Button Bouquet Project

Recently I signed up for my friend Jennifer Swift’s Wire Wreath class in September, and was feeling wire-y.

I walked to Vogue Fabrics to preview some fabric remnants for the class. Vogue has a section of angel-marked remnants for just a dollar, and other pre-cut fabrics that can still be incorporated into patterns, or craft projects in my case.

Then I felt compelled to go through the button bins. They offer metal buttons for $2 per cup, and plastic buttons for $1 per cup. Sorting through the bins is fun, and zen-like in a way.  You overhear banter between cashiers and customers while picking out colors and sizes, and then searching for additional matches to particularly cool buttons. I walked out with three bags full.

I sorted and counted these buttons for my inventory, currently by color and with various descriptions of the type and size of button.

300+ buttons make for a lot of mini-categories.

The fun part was making a button bouquet, inspired by Princess Lasertron. Her headband kit gave me some practice.

I twisted as many combinations as the pack of 35 wire stems allowed.

I am still working on a trousseau for a true Princess Lasertron bouquet, with or without a wedding attached. Even though the color palette was prescribed by Vogue, it does reflect hues I’m drawn toward.

Leftover buttons will be used for encaustic projects.

Some of these stems may be incorporated into the wreath this fall. We shall see!

Meanwhile, real flowers are blossoming everywhere. I’ll post more of our unusually early bloom later this week.