the hills pictured on it. It is a sort of childlike drawing and is a bit of fun.
Here are two buttons which I have purchased new in the last 3 or 4 years.
They are made of shell and have been dyed or painted with bright pink and purple and have a thick clear gloss coating over the top.
They measure just under 3 1/2 cm.
Here are three new wooden buttons which I bought in a Patchwork shop in Kyabram last year.
I love birds and thought these owls looked great on the light coloured wood, sort of natural like.
Black and white always looks striking and here are three such examples of new buttons made of some type of plastic.
They are sort of like a modern version of the lovely black and white casein buttons of the 1930’s – 40’s. Fashion like other things goes round in circles.
While on the subject, here are a few more “new”buttons from my collection. They are so different from the buttons made a Century ago.
The buttons at No. 3 appear to have bits of grass or seeds embedded in them which is very interesting. In the 19th Century they made “Habitat”buttons with bits of grass, feathers or insects etc. mounted under glass or clear Celluloid. I do not have one but when I saw these new buttons it made me think of those I had seen in books.
The orange and cream buttons seem to be pressed or moulded with a floral design. The other three buttons I think may have been done with a laser, once more in a floral design.
Many Collectors do not buy new buttons but I have bought quite a few in the shops if they take my fancy. I figure they will be antiques of the future and that they take their place in Fashion History anyway.
A lot of them are made of Synthetics or plastic of some kind. These days a great effect can be achieved to replicate many materials used in button making in years gone by. Many are made in China and Thailand as well as other countries.
All of these “new”buttons have been bought by me between 2002 and 2017.