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.

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.

Slow still at the work table, but a little action.....

Sometimes a re-style is in order, and for this one I replaced a lovely but subtle old button

with a less subtle, sharper-contrast contemporary plastic button:

So, the necklace now known as #151 pops a little more on the neck (the little buttons are covered with Japanese kimono silk), and I look forward to using the sweet old button on a garment.

I have been looking at lots of vintage French casein plastic necklaces from the 1930s from designer Bonaz, and my favorite one is half-black and half-red - very sleek. In the shop of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art I saw this luscious glass necklace (from its patina I at first thought it was vinyl), also half-black and half-red, and so it was time to make a half- and half- backing for a button necklace.  I wanted rhythm but not straightforward bilateral symmetry with the buttons:

Necklace #152.  Vintage Lucite and rhinestone button, other vintage lucite and vintage plastic buttons, on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

I've been meaning to play with yo-yos from the Japanese vintage kimono silk stash, and here is one, also featuring some of the cloth-covered buttons I got at Le Petit Pan in Paris.

Necklace #153.  Poufs of vintage Japanese kimono fabric with cotton-covered buttons from Paris, on Japanese cotton bias tape.

(Confession - a little of the gathering on the central pouf shows here!  It doesn't show on the necklace now, but I really liked this picture and didn't dump it!).

Again, more necklace pictures at https://goo.gl/photos/uJFB3VUDePMFPEbk9. 

A Few New Ones for May.

Rhinestones always seem to hit the spot, and here is one made not just from buttons but with a little square vintage buckle - topped with a deconstructed vintage earring - as the centerpiece.  Buttons and a couple more deconstructed earrings fill in more of the strand:

Necklace #148.  Rhinestones on Japanese chirimen bias tape.

A friend attended a conference at Brown University, and around the corner there in Providence R.I. she found a little junk store with some buttons as well as a big baggie of curious cabechons that may or may not be rootbeer bakelite.  Providence was long the costume jewelry capital of the U.S. - who knows just for what these beauties were intended.  They were a thoughtful gift.  Not long after, Albuquerque's venerable and beloved Morningside Antiques store closed, and in the tray of remaining buttons was a delicate old celluloid buckle, which plays well with the mysterious cabechons.  The buckle may be too delicate for any but the most respectful wearer, even though I have coated all the edges with lacquer (also known as clear nail polish).   We'll see how it plays out.

Necklace #149.  Vintage celluloid buckle and vintage plastic cabechons, with buttons covered in antique kimono silk and small vintage brass buttons - on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

I found a really appealing remnant of old Japanese kimono silk at a yard sale and here mixed it with a heartier old celluloid buckle and some bakelite buttons.  The cream deco ones came from the yard sale of a prominent local jeweler.  

Necklace #150.  Celluoid buckle, bakelite buttons, and buttons covered with vintage Japanese kimono silk, on Japanese cotton bias tape.

A Google + album of the most recent necklaces can be found at https://goo.gl/photos/uJFB3VUDePMFPEbk9.  Click on a picture to find the caption (and if it doesn't appear up at the right, click the little circled "i" for information and it should get that started).  

It Has Been a Spell without New Work or Postings....

But time to start again.

These interestingly-faceted old plastic buttons in rich peacock were still on their card at a local collectibles shop:

Necklace  #146.  Vintage plastic and brass buttons on Japanese cotton bias tape.

And the center red button on this one and the matt-blue buttons with the six little holes came from Paris.

Necklace #147.  Contemporary plastic buttons on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

Maybe more next week!

Time for the Annual Salon des Artistes once again!

Yikes!  The annual Salon des Artistes is Sunday, December 6th (212 Washington St. NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the Nob Hill neighborhood, from 9-4).

This is our official invitation, by creator of exquisite paperie, Bea Lombard.  We are so lucky to have her in our coterie!

So it is the season for blingy things:

like necklace #139, vintage rhinestones and vintage glass on the Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.  (This one is at Mariposa Gallery in Albuquerque);

and necklace #140, an old rhinestone buckle fragment and vintage rhinestone buttons;

and necklace #137 - vintage rhinestones on the chirimen bias tape (this one is about to leave me);

and necklace #138, a Deco vintage buckle fragment with pewter-tone vintage rhinestone buttons and vintage pallettes.

Fun with  metal and plastics, too:

necklace 142 has a contemporary metal and enamel button in the center and vintage metal buttons - including those stylized Art Nouveau roses, around it (on chirimen polyester bias tape);

and necklace #143 is vintage green Bakelite (on chirimen polyester bias tape).

My photo album of recent work is a Google+ album at https://goo.gl/photos/uJFB3VUDePMFPEbk9. 

For the picture captions, click a photo and then click the little "i" icon.

See you at the Salon!

Some Glitter and Shine, with Thanks to Generous Friends for Their Gifts.

A few new:

Necklace #133. Vintage rhinestone and metal buttons on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

The generosity of friends makes the necklaces possible!  A dance/exercise friend from the Y brought me a bag of buttons that included this metal and rhinestone set, which I combined with an atomic-burst rhinestone button from my long-time stash.

Necklace #134.  Vintage Bakelite buckle and Bakelite buttons on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

This butterscotch Bakelite buckle, a wonderful gift from another friend, sits between apple juice Bakelite buttons and quirky little green ones.

Necklace #135.  Vintage Lucite buttons on Japanese woven cotton bias tape.

Those chunky little amber buttons, a gift from yet another friend, made friends with some favorite pieces in my existing collection.

Necklace #136.  Vintage glass buttons on Japanese chirimen polyester bias tape.

My aunt sent an elegant little bag of buttons for my birthday, including this Deco pink one in the center.  Various old glass buttons complete the necklace.  I was amused to find my reflection in the beetle-wing colored buttons next to the central one.  

I kind of liked the moody effect of this one just dropped onto a table top.  

If you'll be near Albuquerque on December 6th, save the date for the annual Salon des Artistes sale, which will be in a lovely home not far from me (more posting, with address, before that time) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  And again, the link to the album of my current work is https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipNCcBZ7r_-XGHj1LK8QAEr4t_mLtuikEPy_rWix.  Click on a picture and then click on the little "i" in a white circle, to the upper right of the image, to get the caption.