Buttons..And More Buttons...

I went into a charity shop recently, and asked if they had a button box.  Err...yes, sort of, they said, we've got a button bag.  It was donated last week.  Err...do you know what kind of button you are looking for... they said, humphing this bag up onto the counter.

I grinned... and asked how much for the lot.  £3, they said.  Money well spent, I thought.

I love buttons, and have begun to collect antique glass ones.  The collection is tiny at present, but I'm working on it!  Not a glass button in sight in this little lot, just lots of them!  So I've been gradually sorting them out, and had spent a couple of evenings doing so, until I realised that a. the boxes I was using were just too small and b. artificial light makes it really difficult to distinguish between colours, and the black were mixed with the blue... sigh.  There are buttons with shanks, buttons with holes, buttons with neither.  There is the occasional boot button, which I suspect may be Victorian.  There are plastic buttons, wooden buttons, fabric covered buttons and even a few tortoiseshell buttons.  Lots of black, brown and white, but also some yellow, pink, blue, green and even some purple.  Some fab Sixties buttons (I think; I'll need to get Jill to have a look).  Buttons that remind me of my gran.  A lot of individual buttons, the spares from particular outfits, but often maybe as many as six of some of the nicer ones. Yummy.  Now, though, having got them all arranged by colour, I want to USE them... so all I have to do now is Think Something Up.  A bag and a hair clip of some kind, I think... mmm...