Sunday 1 June 2014

Bright Red Fused Glass Bird Sewing Buttons

 

Handmade Fused Glass Bird Sewing Buttons

It's a new month and a new beginning.  I'm excited for June to begin and for summer to "hopefully" get going in full swing.  It's a bright sunny day today so I'm very optimistic.  I'm up right now and trying to get some work done on my buttons before my son (adult son) gets up.  I'm hoping to spend the day doing some fun things with him.  It doesn't matter how old your children get it's always a good thing when you can spend some quality time with them.

I don't mention it often but I have another buttons site www.buttonsbyrobin2.com where I have my artisan buttons.  On this site I have fused glass buttons (like the bird sewing buttons shown above), ceramic, hand painted wooden buttons and more.  These buttons are much more labour intensive and a labour of love.  They don't get as much attention as my resin buttons at www.buttonsbyrobin.com but to be fair I really don't spend as much time on them as the resin buttons.  I simply love these bright red fused glass buttons though.  They look much better in person but I hope you can see their potential in the above picture.  These are made with a base layer of black glass and then the red pieces are individually cut out and they're fused together in the kiln.  Once the glass has been fully fused together I drill holes in them with a diamond (yes real diamond) coated drill bit.  It's a labour intensive and expensive process.  Given the hardness of the fused glass the drill bit will only drill about 10 buttons before it has to be replaced.  A set of 5 drill bits is about $50 US so as you can see even drilling the holes costs a fair bit.  I truly love these buttons though and so will continue to make them and other designs in glass.  They are truly beautiful and I know those of you who appreciate artisan buttons know how much love and art goes into making them

If you have any questions or have any suggested designs you'd like to see in glass please feel free to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.