Beadlust

Artists Need Feedback ~

And writers need to be read... just a fact of being human, I guess. So, thanks for your comments! Like oil for a nice old machine, they keep me running. I could continue with this topic, but I promised you buttons for today. So here you go.

These are buttons 1, 2 and 3 by Karen Cohen (see yesterday's post). She's just learning to do bead embroidery, and working improvisationally is new to her too. Aren't they fun!!

When she sent the pictures, she said: "I haven't figured out yet what to do with them, but I belong to a local arts group and we have a show in July that Iwill put them in. They took me about 3 hours to make. I figured $45 a button ... I'm looking at my bags and jackets and stuff to put them on. I'll see. They would be good for study pieces as they take so much less time than a full embroidery."

Maybe you have some ideas for her?

I am thinking button collectors might be interested (and there are LOTS of button collectors, including me in an informal way). In addition to button dealers in antique malls and button societies, there are many fine books about buttons. This is a good, affordable starter book, if you're interested in identifying buttons (or just a good drool). By the way I searched Amazon for buttons and there are about 1,500 current titles on this subject!

Button collectors all over the world have shows - exhibitions where they show off their collections according to set rules and annual theme choices. I've been to a couple of regional shows, which made my fingers itch (not in a nice way, I tell you). Although I tire quickly of looking at display after display of buttons arranged on a white board, framed in black, and all on the same theme, the buttons themselves are amazing.

Back to books for a sec, I just checked Amazon for book titles on the subject of beads. Anyone want to hazzard a guess (without looking, of course!) as to whether there are more books about beads than buttons? I'll give the answer in my next post.