Thursday, October 27, 2016

Sparkly and/or Sleek.

These muti-colored flecked sparkly buttons were in the box given me by a friend for my birthday, and she suggested they'd be good with smaller buttons overlaid on their centers.  I decided on the see-through but blurry and reflective quality of little vintage Lucite plastic or glass buttons.


Necklace #157, plastic buttons with Lucite or glass vintage buttons overlaid, on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

Still with sparkly, the center button on this next one is by glass artist Robin Pascal, whose studio is in the mountains east of Albuquerque, but all the little companion buttons are sleek - covered in vintage Japanese kimono silk.


Necklace #158.  Art glass button with buttons covered in vintage Japanese kimono silk, on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

But then back to sparkly with some patina of past life - vintage rhinestone and metal buttons:


Necklace # 159.  Vintage rhinestone and metal buttons on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape. 

For the album of most recent work, click on https://goo.gl/photos/uJFB3VUDePMFPEbk9.  Click a picture, and if there is no caption displayed to the right, click on the little encircled "i" to get them started.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Birthday Buttons and a Great Living Estate Sale Can Get One Going.

Moving along into Fall (Balloon Fiesta week here in Albuquerque), a few more specimens join the collection:


Necklace #154 has an antique carved jet central button flanked by two sweet handpainted wooden ones, bracketed by two vintage plastic flowerpots, all on the chirimen-weave Japanese polyester bias tape.

 Necklace #155.  A good friend gave me a birthday box filled with vintage buttons, including these wonderfully-aged pearl ones.  The central button is a modern acrylic flower with an antique glass and metal button added; the other flowers are vintage Lucite with vintage faceted red glass buttons added to them.  Pink cotton Japanese bias tape.  Love the pink shadow from that central button.


The central button on Necklace #156 came from an amazing living estate sale.  A nice woman whom I've yardsaled alongside for a number of years decided to downsize.  The whole enclosed back porch of a sweet Mission-revival house was filled with a button collection for sale - boxes, drawers, shelves!  The celluloid and rhinestone central button is from there.  The vintage plastic (feels like Bakelite...) and metal buttons were in my birthday box from my friend, and little old plastic and rhinestone drops tend pop up (although less often than they once did) in old sewing boxes.  These are on a chirimen polyester base.

Scroll down to the last post for a link to the current button-necklace photo album.