Working Tuesday: Button, button, who's got the button?

As I've said before, I have a life long love affair with old buttons. The colors and textures and designs all come together in so many ways to create endless combinations and permutations of a little item that keeps our clothes in place.

For years I've had a collection of buttons. Some are plan - it's easy to find the plain ones - but some are a little more special. I'll pick through 100 brown coat buttons to find one colored glass button. I'll also pick through 100 white buttons to find a tiny baby button made of mother of pearl. I look at it as a treasure hunt.

Because of this fascination, I've found a way to combine two loves - collecting buttons and making jewelry - in the button pendants I do. The problem, however, often becomes finding a large button that will showcase the smaller, more intricate buttons in a pendant. I was lucky enough to find a blue Mason jar full of mainly large buttons. And so I sit. Sorting. Dreaming. Designing in my button heaven.