Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Button Wednesday : The Button King


It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Today I introduce you to Dalton Stevens, aka the Button King. The Button King’s story began one night in 1983, when his insomnia prevented him from falling asleep. Back then, television went off at two in the morning, so he had to find something to pass the time. Searching through his old things, he found an old denim jumpsuit and started sewing buttons on it. Two years and ten months later, Dalton was still a chronic insomniac, but his jumpsuit was covered with 16333 buttons. It was only the beginning of his incredible experience with buttons. He kept attaching thousands of buttons on various stuff. He glued 3005 buttons on his guitar and 517 buttons on his shoes. His banjo, piano and his 1983 Chevette soon followed. Furthermore a hearse, two coffins, a public outhouse and much more..... In 2008 he opened a Button Museum close to his house, where all his creations can be admired without admission fee (Button King, 55 Joe Dority Rd., Bishopville, SC 29010, USA). By the way, the button-covered coffin and hearse are for Dalton's own funeral; the Button King is planning to go out in style !





















(pictures are from the book "The Button Craft Book" by Dawn Cusick, Altamont Press 1995; ShoutCarolina; OddityCentral)

Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here in the comments so that everybody can enjoy it !!

9 comments:

FiliGrace said...

What a fantastic story! Thanks for sharing!
Saying hallo from EST team. :)

gr8jewellery said...

Oh wow! I love the 2nd pic, he looks like he's covered in smarties!! :D
The coffin is amazingly cool too.

Kreativlink said...

Hahaha... Button overkill! :)

Erna Price said...

Such a great story! Love it

Stephanie Kilgast said...

Ha! This is so fun :D
And he looks so happy too :)

Unknown said...

How do you find such stories?
Fantastic.

Katerina said...

This is fantastic story.

Lp said...

I met him once (Approx 1991). He was displaying his car, his guitar and his button covered self outside the Wisconsin State Button Society show in Cedarburg WI. A very good natured and entertaining man. I hope he is well.

Anonymous said...

Wow--incredible. Thanks for sharing this great story.