MOUNTING AND STORING YOUR BUTTON COLLECTION
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Card of Design Under Glass buttons
mounted on Matboard.
FLYING BUTTON RANCH COLLECTION. |
So, you've started HOARDING (I mean COLLECTING) Antique and Vintage BUTTONS... For something so small, they can get out of control quickly! Right!? Boy, don't I know it sister!
Are you looking at jars, boxes and tins FULL of buttons? Ya think it's time to do something differently so you can REALLY enjoy your new collection and see what you have? YUP!! Well, you landed in the right spot today!
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| Boxes of buttons... gah! WHAT is in there?? |
Buttons really should be carded or stored on cards in order
to protect them. Jars and tins (especially if sealed up) can cause all kinds of problems for buttons. Plastic buttons gas, rusty metal buttons causes havoc on everything, and it all is a deadly combination for all old buttons.
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Jars and tins full of a mix of plastic, metals,
wood and other things (rusty nails, pins, etc.)
can cause SERIOUS problems quickly
for old buttons!
Get them out of there!! |
Early button collectors would sew their buttons with thread to pieces
of linen toweling, sew or attach buttons to old paper plates and cereal or cardboard box pieces. They also used old metal paper clips, rusty safety pins, pieces of leather cut in triangles (and shoved through the shank), pipe cleaner and all kinds of things to attach buttons. I’ve seen how
these substandard fasteners and acidic fabric and paper pieces cause button damage (corrosion and off
gassing). Baaaaaaaadddddddd! So remove the buttons as soon as you can.
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Old early collection (c. 1940s)
sewn to a large piece of linen toweling.
Flying Button Ranch Collection. |
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China Button Collection
Sewn to an old paper plate c. 1940-60
Photo from Pinterest |
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Old button collection sewn to an old paper plate c. 1940-60
Photo from Pinterest |
MOUNT THEM ON MATBOARD: The best card stock material to use are pieces of matboard (also
called Crescent board) cut to 9 x 12 inch size. This size is also the standard NBS size
when competing. Scraps in smaller sizes are fine for personal storage of your collection, so it's not a hard/fast rule for your own collection.
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| Matboard in a rainbow of colors. |
You also can find Matboard at hobby/craft stores in
large sheets and cut them yourself or ask if they will cut them for you
(usually for free). For example: Michael's craft store sells a standard sheet of 24” x 36” for $8.36 and get quite a few 9x12 pieces. Collectors generally use a 9"x12" size because that is what is used when submitting buttons for competition. You, however, get to choose what ever size you want. A 6 x 9" piece can store well also and smaller scrap sizes of board are easier to come by.
Look
for sales and on-line coupons for framing shops and hobby/craft stores. It comes in a variety of colors and finishes (like flocked velvet, metallic, printed, etc.). You can also find better board in Acid Free types. Pick pretty colors to make a lovely wall display to complement the colors in your home! Stickers, stamps and postcards can also make a fun display with your buttons.
FREE IS BETTER: Various “scrap” sizes of matboard can be
purchased fairly cheaply from art/picture framing shops (use Google to find one
near you) and sometimes they’ll just give them to you FREE if you stop in each month
and ask for them!
That’s what I did for quite a while... stopping in a large framing shop and gallery each month and asking for the scraps. Sadly, when the generous owner passed away, his son decided to close the shop. When I asked him about the matboard, he asked me if I wanted it. Well, SURE. But how much?
Well, he GAVE ME all the matboard in the shop that I could haul away in my
truck if I wanted it! Yup, ALL. Free, gratis, for nada! Full sheets, scraps, TONS of pieces in colors, finishes and textures. CARDING HEAVEN! Of course, I took it ALL and I looked like the Clampett family moving
when I LOADED my pickup truck (tied the mountainous pile down to the truck bed and put small pieces in the crew cab back seat because there was so much!) and drove out of there. LOL and so am set for life with matboard!
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| It's amazing what you can get in a TRUCK. |
CUTTING MATBOARD: I use an extra large vintage wood guillotine paper
cutter for the large sheets, and smaller ones for the 9x12 sizes (find them at resale shops! That's where I found all of mine.), but you can also use a sharp hobby knife and GOOD ruler. Cut the board
to to 9 x 12 size pieces, but save the smaller pieces for miscellaneous button
mountings.
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| A vintage Guillotine Paper Cutter. Love these!! |
TO DESIGN OR NOT TO DESIGN: A pretty layout is fun if you’re
putting the buttons in competition or on the wall for display. Also, you can use fun postcards, stamps, paper scraps, etc. to make a fun and creative mounting! Get inspired
on-line/Pinterest!
If you don't know much about materials or age of your buttons NO WORRIES, mount them by color or pictorial (like all Dog buttons together). Just do what ever gives you A HAPPY.
