Button Jewels

A few weeks ago, I did a blog on collections.  I mentioned a friend who had a button collection passed down to her by her mother.  When I think of buttons, I think of the colorful plastic buttons, metal or glass buttons like the ones my mother collected in a fishing box.  I never dreamed of the kinds of buttons my friend had stitched to display cards.  Some were hundreds of years old and all were works of art.  Carved, enamel, brass, silver, bejeweled, Victorian black glass, mother of pearl, each is an amazing and unique piece of art. 

But what do you do with cardboard sheets of buttons that fill a box when you’re down-sizing?  She had been to button faires and met other collectors. But she wanted to do something special with them.  They’re gorgeous enough to be jewelry.  But how do you find someone who would use them for that purpose?  Curious, I went on line.  Most of the button jewelry I found was the kind a child would wear or the trendy plastic buttons on numerous strings.

And then I stumbled onto a site.  Oh, WOW!  Yowza!!  Ohhhh!   I discovered a lady (also a Christian sister) who makes the most amazing button jewelry.  She lives on the Mendocino coast and is a true artist.  If you want to see some unique jewelry that comes with a history, take a peak!  www.buttonjewels.com

God, the Creator of all – including us – plants creativity in each of us.  It never ceases to amaze me what people can do.  Everywhere I look, there is some kind of art to enjoy.  We have an obelisk in town that’s made out of painted bicycle parts.  Patrick Amiat and his wife, Birgitte Laurent, have welded junk metal together and painted it to make whimsical sculptures that are all over Sonoma County.  http://www.patrickamiot.com  There’s an anonymous woman leaving beautiful little cut-and-fold book sculptures in Scotland’s libraries, and now – here’s another, Frances Casey, making beautiful, unique jewelry out of antique buttons in California. 

Enjoy!