Hi Devon and everyone I do keep a button box. I have a tin purchased from a thrift shop, and the leftovers of my mom's button jar (which has tiny folded papers containing collections of wee shell buttons, shoe buttons, and other small attaching devices). Instead of fishing around for a button to replace one that fell off a garment, I look for the perfect button to attach a tab to a bag; eyes for a 'creature' - a hobby sort of thing. Thrift shops might still have them for sale although the last one I was in had all the buttons sorted into plastic bags according to colour - presumably if someone donated their button box, someone else took pains to sort them - I don't suppose the buttons were donated already sorted (but what do I know). anyway the 2nd hand is definitely worth a try.
Now - my story about a button box - this one was donated to the museum at which I was working a decade ago. It was immobilised at the accession registry - do we register to it as a unit in itself or do we access each button - the latter led us to study the buttons carefully: their composition, likely use and approximately what era, then that prompted us to wonder who had worn the garment, where had they worn it... Yes indeed the unspoken memories in that box... We decided against sorting the buttons at all; accessed the box as a unit and stored it with the textiles. I was relieved the box would remain a 'button box.' These button trees will be sort of Family Trees! What will become of them after the Mixed Media purpose? The button box has a masculine equivalent - the nuts-and-bolts jars that guys seem to have in their workshops (in my case there are many on shelves throughout the house. Want some?) - so maybe if your daughter doesn't find enough button boxes, she could tap into the metal bits resource. -- bye for now Bev in Sooke, BC (west coast of Canada) To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
