I have been a professional seamstress for over 30 years. Many of my customers provide the most wonderful vintage buttons for the clothing items I make for them.
Realizing that my own button box was rather sparse, I started looking on eBay and found many treasures there. I spent a lot on bolstering my button collection!
I soon discovered that what I really wanted to do was to make my own buttons. I bought some odd cabochons, like the dinosaur bone, at an old rock shop in Southern Utah and some silver. I found a jewelry teacher to teach me basic soldering and bezel making. .
Dinosaur Bone Button
I thought that the first buttons came out very nice, for a beginning jeweler. I was pleased, but they took a very long time to make; 5 hours or more makes them hard to market.
One day my husband found a small enameling kiln on craigslist and asked me if I wanted it.
Paragon Kiln 8x8x4”
Sure! But what could I do with it? I started researching contemporary enameling artists online and found the most beautiful work I had ever seen. I was hooked immediately.
I spent another small fortune (for me) buying enameling supplies, tools and lots of books.
My first piece was a button!
My First Enamel Button
And then another and another.
Instead of 5 hours, I am now making them in a fraction of that time. Almost instant gratification! If I don't like a result, I can enamel over, or grind part of it off, and the layers make it much more interesting.
I still pay the bills by custom sewing, but my heart is in the kiln. By offering my art on ETSY, I might be able to keep up with the cost of supplies, and eventually be able to work more in fine silver and gold.
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