Almost Time for the Annual Salon and Almost the End of 2013....

In the run-up to the annual Salon des Artistes next Sunday (Dec. 8 - please scroll down for Salon details and for the link to the photo album of available work), here are a few more sparkly, wintry pieces:

Necklace #88.  The central button is fabric-covered and set with rhinestones (from a 1960s housecoat, maybe?) and the other buttons are likely 1950s plastic with rhinestones.  It's on the Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

 

Necklace #87.  Vintage metal and rhinestone buttons on chirimen polyester bias tape.

And then there are a few more, with covered buttons or buttons from the stash:

Necklace #83.  These buttons are covered in fabric from a Japanese promotional hankie - rayon or polyester - on chirimen polyester bias tape.

Necklace #84.  These buttons are covered with the fabric lining a Japanese denim jacket that a friend was modifying - rayon or even cotton.  They are on chirimen polyester bias tape.

Necklace #86.  Lines and swirls with bakelite and other vintage plastic buttons on cotton/linen bias tape.

See you at the Salon!

It's Salon des Artistes sale time - and time for winter-bling!

December 8th is the day for our Annual Salon des Artistes here in Albuquerque, when seven of us will present our work in a lovely home, from 9-4 on Sunday.  Please email me at telesor.roselet@gmail.com if you would like more information on our sale.  E-mail me also if you see something on the blog or photo album (https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/105148425797657603947/albums/5669744508708774721?sort=1 - remember to click the All Photos option if only highlights appear) that interests you.  The prices range from $40 to $65. 


Vintage sparkle from glass, metal, rhinestones and more - in time for the winter holidays!

 

Necklace #80.  Vintage cut-steel buckle with antique glass and vintage metal buttons on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.  

 

Necklace #81.  Vintage celluloid and lucite buttons, with evocative patina and rhinestones, on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

 Necklace #82.  Vintage metal and rhinestone buttons twinkling on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape!

More colors and shapes

This central button is like a piece of smoothed wood (and it is very tactile, too), but it is a contemporary plastic resin button.  The little buttons covered in vintage Japanese fabric work well with it:

 

Necklace #77, on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

I've tried a new rayon bias tape banded in red and black:

Necklace #78.  Vintage plastic buttons on rayon bias tape.

And these sweet contemporary natural fiber buttons (wicker, willow?) work well with the Japanese fabric, too:

Necklace #79.  Contemporary plant-fiber buttons with buttons covered in vintage Japanese fabric, on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

On with Button-box Fun, Going from the Green to the Royal Purple Background

One last fling with the lovely green bias tape and those contemporary toggles, this time in combo with the last of my little Bakelite bowls:

Necklace #73

And then to the lovely purple chirimen bias tape for a few selections:

 

Necklace #74.  Contemporary bone and horn buttons, with a couple of plastic ones made in "Holland", as the little card said....

Necklace #75.  Vintage plastic and glass-and-metal buttons, all a little bit smoky.

Necklace #76.  Contemporary horn and plastic buttons.  This one was more fun to test-drive than I expected it to be.  

Birthday Button Time Again! (and more new work)

  
 Fresh offerings of wonderful buttons for my birthday!

The green vintage plastic and red and white celluloid are from my dear friend who's known me since we were seven.  The blue covered buttons and wonderful celluloid and wooden numbers are from my cousin, a great bestow-er of treasures always.  These will be fun to play with.

And then, buttons straight from the box:

Necklace #71.  Vintage plastic buttons with a faux bamboo design, found at Bad Madge's vintage and collectibles store in San Diego's South Park neighborhood, with contemporary plastic toggles from our lovely local yarn store, Village Wools.  They are on a Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape in a green I wasn't sure was going to work, but it turns out I love it.

 

Necklace #72.  Vintage buttons of faceted plastic - most are also from Bad Madge's again.  Still on the satisfying green chirimen polyester.  

See the available necklaces at https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/105148425797657603947/albums/5669744508708774721

But then there is this stash of vintage Japanese fabric ...

The fabrics were calling me.  I answered with these latest two necklaces:

 

Necklace #68.  Buttons covered with vintage kimono silk.  The little green and white buttons are from a delightful shibori-dyed silk.  The base is Japanese chirmen polyester bias tape.

Necklace #69.  Buttons covered with a vintage kimono fabric, either silk or rayon.  The accent buttons are a slick and translucent vintage plastic, sold to me as Bakelite but they may not be.  The base is Japanese woven cotton bias tape.

New Works With Old Plastics

From a downsizing sale I got a handful of bowl-shaped amber-ish Bakelite buttons to play with.  I decided it was time to try using an old buckle as the center of a necklace (and as the clasp, since you undo and re-hook it).  Here's one using the buckle, two of the little Bakelite bowls, and two little celluloid buttons with some red on them to round things off.  From a distance, there is a slight suggestion of a mouth and eyes.

