National Button Week ~ March 11-18

Apparently it is National Button Week ~ and to think I almost missed it! So, in honor the holiday, I'll be posting about buttons this week. I do love buttons and am always on the lookout for them at antique shows and flea markets, but I guess I am not really a collector ~ not that I don't have thousands of buttons, it is just that I buy them to use in my work rather than for a collection, so I tend to buy buttons that are less expensive, but still unique. Every now and then I will buy an expensive button, but then I feel like I can't use it unless I use it in a personal piece or gift.

Anyway, some of my favorite buttons are what I call carved mother of pearl buttons ~ there may be a more official name ~ if you know it, please send me a comment. I bought this necklace shown above several months ago ~ I could tell it was made of mother of pearl buttons, but whoever made the necklace chose to weave it together so that only the backs of the buttons showed. When I looked it over carefully, I could tell there were quite a few carved mother of pearl buttons, so I knew it was a good deal. The photos above show a few of the carved buttons and the necklace as found.

Here are some other carved mother of pearl buttons I purchased and posted about earlier. While those in the necklace weren't quite as pretty as those above, I still can't figure out why on earth the person who made it chose to hide the carved designs! Guess it was just my lucky day!