Bright as a Button

Yeahay! I'm a featured artist on Cuteable today (http://cuteable.com). Lovely Linsey from http://www.swirlyarts.folksy.com has included my huge ceramic buttons in her button feature, so I thought I'd let you know how I got into making ceramic buttons in the first place.



Weeeeell .... I have been a mad keen handknitter since I was around 6 years old, and have always got at least two knitting projects on the go. After working for several weeks on a complicated jacket or cropped cardigan pattern, the last thing I want to finish it off with is a set of boring acrylic buttons. So I started making ceramic buttons with the bits of left over from slab rolled clay after making some pots, bowls or mugs and voila, the handmade button obsession began. For ceramicists, small items like buttons are great as kiln fillers, for using up all those small gaps between larger items, and as it is quite costly to fire up an underfilled kiln it is very satisfying to use up those gaps without having to make small but complicated pieces. Once I had built up a good collection of glazes and underglazes I found that I could really create some amazing effects with layering, dripping, flicking and slip trailing techniques. So there you have it. I rarely get to use these buttons on my handknits as they don't stick around long enough, but one of these days I will remember to duplicate some of these designs to keep for personal use.

See my selection of funky and original ceramic buttons:
http://www.chicita.folksy.com