Buttonsplus

Here is a nice cameo which I think is glass set into white metal. The border is decorative and makes a nice addition to the cameo which looks about 1930s era. It measures 3 cm x 2 1/2 cm.

This display shows exactly how this Celluloid Back Button is put together and the seven parts involved. It is interesting to think of the time involved in it’s making. I often wonder how the different buttons were made and how they were designed but I guess that will never be known.

Here is a modern button bought locally at the Haberdashery Store a few years ago. It has a random pattern in silver and gold on the black background. It is of some type of plastic and has a real sheen to it and is quite striking. It measures 2 1/2 cm.

I really like these three buttons. They are quite chunky and have a carved design on them. I am not sure what they are made of; I wonder if they are Bakelite. They are very smooth and tactile; actually they look good enough to eat! They each have a metal loop shank.

Here are two lacy glass buttons which are not easy to get in really good order. Sometimes the paint is quite rubbed on the back. They are clear moulded glass with the colours painted on the back and then a coating of black or silver. The colours show through to the front. They are very expensive if in good order. These ones measure 3 cm and have a metal shank.

These two bone buttons are realistic and have simple carving on them forming an elephant and a bird. They are modern but I don’t really know what age they are. They are lovely and smooth and have a nice sheen on them.

I think this plastic button might actually be Casein but am not sure. I do not know all the different plastics so just generalize. This round button has been dyed red and then carved away in a star like design to reveal the cream colour underneath. That is my theory anyway and stand to be corrected.

These two plastic buttons have been decorated with plastic coated wire in a complimentary colour which has been wound around the actual button. The cream one has a fairly simple design and is a sew through type. The black one is wound in cream wire in a geometric design and has no shank as such but you sew through the wires at the back. It is quite effective.

Here are two Studio buttons handmade of glass by Yasmin Silvan from Israel. I believe she may have moved from there now. They both are of white glass, one with a blue design, the other in black. Their designs are simple and effective. They both measure over 3 1/2 cm so are a nice size.

Here we have two groups of clear coloured glass buttons. They are simple in their design and have a nice clean look about them. I am not sure if you call them Depression Glass. If so, that would make them in the 1930s.