December Buttons 2011

Here I am trying to get caught up on stuff.  It's Saturday and after another busy week, I am doing catchup. With still lots of Christmas preparations to do, I thought I'd do some computer stuff before I go shopping for food and the few remaining gifts I need to purchase. For Christmas get togethers this year I was lucky to get my choice of what to bring, so it will be appetizers to the events where I am slated to bring food.  In doing appetizers, I commit to being on time, so there is some method in my madness.  I will take some shortcuts though and have them prepared ahead of time so they just need to be put on plates, or warmed up just prior to serving.

As for my other "work", I have been filling some last minute orders and taking care of all the business part of my polymer clay work.  With that mostly done (I still have two projects on my table), I figure I can relax a bit and spend an hour or two at the computer.

Yesterday, I got an email from a gal who had purchased a button from me at a Quilt Show this past summer.  She asked if she could use a link to my blog and I said yes, and that I would post some more of my buttons.  I have been so remiss at keeping up my blog lately that I kinda feel like a school kid having not done my homework.  In her blog she showed a pink button that she used on a hat which she designed. The button itself was a bit 'busy' but she deftly created a textured pattern in a solid color wool so that there wasn't too much interference with pattern and texture, if you know what I mean.  I realize that some of my buttons are just too "much" and that busy-ness gets lost in the pattern of the fabric or fibre that they are to be placed on. The gal that crocheted the hat is Joanne and here is her blog, if you are interested in following: http://joanne-threadhead.blogspot.com/

She also twigged me on to a very interesting site which some of you knitters and crocheters can peruse and maybe sign up for.  It is called Ravelry and it looks like a site where I could spend a good amount of time. (I noticed that one of my very creative polymer friends from Arizona already has already mentioned Ravelry in her blog, so it's gotta be a good one.)

All that being said, I admit that it is so  nice to see my work incorporated into other people's creations.  Often when people get my buttons, I encounter them later and they tell me that they haven't used them yet, or are saving them for something.  I completely understand, because I have to admit I have purchased things, fully intending to use them in a creation and then get sidetracked and the things get put on the back burner.  I think that's one of the 'resolutions' that I will make in 2012...to use the things that I purchase.  Even if it means burning the midnight oil or digging out my portable sewing machine.

These buttons are about one inch in diameter and they are all in the same basic colors, just with repositioning  of the colors.  They're a bit in the 'southwest' palette. I am thinking I am going to use them myself.  I hope to get a shirt or blouse (or other kind of top--who knows what they are called) in a solid color and add some of my work as adornments.  I am thinking not just of functional buttons here, but as kind of trim around the edges.  I have found with some of my other garments that have my buttons on that they go through the washer with no problem, and I just ensure that the drier heat is minimal.  I take the garments out before they're "baked" and hang them up without any worries about the buttons at all.  Of course, I hate having clothing that has to be drycleaned only, but if that is the case, I will remove them from the articles.  The drycleaning hydrocarbons might just be too much for the polymer.  That makes me wonder if anyone has ever done a study on the reacion of the polymer to the chemicals used in the dry cleaning industry.

This button is one that has lots of colors in the foreground.  It's a takeoff on Alice Stroppel's cane that she posted for many to share a couple of months ago.  I think I will be more judicious in how I select my leftover canes for future projects of this sort and try to stick to a palette that is more monochromatic, or at least has just analogous colors in it.  However, this button would look cool on a hat or a knit or quilted bag.  Who knows?  I just may make a woven bag on my next car ride.  I have the weaving materials all prepared and just need to make the "loom" and tie on the warp.  I spent one entire morning organizing my wool into colors so that I can just grab a couple hanks and get started on the weaving.