As mentioned previously I’m participating in the one year one outfit challenge and I need buttons. I have some beautiful pebbles gathered from a West Australian beach which I was going to use but they don’t work colourwise so I found a piece of drying Banksia branch and hey presto, I have buttons!
Just to walk you through the process, I brought home a couple of sticks of Banksia,
put one of them through the circular saw
to make my required number
drilled a couple of holes in each one
picked off the bark and then oiled them. The one on the left has been oiled with a locally produced bees wax and the one on the right with a local olive oil. The oil seems to show the striations in the wood better, so that might be the approach I adopt. I also sanded the edge of the one on the left smooth, but left the one on the right with its ridged edge, and again, I think I prefer this. Thoughts anyone? I haven’t finished off the others yet, so am open to suggestions.
Now all I have to do is finish the garment that they are going on!
One disclaimer here – I haven’t suddenly acquired man hands – noisy machinery tends to freak me out a bit and so Archie kindly cut and drilled my buttons. I did the hard bit though – finding the stick and doing the oiling 🙂
I am going to participate in Me Made May again this year and herewith my pledge:
‘I, Sue of fadanista.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’15. I endeavour to wear only me made clothes each day for the duration of May 2015’
Hey to you and good morning. I love your button idea and favor the one on the right. I’ll admit that I had no idea what a Banksia tree was and had to look it up. Of course, it was totally foreign to me here in So. Illinois. Apparently the Banksia has a beautiful flower and its seed pod is used for many woodworking projects. As if I am telling you something.
I love your blog and hearing where you are and where you are going.
I would love to have some of your buttons. How about a trade, a twig for a twig?
Thank you Carol. We have 13 acres of virgin bush as a weekender and it is full of Banksia trees. The flowers are stunning and I just posted a photo of my son’s dog playing with one on Instagram (https://instagram.com/p/1NKOjCBVlX/?taken-by=suestoney). I would love to trade twigs, but quarantine laws wouldn’t let me receive one from you, but I could probably send you one? Let’s investigate!
Hey Sue, what a great idea! In the past, I’ve bought many wood buttons to complete some knits (I love the match wood + wool) but it never occured to me that I could make my own buttons with wood sticks! Thanks, I’ll certainly give it a try. I like the darker finish with olive oil, but I would fear that the ridged edge could damage the wool or the fabric. One question about the peebles you collected: how would you make holes in them? Is that possible to achieve it with the same drill? (This might be a question for your pair of masculine hands.)
I had to buy very fine diamond drills to make the holes in the pebbles. Worked brilliantly. The buttons are going on a sweater, so I don’t think the ridged edge will be a problem, but I might think about this. I urge you to make some interesting buttons from local wood.
Thanks Sue. I’m making a note about diamond drills for peebles. I’ll e-mail you a picture of my native wood buttons when I’m done.
That would be wonderful, Hélène. I’d like to see the stone buttons too.
What a brilliant idea. Sadly not one I could adopt as I don’t have an Archie who would help and I suspect I might lose fingers if I tried!
Yep, those machines can bite!
You are so on top of this 🙂 great job
They are beautiful and what a fab thought. You are turning into a bit a hippy my friend – very cool. Handy to have Archie and his saw!
Is there no end to your creativity and resourcefulness Sue Stoney? I am sooooo impressed…and now I shall be eyeing every shrub and tree as a potential fashion accessory…
…and all those bits and bobs in my husband’s garage…I’m thinking couture…
🙂
HahA. You need to have a weekend with me!
This is definitely an original idea, I think! They look lovely! Especially the button on the right. I don’t go near power tools neither. I have enough of a problem with my kitchen appliances!
What a great ideas for buttons, wood and pebbles, now to look around our neighbourhood, we have some largish grevilla bushes, I wonder how they would work. Would have loved to see Heidi playing on instagram but the link is not working.
I like the darker button the right. I think your idea was brilliant and the finished buttons will be too.
Beautiful and unique buttons. Very clever idea.
They look gorgeous! I am going to have a go at making some in porcelain this year, with the help of some potter friends.