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.