Buttons

A few folks have been asking about the latest project I’ve been working on.
(Well, in addition to working on websites, Social Media, helping friends with their campaigns, and such…)
It has been a fun project, that takes me to the toolbench, away from the keyboard for extended periods.

I’ve been making buttons.

Early last week, Lorie needed some buttons for a craft project fundraiser for Katie’s Place, and she asked me how hard it would be to make buttons from tree branches, as she had seen some on E-Bay, but they were quite expensive.

The next day, I went “shopping” at the local green waste centre, and found some perfect cherry and birch branches.

I guess this would qualify as the “before” shot.

Carefully, over the following days, I dried the moist branches in the oven, putting the branches and pieces into the oven, on low temperature, or when it was off and cooling down.

Only had one mishap, the day I slipped, while sanding a button, and removed a great deal of skin and some nail, from the tip of my thumb.

In the ensuing rush to stem the bleeding and get a bandaid, I forgot that I had turned on the oven, with a tray of buttons in.

(Crispy critters)

Anyway, apart from that, the drying process was slow, but gratifying, and I think the end results are quite cool.  So, I thought I would share.

Lorie added an artsy touch to some of them, with her craft dyes, and some we left natural:

However, as cool as I think they are, by far the best one has nothing to do with anything Lorie or I did…  It is the hidden treasure, trapped in the wood… a tiny star pattern we found, buried in the wood, in the centre of one small section of a branch: