When it comes to inexpensive supplies for stylish jewelry, load up on the white, opaque, plastic button at 1-centimeter in diameter.(COPYRIGHT: I'm so sorry to have to put this here, but I've had trouble with online content theft. Readers are welcome to print my articles for their personal use, but I do not allow my text or photos to be copied to anyone's online site. No one may use my content without written permission from me.)
I have to admit that I never really considered plastic buttons as an inexpensive but stylish ingredient for jewelry making projects – and I've always had an interest in trash-to-treasure, recycled junk jewelry. It took a project from Jane Eldershaw's book, Junk Jewelry (see links below) to open my eyes to the possibilities of buttons in jewelry design.
The project involved making a necklace out of buttons, which I stacked one atop the other into a long tube shape strung on a double wire. The result had a sophisticated look like pieces of onyx or shell that tapered from the widest diameter button in the center to smaller diameter buttons on the end. Keeping the buttons in neutral shades of white, off-white, gray, taupe, and meringue-yellow gave the necklace a subtle, unusual appearance.
What I learned from the project is that buttons are fun to work with. They're inexpensive, indestructible, widely available, and easy to string on wire for fast results. Best of all, they don't look like buttons in your completed project (if you string them into the tube shape as shown in the photograph), so they create jewelry that are real conversation-pieces. Most of us who enjoy recycled junk jewelry love the transformative potential in such jewelry. The more unrecognizable we can make the original mundane ingredients, the more fun the results.
My favorite buttons are the translucent, colored ones with a small diameter – 8mm or less, if I can get it – because they're delicate and pretty and can be used to form unobtrusive, subtle jewelry, which I prefer to big, bold, clunky styles. However, these types of small, decorative translucent buttons can be relatively pricey. I found a package of 10 of these retailing for $1.35 at Hobby Lobby as opposed to a big 4-ounce tube of plastic white and off-white opaque buttons at 1-centimeter in diameter (and some larger sizes) for only $2.47.Therefore, the white, opaque 1-cm button appears to be a great building block for a jewelry project with the prettier, pricier buttons as decorative contrast. See the bracelet I made in the photo at right. The 1-cm diameter size works well for both necklaces and bracelets whereas the larger diameter buttons might be too clunky to work on a bracelet.
Links:
My book review for Junk Jewelry by Jane Eldershaw
My version of the button necklace project, assembled with instructions from Junk Jewelry.
