Pre-AD and Quick Story: Who's got the Button?

oh ****. thank heaven i started putting money aside for the princess
auctions. i am a button slut (and a princess myself, so I am happy, happy
to hear buttons are going up.)

Kathy, I'm starting with a new client next week, so my day time (they insist
I work in their office, instead of mine) is limited, but if you want me to
come down on a Sat or Sun and help you clean any buttons, let me know.

Lisa, theprincessofnj at yahoo dot com
"starlia" wrote in message
...
I love buttons, especially vintage buttons. They make great toggles.

--
Starlia Klopman
www.klopmanstudios.com


"Kathy N-V" wrote in message
. giganews.com...
Button, Button, who's got the Button?

Until this afternoon, it was me.

A while back, I mentioned that Bob had brought home cases of vintage
button samples a good fifteen-twenty years ago, and that those cases
had been stored unopened in my house since that time. I've been
thinking of selling them, but had no pressing reason to get off my
tushie to do anything about it. Besides, they were buried and I
can't exactly move furniture and such to get them.

Until now, that is. Letrinka and I are working as a team for the
Princess Auctions, and she suggested that the buttons would be a
great place to start. I drafted Bob to go dig out the buttons, which
did not thrill him, until I mentioned that they are going for the
Princess Auctions, and he got them instantly. Of course, after a
couple of decades of storage, they were dusty as all get out, so I
put on a dust mask, tied my hair in a bandana, and took a damp cloth
to clean every one of the button cards. (And sort them out for the
ones that would be best for jewelrymaking)

Today, Bob didn't have a call and suggested I call "Trinkalink"
(that's Letrinka to all of the rest of us) and find some place to
meet and hand off the buttons. A short time later, we were in front
of a nearby mall, handing off buttons and envelopes. (The sample
buttons come on much larger cards than buttons in a store. The
sheets are in the 8-1/2" x 11" size or so, and can't go in the same
envelopes as Letrinka uses for crystals)

I got to meet Letrinka's handsome son (whose name escapes me), and
admire the very nice Jeep he bought with money he earned himself. I
did startle the poor kid by asking about his summer reading list -
much like I do with Manda every three seconds. I suspect that he
reads all the time (like Manda), but that the assigned reading list
books are not at all to his taste. (Manda tells me that the Newbery
award medallion on any book really means "Don't get too attached to a
good character - they're going to be dead in a matter of three
chapters.")

We were all in a huge rush, so this didn't get to be a nice long
beady visit (Bob and Letrinka's son are probably relieved about
that). But, even the shortest visit has to involve a _few_ beads: I
made a blueberry "quartz" and pearl bracelet for Letrinka, and she
gave me a couple of gorgeous lampworked dragonflies. I think I did a
decent job on guessing a bracelet size for Letrinka, which isn't bad,
considering we had never met before.

So, please keep your eyes open over the next few days or week:
Letrinka has to scan 100+ cards of samples, and I have descriptions
to write. (I hope to do a few at a time, and bear with me if these
descriptions get rather repetitive. After all, how much can I say
about buttons?) I have no idea how these things are going to scan,
but the buttons were a _lot_ nicer and more diverse than I
remembered. There's bound to be at least a few cards that will
appeal to nearly everyone. As with the crystals, all the proceeds
will go to benefit our Princess and her family.

If there is some kind of funky button that you are thinking about and
do not see listed, email me privately: I have three moving boxes of
buttons, and this batch is nowhere near the whole collection. I'm
sure that Princess Rebekah's family wouldn't mind if I added an extra
few dollars from buttons that never actually got sold at auction.
;-)

Kathy N-V