Have FUN with your buttons and hobby! Lay-out
the buttons as you think you’ll like them, mark the spots of each button on the matboard and use a Craft Circle Template around each mark.
and Button Images
(she also sells almost every item a buttons collector needs and all the stuff I’m
talking about in this article, and MORE).
Oh yeah... Nope... I make nothing from the links above! Just tell them FBR sent you! *grin*
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Button templates for mounting.
A selection from Amazing Laser Designs (see link above). |
Also, some button clubs have all
kinds of template designs to LOAN to members for FREE so it's worth joining up to one in your area for help with buttons and to answer your questions!!
Note: When mounting for competition, you’ll want to use a
template to match the size/number of buttons required for the award, so keep
that in mind when choosing templates!
PUNCHING HOLES: If a shank button, the shank is going to go through the board, you’ll
want to use a METAL AWL or Scratch Awl to punch a good size hole to accommodate the shank, allowing the button to sit flat on the matboard.
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| Scratch Awl for punching holes. |
You can get an Awl in any hardware store
(Home Depot) or look in your husband's/friends tool box. A friend of mine had her dad cut down a screwdriver really short
for me and he ground the tip into a deadly sharp point. It's perfect (and yes, I've put it into my hand, fingers and leg a few times. Owwwch!).
If you are mounting a 2
or 4 hold sew through, the double spiked corn cob holders work great for
putting 2 holes in a card and mounting those types of buttons flat. Use a wood cutting board
with some Styrofoam or carpet over it to punch holes. Bend the wire in a U, Feed each end of the wires through each one of the 2 holes (only need to use 2 holes on a 4 hole button), twist the button wires together on the back of the card. Tah*Dah! A button is mounted!
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CORN HOLDERS - Great way to make holes to
mount sew-through buttons!
(Insert CORNY pun spot HOLDER *here*) |
FBR TIP FOR MAKING LOTS OF QUICK CARDS: If I just want make a bunch of standard matboards for storing certain types of buttons in my collection quickly (a work card, say of all red glass or all celluloid of a certain kind), I’ve used a dremel with a small DRILL BIT to make holes. How many buttons I put on a card depends on the size of the buttons, so for a group of large buttons I may only drill 15 or 20 holes, while for my small glass buttons I may drill 40. Here's how I do it:
I put a stack of 4-8 matboards together,
draw the template for the hole spacing on top of the top matboard and clip all
of them together with heavy duty binder clips or any good clamps. Then I just drill through them
all (with a Dremel drill bit or small hand drill) and get quite a few done in one shot!
I also just ordered a Dremel Drill
Press from Amazon. I’m hoping it makes drilling holes in cards with my Dremel
even easier! I’ll let you know!
(Flying Button Ranch is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associate Program. Links below provide a means for me to earn a small fee by linking products mentioned in my blog to Amazon.com, at no additional cost to you).
UPDATE: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE using this to drill through my cards! I either draw circles or place dots on the top card, and then clip 4 or 5 cards together with the binder clips and easily bring down the handle. Highly recommended (and if you have the Dremel to begin with, just getting this is super inexpensive). A BONUS with this? The drill press allows you to turn the Dremel sideways, and with a BUFFING PAD you can polish your buttons on it! YaY! You can find the
DREMEL DRILL PRESS AT AMAZON.
FASTENING THE BUTTONS ON YOUR CARDS WITH WIRE:
Buttons are mounted with PLASTIC COATED COPPER WIRE.
Yup, the plastic-coated copper telephone and computer cable wire. I look for it
at swap meets, thrift stores, Habitat for Humanity resale stores, etc. Be sure
to check the wire BEFORE BUYING, as some is fiber optic wiring and it won’t work for mounting buttons. If the wire is in a plastic cased cable, ask to cut off and inch or two of the plastic that holds all the wires together to check to make sure it's a bendable, will stay in a wound state (make a circle out of the end of a wire) and is a small bundle of wires inside of the plastic casing and not some weird fiber optic stuff.
I have MULTIPLE
SPOOLS of old phone wire and cable wire saved up. I sit and cut a big Tupperware bowl full of pieces, using wire cutters so they're ready for
carding anytime the mood strikes. That's not often. LOL
I encouraged a button friend to stop whenever she sees a telephone or cable company truck stopped and working and ASK them nicely for any wire scraps. Of course she got some... for FREE (and it could be because that when she told the guy that she collected buttons, he figured she was crazy and he just wanted her to go away. Ha ha!).
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My spools of wire and cables of computer wire.
I have enough to last for YEARS and
enough to share with Button Friends! |
KYNAR WIRE: A super thin tiny wire with a coating of Kynar, get
the 30 AWG ( American Wire Gauge) size. It was available at Radio Shack a few
years ago, but I don’t know about today. Most model train and craft stores
should carry it.
