First Few

I mentioned a few days ago that I'm taking molds and casts off the beautiful antique buttons that Deryn Mentock sent me, to see if I can give them a second life.

These are the first few I've gotten finished.

The buttons themselves are a little worn, with some signs of age and having been in water. When I cast them in pewter, all their delicate details come back to life.

It's very exciting! I sent these to Deryn so she can see them, and figure out how she would like to use them.

These are truly little bits of sculpture, with scenes of windmills and lovely stately homes in the trees. I hope to have some available on Etsy soon. You can see on some I put one hole at the top, like a charm or pendant, and on others I put two holes, for a bracelet maybe, or to add a dangle.

They look like they might have been someone's speccial button collection, that were lost during the Galveston hurricane, and found their way to Deryn and now to me.

To give them another use, another possibility for ornamenting special things in the future.

I took one button with a very distinctive face on it, and put it together with one of my cast bezels, to create this pendant.

At first I thought it had an art nouveau look, but with the dark coppery-bronze patina it started to hve a southwestern look to it, like a New Mexico square cross, with the round sun in the front. Do you see it?

So I'll keep playing with these designs, enjoying the feeling of restoring them to be loved and used again, in a new and different way.