People Profiles

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     They are the type of button that first caught the eye of Suzanne Hye, as well. "I guess black glass is at the top (of her list of favorites) it's so rich looking with its various lustres."

     Suzanne became really hooked when "a few years ago I lucked into the most incredible cache of West German LaMode black glass buttons from the '40s and needed to find ways to market them," she said. "As I began learning more about buttons, I became increasingly intrigued. It's become increasingly clear that I have picked a lifetime endeavor!"

     She likes all kinds of glass, especially pink and green glass, and hearts, but the button she’s looking for more than others is an iris Satsuma.

     Once, she worked cleaning out an old house, where a woman who held on to everything she ever owned lived. "I found eight pearl lighthouse buttons," she said, one of which has become her favorite! "They were part of my pay, along with some other little antiques, but I would have cleaned the whole house just for them!

     She’s added to her collection over time, and has a lot of buttons, but she admits, they aren’t all collectible... "Really nice, with some value? Maybe a couple hundred. Pedestrian craft buttons? A couple thousand!" she said.

     She said she can be found on weekends at flea markets and yard sales on the weekend, "always asking, ‘Do you have any buttons?’ "

     She said she’s really enjoying buying and selling buttons, because "You meet the nicest people that way!"

Button Bytes Light Profiles:   JUDY SHOWERS of Carlisle, Pennsylvania

     In 1992 Judy Showers started making earrings for herself with buttons she bought at a local Joann Fabrics store. "Then, I tried some older buttons and got such a response that I started selling them," she said. "In my travels, I saw some that were really too beautiful to make into jewelry so I started collecting them for myself."

     She, too, likes modern glass, because "there are so many really beautiful designs on them, it staggers the imagination," she said. She especially likes "anything that has to do with nature, plants, flowers, insects, etc." Her favorite is a "black glass with a gunmetal gray luster with flowers on it. Absolutely out of this world. Nothing anybody makes today can even compare with the design on that button."

     Judy looks for buttons wherever she can, she said. "Some I got in a box from the Salvation Army, some twinkles, and two brass buttons with flies or beetles on them -- quite interesting."

     But she’s still on the lookout for a type that many of us enjoy "A Gay 90's button with lots of filigree and a huge gorgeous stone in the middle of it."

     As a relatively new collector, she mourns the loss of some of her family history that has a link to buttons. "My grandparents owned and operated a linen store in Frankfort, Germany when they were still living there, until the Nazis frightened them so much, they left the country," she said. "I just wish they had kept some of the buttons from that store."

     Since January 1992, Judy’s run Showers of Buttons, and she still makes jewelry "to sell at craft shows (I do 26 shows a year) and at the same time continue buying, selling and trading collectible buttons for collectors and selling them on ebay," she said.

Button Bytes Light Profiles:   CHRISTINE RESCH of Independence, Missouri

     There she was, home with the kids and no room for more antique furniture, bored. "I just stayed at home needing a hobby," Christine Resch said, so she "went to the library and started looking around and found a book about buttons. I decided then to start collecting them. They were very small, took up little space and seemed to be plentiful at the time to collect in our area."

     She started hunting and searching, until "I fell in love with a garage sale bargain that I picked up for a dollar. This button was 2 inches across, sterling silver, mother-of-pearl and had a purple stone in the center. I could of kicked myself because there were two and I only bought one!"

     "That episode just set me off on a crazy button frenzy," she said, and that has become her favorite button. "And it is also my best button find in my entire life!"

     So far, she’s amassed about 10,000 or more buttons. "I love them all and am saving some of the newer ones for my daughter who loves plastics.

     "My specialty in the button collections is the cut steel riveted large and medium sizes," she said, and admits she’s on a mission: "My goal is to have the world’s largest collection of these and I have quite a few! They are becoming harder and harder to find!"

     Within the past year, Christine has started to make buttons, selling special order buttons to people for fun. "The name on the cards: ‘Victorian Trinkets & Buttons’, and all of my cards are dated, and have C. Resch on them," she said. "My first set of studio buttons were ceramic 1 1/2" and there were 29 of these made, all are signed, dated and some numbered. My second phase of studio buttons were wood sized at 1 1/2" and they are paper decoupaged subjects, with hand painted trim in gold and backgrounds. They are China Look A Likes, the majority of them are Victorian themes with about 20 dogs as well as Victorian people."

     Now, she’s creating "Plexiglas buttons that are all shapes, usually smaller than 2 inches but never smaller than 1 1/4". The prism subjects, Disney, dogs, fish, cats, birds, bugs, angels, Pegasus and animals are present. All others fall into the above category except they are realistic. All subjects are still paper cut outs."

Christine has also made and sold what she believes is the largest button ever made. "It is 7 ˝ inches across, with a beautiful butterfly in the center and prism birds, butterflies, and angels surrounding it. It also is Plexiglas."