Buttonsplus

Here is just a group of common vegetable ivory buttons. Their earthy tones are none the less pleasing. They shine up well and are very tactile. A couple still have the skin or bark on them. They can be dyed, carved and painted and I have some of these in my collection.

These metal picture buttons show a scene from The Mikado with the figures under a sunshade and a couple bowing down before them. I do not know their age but I guess they are not really old like from the early 1900s as many picture buttons are.

I always say that black and white are striking and these plastic buttons really stand out. They were very popular in their time about the 1930s and 1940s. Their designs are mainly geometric or perhaps abstract. I have quite a few of them and they look good en masse. At present in the shops you can find black and white plastic buttons in a similar style.

This metal picture button shows a bird on a sprig of flowers. It has a wooden background which is a little unusual. It is quite large at a little under 4 cm. What a lot of work they did in the designing and making of buttons in the old days. I find that interesting.

Here is a hand painted porcelain button showing a couple in their finest wear. It is detailed right down to the buttons on the gentleman’s coat. To set it off nicely it has an enamelled brass border making for a rather lovely button.

I made this Garden pincushion many years ago. My friend Suzanne and I were in a craft shop in Bendigo and saw one in the showcase. The lady didn’t have any instructions but sold us all the ribbons and threads we needed to make it. She photocopied the actual pincushion so we had a black and white picture of the design. We scribbled notes on the page telling us what colours to use where and we crossed our fingers and went home. Between us we made one each and were pleased with our efforts. It is quite unique.

This is just a simple pin cushion I made many years ago. When they were building my unit they drilled large holes in the wooden doors to put the handles on. I made this out of the circle of wood that came out of the hole. I thought I could use it to make something so I painted it gold then wound and glued the thread around it. Then I made a circle of cardbourd, padded it and covered it with material before gluing it on to the wooden shape. I finished it off with braid around the edge. It came out quite nicely. So you can do all sorts of things if you only use your imagination.

Here are two items I made several years ago by painting onto calico and then handstitching the detail which I really enjoyed doing. On the left is a glass pin tray with a typical English cottage with a thatched roof. The glass paper weight on the right is a painting inspired by a book I have called ” The Diary of an Edwardian Lady ” ( Edith Holden) She did beautiful paintings of all things in nature and was English. That was in the early 1900s.

This is a group of nine Bakelite buttons in different shapes such as square, diamond and triangle so that is a little different from the usual round buttons. Most of my Bakelite buttons are large and mainly brown or black; some with carving and some with metal trim.

Here is a dark brown Bakelite button with a decorative metal trim in the shape of a flower. In the middle is a domed white glass stone which is quite large. It has a metal loop shank and measures 4 cm.