It works great for diminutives, antique buttons (whistle
buttons) with tiny holes, etc. Worth searching out for a small supply to have
on hand for those types of buttons. You can find it on Amazon… but shop for
best price and watch for how much you get in a spool! The number at the end (K-30-1000) is the feet in the spool (usually 1,000). That should last a WHILE. Right? Here is what I bought (link to Amazon)
KYNAR WIRE ON AMAZON
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30 AWG Kynar coated Wire.
Prefect for Whistle buttons and
Diminutives with tiny holes! |
NOTE: Early
collectors used pipe cleaners and the rust on those old buttons/cards is a good
clue that the use can cause damage to your buttons by moisture being absorbed by the
pipe cleaner which causes it (and the buttons/shanks and button body or parts that's made of steel) to rust or the GREEN MEANIES (verdigris) to grow on brass and copper metals. It’s unknown if
modern pipe cleaner is going to rust, so you really want to avoid that also.
Other DO NOT use items are the metal button cotter pins (will rust), safety
pins (may rust or cause interaction), and tooth picks through the shanks at the
back of a mounting card (will hold moisture in humid environments).
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Metal cotter pins. Throw away!
Plastic cotter pins are okay to use though! |
FRAMING YOUR BEAUTIFUL BUTTONS: After your buttons are mounted, you’ll want to
either display them on your walls, or safely store at home. You also can cut
the matboard to fit any size FRAME for display at home. Note: keep
buttons out of sunlight!! Most hobby stores also sell SHADOW BOX COLLECTION
FRAMES with a glass front in various sizes which work great for buttons. Again,
look for them on sale, buy with coupons or look in the clearance section.
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Shadow box wall frames come in
all different sizes and are great for
buttons, buckles and studs! |
POLY PROTECTION BAGS: The plastic I like are a flat, zip top,
2-4 mil thick in a 10”x12” size. Gives a bit of room for the card of buttons
(unframed) and easier to get in and out if you cut a card a tad big. These will
keep your buttons from getting scratched, broken, falling out of the bag if it
comes loose and other damage while stored in a box or cabinet. You'll want open top, and 4 mil thick bags to really protect them from sitting next to each other. The larger 10 x 12 size is hard to find, so I get the 9 x 12 and just cut my general storage cards a 1/4" smaller in width (8-3/4 x 12). I use these:
AMAZON 4 MIL OPEN TOP POLY BAGS . 200 bags for about $19 and a great price for 200 of them (and you can always split them with a button buddy!).
BANKER'S BOXES are a great way to store your buttons once they are CARDED AND each card is PROTECTED with a plastic poly bag. You can stack boxes in a corner, under a bed (use bed lifts), stack in a closet,
or throw a cute scarf or table cloth over a stack to make it look like an end table or console
table. LOL
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Banker's Boxes are an inexpensive way
to store your precious button collection! |
FILE CABINETS: Eventually, you’ll think about getting one.
LOL I started with a small 2 drawer cabinet, moved to a large/tall LATERAL FILE
CABINET and now have 4 lateral file cabinets and a combo drawer/single lateral file unit in my button room. Yeah… FOUR plus.
*sigh*
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5 DRAWER LATERAL FILE CABINET.
This was an old cabinet I purchased
when a hospital got rid of them. BARGAIN. |
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Cabinets in my current Button Room.
The 4-drawer cabinets were purchased on Craigslist
from a used office furniture seller. Great buy!
The little yellow metal drawers on the top
are for sorting buttons that need to be carded.
They came from a hardware store that
went out of business. Perfect! |
SHOP/JOB TICKET HOLDERS are used for button competition if you belong to a Button Society. They're used to hang the
button card entries on racks for viewing by the public at a
BUTTON SHOW. They also serve to protect your
buttons. A must have (and some states have banned the bulky clunky wood/glass drop in frames for
competition, like Arizona did).
C-Line makes a nice Stitched Shop Ticket Holder,
both sides are clear, 9 x 12 Inches in size and 25 per Box for about $20
(I also get mine on Amazon).
9 x 12 SHOP TICKET HOLDERS ON AMAZON There are also some all clear made by Avery, about the
same price. You should be able to get some from Office Supply stores or get
them ordered there also. Go in with a buddy to reduce the cost and split the
box!
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| Box of 25 shop ticket holders on Amazon. |
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A shop ticket holder holding
this fun creative card of mine!
This is a SERIES set by Marie-Christine Pavone |
Well
FBR Friends, that’s all for today. Leave comments if
you think I missed something, if you have a question, or just to say
HOWDY. Feel free to share a
link to this blog on your FACEBOOK page if you think your new button collectors would
benefit from this article. Thanks for reading! Come see me on Facebook where I
post fun button facts and fun Button Memes
daily at
FLYING BUTTON RANCH! <3 FBR
