unbuttons

It makes perfect sense that after all these years I am still immersed in things antique or vintage. After all, I grew up in a house with a 200-year-old spinning wheel in the living room and shelves full of oddities such as sanders, tumble-ups, fairy lamps and lithophanes, all gathering dust and puzzling my grade school pals.

After war-protesting my college years away at Miami U. in Ohio I tried my hand at “regular” jobs such as secretary, copy-writer, receptionist, bookkeeper, glove sewer and waitress. Nothing stuck until I became a Mom and looked for alternative ways to make money.

Going to estate auctions, yard sales and flea markets was nothing new to me and it dawned on me that I knew quite a bit about all that old stuff and I could actually sell it, make money and have fun at the same time! Living in Vermont, Ohio and then California there were plenty of buying and selling opportunities. I even took the plunge and opened “Dusty Daisy”, an antique shop outside of Woodstock, VT. Other ventures included “Sterling & Stones” a shop that expanded my interest in jewelry and featured local artists.

Eventually it became more and more of a challenge to find great stuff to sell, especially the vintage jewelry which was my specialty. I was intrigued by an artist who made jewelry out of bakelite pieces and I searched for inspiration among the antiques that surrounded me. Aha! Buttons! Old, intricate, beautiful, with stories to tell.....perfect! I began creating pins using buttons and buckles and soon expanded to bracelets, earrings, pendants and even bolos and button covers in the early years.

It has been a long evolution of over twenty-five years and hundreds of arts & crafts shows to arrive at the place where I know it is time to share my creations with a larger audience. ETSY seems the perfect venue! Also, as you might imagine, I have accumulated a vast collection of vintage and antique buttons and I need to share those as well! More on that later!