Button Wednesday : Mother of Pearl

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

I came across the following picture on Flickr; it's a giant button made of tiny mother of pearl buttons.

(weisserstier)

Looking further I found out that it was part of an exhibition about 100 years of mother of pearl production in Austria (Stift Geras 2009). I had no idea that there was such a thing as a mother of pearl industry in Austria, a country without any sea coast .... 

(Gutes aus meiner Region)

The production started with shells from the rivers Thaya and March, which were gathered in great quantities by the farmers when straightening brooks. The shell meat was given to the Swine, and the shells were made into buttons and other decorations.

(all pictures from weisserstier)


They had also the old and new production machines in the exhibition. How I wish I had known about this exhibition in time. I would love to see how these buttons were made ! But I found out that I can visit the fabric, so I plan a trip to Austria :)

(all pictures from weisserstier)

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 !!

Buttons : Antler Buttons

(from Fischer-Antics in Germany)

In many cultures lots of early buttons were made from antler (the "horns" of deer). Antler buttons were often manufactured by individuals working at home with simple tools. They are especially very beautiful and typical for the european Alp-countries. After the "Trachten-boom" in the 70s and 80s only a few manufacturers still make antler buttons by hand in the Alps.

(from Fischer-Antics in Germany)
Most of the antlers are collected by hunters in southern Germany, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic. The stags throw their antlers each February and March; so they are not killed for their antlers, but their antlers are found left behind in the forest.

(from Inntaler Hirschhornknopf-Fabrikation)
Everything of the antlers is used. First the antlers are cut lengthwise into flat strips, then disks are cut as close to each other as possible to get as much buttons as possible; 1 kg antler produces about 100 buttons. The disks are then beaten out of the antler strips and the button holes are drilled. Finally they are polished and sometimes also carved. The antler tops are formed into toggle buttons and the rest, dust and chips, becomes biological fertilizer for gardeners.

(from Stephanie Hackstein. Buttons. History and Production.)
Every antler button is unique because every antler is unique. That makes these buttons so beautiful. There are lots of imitations made out of plastic on the market; they are all identical and they all have a snow white backside.

A: real antler buttons; B: plastic imitation buttons (from my own collection)
Some examples of beautiful handmade antler buttons I found on the internet:


(1 and 2 from Hirsch-Hornschnitzer & Hornschmuck-Erzeugung, 3 from Knopfparadies, 4 from rosenhexe31 on Ebay, 5 from ideenreichHandarbeitsbedarf on DaWanda, 6 from buchfink987 on Ebay and 7 from bokkerer on Ebay)

Based on:
Stephanie Hackstein. Buttons. History and Production. Markstein Verlag, Filderstadt 2007. ISBN 978-3-935129-40-4
Grüß Gott aus dem Raum Rosenheim: "Das Imitat ist unser größter Feind", Inntaler Hirschhornknopf-Fabrikation in der dritten Generation.