Button Art: Necklaces

When I was younger, I read a book about a character who collects buttons. She gathers bags and jars and drawers of buttons, so much so that others start to worry about her habit (more specifically, her older sister who shares a room with her, if I'm remembering correctly). One of the ways she attempts to downsize her collection is by making button necklaces for her friends, aaaaaaaaand I bet you can guess where I'm headed here.

This book, though a favorite of mine for a time, was long forgotten (to the point that I STILL can't recall its title, despite multiple Google searches) by the time I discovered the following items:

The brown and pink necklace (R) is from this Etsy shop, which still sells similar items (around $20 for a necklace).

I'm pretty sure the blue necklace (L) was also from an Etsy shop, but I can't remember which one (nor can I find it again - Google image search fail!).

At the time I found these images, I had recently come into possession of a variety of buttons from my grandmother's former button collection (mentioned in last week's post). When I saw these necklaces, I fell in love with the way they modernized the idea of button jewelry though color (modern mixes, monochromatic) and selection (basically, less is more - the entire necklace isn't button-blinged out). I immediately turned my attention to the buttons I had and began sorting. I found a few turquoise buttons to which I was pretty partial, and I decided to pair them with some chocolate brown buttons for a complementary palette. The pink/brown necklace above contains quite a few button shanks, which gave me the courage to try one in my own design. Since I only had a single variety of button shanks, I also mimicked the effect of layering buttons with contrasting colors in order to keep my necklace visually interesting.

Since I already had my buttons, I only needed to pick up a necklace chain (w/clasp) from Michaels, along with some jewelry wire. I wish I could remember what gauge wire I bought (I've since thrown away the packaging), because the first type I bought was too thin and didn't hold the button structure of the necklace at all. I would probably recommend 18-22 gauge, but maybe even thicker (which would be 16 and down). The picture to the left shows the two types, not a color preference (the choices were limited). I'm holding the better of the two - visually they are very similar, so it's more of a touch/manipulation differentiation (oh, and yeah, the number of the gauge, if you know it!). Once the wire issue was settled, I set to work 'threading' it through my buttons' holes and constructing my button conglomerate (for lack of a better term!).

Click to Enlarge

Once I was done constructing my button conglomerate, I attached it to my necklace chain. I used a pair of needle-nose pliers to break apart the chain, then I threaded the wire through the last link on each side and wrapped it off (you're definitely going to need a tool of some kind here). And be sure you tuck in the pointy ends of the wire once you've wrapped it off around itself, or you are in for some discomfort! For this necklace I simply broke apart the chain in the middle and inserted my button creation - luckily, mine was the kind of chain that can be clasped at multiple intersections, giving me some degree of flexibility regarding the end-result length of the necklace.

From the back it does NOT look pretty - but who cares?

And, here is my end result! The colors I chose helped alleviate any old-fashioned stigma, and I kept my layout down to seven button layerings. It is pretty lightweight, since most of the buttons are plastic. And the wire loops on either side are pretty unobtrusive. Fun, huh?