Button, button… who’s got the button?

I remember playing that game as a child at my Grandmother’s house. We’d all stand in a circle, and hold our hands out in front of us as though we were praying. Then the leader would hold the button in their hands the same way. As the leader walked around the circle they would part open your hands and maybe (or not!) drop the button into your hands. When they finished doing this around the circle we had to guess who had the button. This game kept us busy for a long time, and I remember when I was chosen as the person to receive the button it was all I could do to keep from feeling it and turning it over in my hands or look at it! I loved my Grandmother’s button box. I’m lucky enough to own it today.

It seems every home has a button jar in a cupboard somewhere. Before we tear up old shirts to use as rags we cut the buttons off and keep them with intentions to use them again someday. Women of long ago didn’t throw away valuable things like buttons… no way. They saved them like we do, only now you can find their jars of yummy old buttons in estate sales or antique stores and they cost a pretty penny. If you can find a whole set on the original card, then you’re really fortunate!

As a beader, buttons invade my work all the time. Sometimes they’re in the body of the work, sometimes they become the clasp. Sometimes they become charms that hang below. Glass, bone, horn, wood metal, ceramic, enamel, plastic… they all are wonderful, new and old.

They’ve been around for hundreds of years. We’re going to take a look at some button history, focusing mainly in the heart of central Europe, the Czech Republic.

Some of the worlds most gorgeous buttons have come from Jablonec, which is part of Northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic, documented as far back as the year 1376. This city has an abundant glass history and is known as the glass capitol of the world. If you happen to visit there, you’ll see glass oozing from every corner. They’ve literally embedded glass pieces and/or buttons into walls. They sprinkle glass chips on the dirt roads leading up to the glass houses. They inlay glass canes into sidewalks for good luck, the same way we write our name and the date into newly poured cement.

Today, just like from the beginning, these small factories are owned by families who have thrown their life’s work into producing buttons. There are storage rooms filled with glass canes, some as old as 50-60 years waiting to be made into buttons. Some of this glass is ordered specificially by the families to be signatory in their buttons, making them one of a kind production series and later, traceable back to that particular families history. The canes are made in a factory also located in Jablonec. These canes are placed into a machine which presses buttons in a mold.

The machines have been used for centuries. Some make the actual molds that make buttons. Others press glass into the molds to create the buttons themselves. A button mold begins with a wooden carving. The carving is placed in a “copy saw” machine which traces or copies the carving in metal. This mold is placed in another machine where glass can be pressed into it to make a button. Molds are oiled and then stored in containers to prevent them from rusting, which would destroy them.

Making a button takes many steps. Long ago, a presser was used by hand to press glass into the mold to create a button. Today, some of these hand held presses are still used, but machines have taken over the bulk of the work. Each press resembles a pair of tongs and are known as matrixes or forms. Buttons that are one piece including the shank can be pressed 4 or 5 at a time, but buttons with a metal shank are much more involved. The shank must be hand fitted into the press just right and then glass is pressed into it, one at a time. After pressing, each button has its excess glass either cut or faceted off. Buttons with unusual shapes are individually hand ground on a wet stone wheel. All polishing, faceting or shaving is done on a wet stone wheel, also. Buttons with pierced holes are moved to a machine that uses water to create holes. Round buttons are cut on a machine with two blades. After all the cutting, polishing and shaving is completed, each button is placed in a wooden box with wood shavings for a complete cleaning.

Some buttons are now run through machines that apply a finish to them, but most are hand painted by button artists. They work at tables with minimal equipment, and apply up to 6 colors per button by hand with a paint brush. Each color must dry in between applications, and many are worked on at once to keep the flow of production moving at a healthy pace. The buttons are placed into racks that hold up to two grosses of buttons at a time, and then they’re moved to a kiln where they’ll be fired for up to 4 days.

I encourage you to look into buttons as options for your beadwork. You can recreate a Victorian style bracelet by using black elastic cording that’s about 1 inch wide, and sew a collection of buttons on it. In Victorian era, the more buttons you had on your bracelet, the more esteemed you were! Women would trade and swap buttons, or give them as gifts. To make this beautiful bracelet, just measure your wrist so that the elastic can stretch over your hand and rest on your wrist, but not too snugly. Then use black thread to secure buttons to the elastic. It can be slipped on and off the wrist easily.

We stumble across many buttons of vintage origin as we look for unusual beads to sell in the store. Stop by to peruse some of these beauties. If you’d like to learn more about buttons or are interested in becoming a button collector, you can contact the National Button Society at the following address:

The National Button Society

Lois Pool

2733 Juno Place

Akron OH 44333-4137

Happy Beading, and well, buttoning too!

The Bead Belle