 

Necklace #65.  Vintage plastic hook-and-eye style buckle, vintage Bakelite and celluloid buttons, on linen/cotton bias tape.

I wanted to do more with the little Bakelite bowls, so I used a few with vintage celluloid/metal buttons:

Necklace #66.  Bakelite and celluloid/metal vintage buttons on Japanese woven cotton bias tape.

And more textiles...

A shopping trip to the Fiber Arts Fiesta at our fairgrounds, which is sponsored by fiber arts guilds in Albuquerque, allowed me to bulk up my stash of Japanese textile fragments, from three wonderful vendors.  Getting out the new stuff lead to:

Necklace #62.  Vintage kimono silk-covered buttons and bone moon button by Bob Benson (www.bobsbuttons.com), on Japanese woven cotton bias tape.

Necklace #63.  Vintage shibori-dyed Japanese cotton covered buttons, with little kimono silk covered buttons at the ends, on Japanese woven cotton bias tape.

See all the current work at https://plus.gogleo.com/photos/105148425797657603947/albums/5669744508708774721.

Textiles! Backed by "midnight blue"

Here are two covered button pieces, one from an old kimono too stained to use as a wearable and the other from fabric printed by Miriam Sklar, with accents of overdyed kimono silk.

Necklace #60  .  Vintage kimon silk on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

Necklace #61   .  Fabric printed by Miriam Sklar, with accent buttons of overdyed vintage kimono silk, on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

SPRING (daffodils, yes, but lots of wind....)

A few new necklaces with a sense of spring, including:

Necklace #57, floral designs in vintage celluloid and bakelite as well as old black glass buttons with botanically-themed designs, on cotton/linen bias tape.

and

 

Necklace #59, with buttons covered in vintage Japanese kimono silk on woven Japanese bias tape:  zinnias and camellias deconstructed, from entirely red, scale-like patterning to just one little tease of red.

These and their fellow necklaces are on my web album at https://picasaweb.google.com/105148425797657603947/ButtonNecklaceSelectionsMostlyCurrentlyAvailable#

Valentine's Felicitiations! Also new in button necklaces.....

Here are a couple of necklaces, one with vintage Japanese fabric covering the buttons, one with vintage plastic buttons.

 

The large buttons on Necklace #55 are covered with Japanese yukata cotton, the small ones with vintage kimono silk.  The necklace is on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

 

 Necklace #54

Vintage plastic buttons on Japanese woven cotton bias tape - blue, blue blue!

Check https://picasaweb.google.com/105148425797657603947/ButtonNecklaceSelectionsMostlyCurrentlyAvailable for the next round in coming weeks!

And Returning to Buttons Covered in Artisanal Fabrics....

Here are two necklaces covered in fabric dyed by Miriam Sklar of mimishibori.  I am lucky enough to have some of her remnants, including samples from early in her career.  To see her full range of garments and read her interesting commentary on shibori, see her website at www.mimishibori.com.

 

Necklace #50. This shibori-dyed fabric is flannel!  It is pleasingly tactile.

And this fabric on Necklace #53 is cotton.  The interesting designs are made by applying a potato-starch resist to the cloth and then pouring pigment into the cracks in the resist medium.

Both necklaces are on bamboo fiber bias tape.

Necklaces for family this holiday season (Happy New Year!)

Happy 2013, and hearty thanks to everyone who came to the Salon des Artistes back on December 2nd!  All nine of us vendors had a wonderful time.  I've now moved all the sold necklace snapshots to my album of necklaces no longer available, https://picasaweb.google.com/105148425797657603947/ButtonNecklacesExamplesNoLongerAvailableForSale . This leaves only ten necklaces currently in stock, and I must get busy.  However, I had a fine time making necklaces for family members this holiday season:

One for my daughter, the leopard-print princess, using red leopard-print polyester and some vintage covered buttons on woven Japanese cotton bias tape.

One for my sister-in-law, who has a special relationship with turtles.  Ceramic turtle buttons (which, I think, she originally gave me), and wooden buttons with foliage, on Japanese shibori-dyed cotton bias tape.

 One for my aunt, who, even when wearing peacock-feather earrings and a purple gown, maintains a flower-like china-doll quality.  The center button is a long-cherished old celluloid one, the others are vintage plastics.  The base is a flower-printed Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

 And this one is for my dear friend who has lately been sporting a very sophisticated black linen tunic.  The center button is celluloid with rhinestones, the white glass ones are from the 1950s and she herself brought them to me from London this year, and the accent buttons are metal and glass.  Base is cotton/linen bias tape.