Articles

Table of Contents
Why Whistles?
Button Artist Mary C. Dyer
A Button Advent Calendar

This is a horn button with an inlaid mother of pearl bird.

Button collectors have coined many words to define various buttons, but they have also taken some words, and applied them to types of buttons. An example is the "whistle" button, which is defined as a button that has one hole on top, and two or more on the bottom.

A white china whistle with a great design.

China doesn’t have to be plain...this one is blue and gold.

This type of button was designed because people thought that by protecting the thread, and keeping it away from the top of the button, it would be more likely to stay on longer. The name "whistle" comes from the notion that one could blow into one of the holes and make a whistling noise, like blowing into a soda bottle.

One of the first materials used in the whistle button was china. China buttons were mass produced in England, America and France in the early-to mid-1800s. By the late 1800s, there were literally hundreds of thousands of china buttons made, including whistles, calicoes, stencils, ringers, and gaiters, to name just a few.

But button designers, as collectors know, have active imaginations, and love exploring different materials. There are glass, rubber, tortoiseshell, composition, brass, white metal, horn, wood and vegetable ivory buttons, just to name a few. Moreover, in addition to simple one-color, one material whistles, there are multi-colored and multi-material whistles. For instance, there are horn whistles with tortoiseshell over the top, inlaid with mother of pearl and metal. Also, bone with wood, and china whistles with blue and gold designs.

This black glass button is an uncommon pierce whistle.

This is a bone button with a mother of pearl and abalone inlay.

This metal button has mother of pearl with facetted steels around.

Shapes are also very popular with collectors, and there are whistles in shapes, such as ovals, realistics , and oblongs. They come in many different sizes, as well, though large whistles are fairly uncommon.

This is an eight-sided button with a sliver of tortoiseshell on top, with inlaid mother of pearl and brass.

This is a realist brass horseshoe with a reddish/purple tint.

Noone ever said a single hole has to be in the center of the button. It has four holes on the bottom, and is made of vegetable ivory.

Start looking now, and you’ll be amazed at what you find in just a short time. Most whistles, even the pictorials, are fairly inexpensive.

This is a carved, painted picture on a vegetable ivory button.

This is a rubber button (Remember, rubber buttons must have a backmark that identifies them.)

This is an example of carved, not molded, horn or antler.

BBL Chats with Button Artist Mary C. Dyer...  by Mary J. Whitaker

Mary C. Dyer is a third generation button collector, following in the footsteps of her great-grandfather. Her inspiration to design buttons came from her love of beadwork and her desire to make a gift for her mother which would be extra special. She’s continued making buttons as gifts for her mother for the eight years.

Mary's buttons are based on the textile arts. As a needlework artist, Mary embellished garments. When she started thinking about a special design for one shirt that had green glass shamrocks, she thought, "I bet I could make a shamrock button." From that idea, she began her button studio collection, with a shamrock for her mother.

Today, Mary still starts with an idea of a design that she likes, then tries to find a way to "translate it into a button." From there, her work is embroidered and/or beaded onto fabric or perforated paper. Often, her buttons are inspired by designs on fabric that she finds. For example, Mary has been attracted to a fabric designed by folk artist Mary Englebreit. That fabric "cried out to be made into buttons," Mary said.

Mary uses cotton, silk, rayon, and metallic floss done on cotton, silk, rayon, velveteen, velvet, cotton blends, aida fabric, leather, and suede. She may also use beads from size 14/0 to 10/0, brass, silver, gold filled and base metal charms, silk ribbon and metallic braid. Some of her buttons have even been done entirely in beadwork. Sometimes, she uses perforated paper to make realistic buttons. Her designs come from cross stitch, crazy quilt motifs, and designs printed on fabric, which always seem to incorporate some beads in her work. Mary will do buttons for special orders for collector who are interested in a specific design, such as flowers, anchors, squirrels, strawberries and teapots. The process takes anywhere from five to 40 hours to complete. The general price range of Mary's buttons range from $15.00 to $35.00.

Her designs can be currently seen on the web at http://www2.famvid.com/mdyer/index.htm

A Button Advent Calendar...  by Pam Vasilow

It’s never too early to start getting ready for Christmas...

Here is an easy project to do for the Christmas season that will help your little ones count down the days until Santa comes. It is an advent calendar that will also help to introduce your kids to the fine art of putting together a button tray. The basics for this project can be put together in a couple of hours---or less, depending on how elaborate you want the finished tray to be.

Similar to an advent calendar that opens little doors to reveal something special for each day until Christmas, this calendar features little envelopes, one for every day from December 1 through December 24. In each envelope there is a button and a wire to mount it with. The buttons are mounted one by one, day by day on a special button card (or "tray"). When the last one is put on, Christmas will have arrived, and you will have a lovely button tray to add to your holiday decor! Once the holidays are over the tray can be dismantled and stored until the next December when your kids will look forward to doing it all over again! A new Christmas tradition is born!

First you will need to choose 24 buttons with a Christmas theme. Fabric stores are jam packed with cute buttons for the holidays. Don’t overlook what may be in your button box right now, either. Those pretty red and green plastics may be just what you need! Don’t forget about glass---those jeweled buttons, moonglows and especially auroras will work very nicely! You will also need a piece of mat board (the type used in picture framing) cut 9" X 12". This is the standard size used in button competition, and although you probably won’t be competing with your "advent tray", this is the size that will fit into the wood frames most of us use for displaying our trays. Once your button advent calendar is completed, you will probably want to display it in a frame until the holidays are over. You will also need button mounting wire cut into 24 pieces measuring around 2"-3", and 24 small envelopes.

Next, choose a theme for your tray. Mine is a very simple Christmas tree---the mounted buttons are the tree’s ornaments, and also the presents at the base of the tree. A Christmas or winter scene works wonderfully! Don’t worry if you don’t have the time to create a Christmas scene; any button tray with spaces for 24 buttons will adapt itself to this project. Even by just choosing mat board in festive colors, you can set the theme for your tray.

Number the envelopes from 1 to 24. Let your child number the envelopes and decorate them if he (or she) wishes! (The more involved they get in a Christmas project, the more time you have to tackle some of the 8 zillion chores there are to do this season!). Now, YOU decide (without your child’s input, or the end result will not be a surprise!) where the buttons are to be placed on the tray. Some thought needs to be put into this part, as you will want certain buttons to appear on certain days. If you have a button with Santa Claus, for instance, you may want that one to go on Dec. 24th. Once you have decided where a button is to go, and when it is to go on, place it in the appropriately numbered envelope. (For instance, the button that is to be mounted on December 1 goes in the # 1 envelope.) Now write the corresponding number on the back of the tray near the hole where that button will be mounted. Place a piece of wire in the envelope and seal it. Once you have all the buttons assigned and all the envelopes sealed, place the envelopes in a basket (or some other place of honor) along with the empty tray, and you are ready to begin!

On December 1, have your child remove the #1 envelope from the basket, open it, and mount it in it’s proper place on the advent tray. Very young children will need your help to mount the button properly, but this is a great way for them to learn! Aaron, my three year old is able to put the wire through, and bend it in back. Stephen, age 7, can handle the task all by himself. Since I have 2 children, I alternate the days they can open the envelopes to be fair. They both enjoy this project of ours, and I am thrilled to have incorporated button collecting into a holiday event! This is one Yuletide tradition I will be keeping with my children (and hopefully someday, with my grandchildren) for years and years to come.