We Love Buttons! Jewelry Ideas and Inspiration

I have so many fond memories of buttons. That might sound specific, but it’s true. I remember that my grandmother had an old jam jar filled with buttons that she had cut out of worn clothing before they were thrown out. I also remember that she had a huge button collection that she purchased at a yard sale at some point. I would play with the buttons for hours and look at all their lovely designs, colors, and shapes. I always loved looking at all those buttons but I never knew what to do with them. When I started making jewelry, I was delighted to find all the creative ways you can use buttons in jewelry design.

Buttons make excellent clasp components. They can be latched through a beaded, braided, or leather cord loop and nicely secure bracelets and necklaces. In the project I just made, the Aspen Bracelet, I made a slide knot loop and threaded a button through it to complete my clasp. In the Desert Night Blossom Bracelet, a beaded loop was made to secure the button and this clasp system beautifully turned a piece of peyote bead weaving into a bracelet.

Featured Video: DIY Jewelry: How to Make a Leather Cord and Seed Bead Bracelet

Buttons can also be used to make earrings. In the video, How to Make TierraCast Button Earrings, you can see how to use a button as the main design element in a long fringe dangle earring design. The loop on the back of the button is an anchor point that makes attaching other components easy.

Featured Video: How to Make Tierracast Button Earrings

On some buttons you can remove the back shank. This will allow you to glue a button onto a flat tab or into a bezel. This then opens up the option to make rings or use bracelet blanks with glue on tabs. We created a video showing you how to remove button shanks:

Featured Video: How to Remove a Button Shank

TierraCast is one brand that makes lovely buttons for use in jewelry design. They have created a video which helps to highlight all the different ways you can use buttons as design elements.

Featured Video: From the Brand: All About TierraCast Buttons