Day 300 : Cluster

 

Day 300 : Cluster

More golden braid! I just love the colour at the moment. And back to my stash - these little spangles are sterling silver, so in a few years they will tarnish. It will be interesting to see the effect of that.

Mark has designed a lovely stacking box to hold all of the challenge buttons. He's made two - so 2016 buttons can also be put into one. I now need to get them decorated. 

The year is really rolling along now. There's barely any blank space on my wall. I'll try to take a picture of it this week.

Size: 28mm / 1⁄8" / 44L

Day 298 : Ice

 

Day 298 : Ice

Posting a little late today - and a rather simple button. Not soutache though - instead a machine made braid and cord. Because they are again viscose rayon, the light reflects in the same interesting ways. These are both from my stash - leftovers from a commission a few years ago. 

Todays has been about spending time with kittens - and some housework! The kittens are really coming out of themselves now and beating each other up all of the time - they probably need more space. Which they absolutely will have from tomorrow. They are going to be so spoilt. I shall miss them terribly though. :(

Size: 27mm / 1 1⁄16" /42L

Day 292 : Stash

 

Day 292 : Stash

More playing with braids and soutache today! This one has more depth than the image shows - I have padded the centre so it it like an odd little hill from the side. Which actually works quite well. 

Mark dug up potatoes and onions today, so it'll probably be soup for lunch this week. 

I hope that you have all had a good weekend - thanks for stopping by!

Size: 31mm / just under 1 1⁄2" / 56L / 

Day 291 : Aegir

 

Day 291 : Aegir

A watery braid button today. Playing round with shapes last night, it didn't occur to me that the shapes was a bit like a Viking ship until I checked my email this morning! My Viking fosterlings are obviously having an influence on me.

I hope you are all having a good weekend. I'll keep this short, it is Saturday night after all!

Size: 31mm / just under 1 1⁄2" / 56L

Day 290 : Floof

 

Day 290 : Floof

Today's button is made up of an inkle woven tape, twisted cord and a pompom. Might be the influence of kittens in the house making me create pompoms two nights in a row? 

The tape is a smallish piece I had left over, it has a double row of dots and that gives the appearance of little beads. 

Friday! What a week. I'm really looking forward to a lie-in haha!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Size : 27mm / 1 1⁄16" / 42L

Day 288 : Ring o' Roses

Day 288 : Ring o' Roses

A soutache button for today. I saw a similar centre on something many years ago and drew it up, soutache works perfectly for it. I was struck by how like roses it is. 

Apparently, the connection with the nursery rhyme and the plague was not a theory until the 1950s. Just about everyone knows that, which goes to show how things can travel - and that is without global media as we now have. Food for thought.

A good day today, my fosterlings have found The Best Home ever! I'm so very happy about it, despite the fact that I will miss them (they are so very adorable)

Size: 35mm / 1 3⁄8" / 54L 

 

Day 232 : Secure

 

Day 232 : Secure

Today's button was a long time in the making - about 20 years perhaps...

The ribbon is a silk tablet woven ribbon - an end from a brocaded piece that I did I'd say 20 years ago. Simple, plain weave to start the band and establish the width, but it looked so nice and shiny I kept it, along with of course my own little sample of the brocade work. 

The ribbon slider is made of PMC silver clay. It was intended to be one half of a clasp to make a ribbon necklace, the other half having hooks to go into one of the loops. But the hooks were not made well and broke before I even finished firing the piece. The slider itself would have worked for a little bracelet perhaps, but that wasn't what I intended so it went into one of my sample boxes. 

And the brown fabric covering the mould is just one of those fabrics. The last of it. I made a waistcoat and project notebook - and a couple of buttons this year have seen a bit. I *might* manage a little button with what's left... I don't know why I like it so much. It's just brown. What can I say? 

Size: 20mm / 13⁄16" / 32L

Day 225 : August

 

Day 225 : August

Today's button representing the really hot weather! And either the water I should be drinking, or the jeans and light tops I've been wearing - you decide. :)

The button is made from silk fingerloop braids. The centre uses a spun silk, while the edge a filament. That's why it is shinier. I wouldn't really recommend fingerloop braiding in the heat. Your fingers are too sticky. I put talc on them to stop the rubbing. I figured that out many many years ago when I made countless braids for the Globe Theatre, in summer!

Size : 27mm / 1 1⁄8" / 42L

Day 144 : Flow

Day 144 : Flow

Today's button really has a double name, as it looks a bit like a hat from the side, so the first thought was "Flo" as in Florence. But the sound works for both the pattern and the shape :)

This has been done using the ply split technique. Basically, you make up spun cords, then weave them. I used some small silk cords I had made for another project, weaving them together with another cord. If you are really clever at this technique, you can achieve some wonderful, dimensional items. 

The woven shape is mounted onto a ring, and a couple of bullion knots hid a small gap.... 

Size: 20mm  / 6⁄8" / 30L

Day 123 : Reel

Day 123 : Reel

Today's button actually makes me think of strawberry laces candy, but as it could be made in a different colour combination, I decided not to go with that! 

I've used the outer ring from the No 45 stacker mould, covered with No 8 perle cotton. This centre is a silk fingerloop braid - the "round lace of 5 loops" from my book Tak V Bowes Departed. These braids were known as laces during the medieval period, so just re-enforcing that candy reference :)

Size: 37mm / 1 7⁄16" / 58L

Day 26 : Enlace

Day 26 : Enlace

A little different for today's button! This button is covered with leather, through which has been threaded a little length of a silk fingerloop braid. The braid is made using silk that I hand dyed many, many years ago, I seem to recall that iron was one of the mordants used, hence the greyish colour. It was so long ago though that it would be a day or so before I found my notes...

The leather was, I thought, vegetable tanned. Turns out it may have been, but it was then coated so it did not behave the way that I wanted it to. Having figured out how to make "proper" leather knot buttons and the process involved involved in finishing them during the summer, I originally intended to try something similar here. So, this is a little different than I saw it in my head, but I still like it.

I've used a metal cover button (the type you can buy to use at home). 

Size: 24mm / just under 1" / 38L

Day 15 : Motley

Day 15 : Motley

This started out as a V-Wrap button, which is included on my DVD "Making Even More Buttons". It is a design that works really well with soutache braid and is very effective on its own. 

For this though, I've added extra embellishment with embroidery - you need to use a really fine needle to sew through commercial soutache without snagging it so I tend to use a beading needle.

The embroidery is in silk and cotton. 

Size: 27mm /  just over 1" /  42L