Monday, May 16, 2011

Beaded Button Brooches

We did the first part of a two-part beaded button brooch workshop at my EGA chapter Saturday. I think it went pretty well. If anyone has any questions or anything, please e-mail or call me.

Here is a brooch I made out of a keyhole I found at a flea market in France three years ago. I made the pin in the same way I make the beaded button brooches. I miniaturized a photo of Lulu taken at Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in Hartford, about 90+ years ago. When my sister and I went to France last year, Lulu went with us in the form of a pin!

Here are a couple diagrams for some of the beaded edgings I have used on my beaded button brooches. There are many more diagrams on my Flickr photostream. Students can click on the picture of the beaded cat button (on the right) to go to the Flickr photostream.  When you get there, click on the set "Beaded Button Instructions."  Here you will find a 3-page handout of directions, plus diagrams for all the beaded edgings I have created. You can download the instructions, diagrams and pictures and then print them.

The button below was the second one I made after learning the technique from a Bead & Button article. (My technique is pretty different, and all the edgings I use were created by me.) The small buttons are called "calicos" and were made in the mid-19th century. There is a nice article about them in Bead & Button magazine online.

Here is a beautiful reproduction Czech glass button:

No comments:

Post a Comment