|
What's New with WBA? |
|
 Clockwise: Bone set in wood; clear pastes in pewter; Macbeth and Lady Macbeth; celluloid, William Shakespeare; stamped brass, Oberon and Titania; and black glass with gold luster. MUCH ADO ABOUT BUTTONS For centuries, the plays of William Shakespeare have played out on stages of grandeur, local venues, and school stages. Learning his language has been the bane of many a high school student struggling through Hamlet or A Midsummer Night's Dream. Button makers of the 18th and 19th centuries discovered that the dramatic scenes and relatable characters were good subjects for buttons. What makes these buttons especially delightful is the scale. Shakespeare's sweeping stories - kings, ghosts, fairies, lovers, and villains are condensed into objects small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. Each button becomes a tiny stage with its characters frozen mid-performance. Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, so there is much from which to gain inspiration. The earliest of his plays, Henry VI, parts I, II, and III, were written around 1591-1592. His final plays were written between 1612 and 1613. Astonishing, isn't it, that something written so long ago is still vibrant and popular today. A tray full of examples from his prose and characters would make a lovely tray indeed. From Romeo and Juliet: Act II, Sc. 2 Juliet: O, swear not by the moon, the inconsistent moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable. From Richard III: Act V, Sc. 2 King Richard: A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! From Henry VI Part I: Act IV, Sc. 1 Gloucester: Lord Bishop, set the crown upon his head. Winchester: God save King Henry, of that name the sixth! Besides the unforgettable line, many characters shine, including Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Oberon, and Titania. The world of Shakespeare isn't limited to living only on the stage and in books. Sometimes it lives on a button. Aren't buttons fascinating? If you've created a tray illustrating Shakespeare's work or any other written works, won't you share it with us? Email me a picture. Happy Buttoning Debbie WEBSITE UPDATES
Knowledge sharing through the website is important to all WBA members. Consider contributing in some small way, whether it be a single button for the World Button Gallery, Creative Expressions Gallery, Button Art (news), a short article, or an encyclopedia entry on a particular subject. All submissions are welcome! WBA DIGITAL JOURNAL WEST'S PATENT SPRING SOLITAIRE BUTTONS: Part IV, Additional Solitaire Shank Buttons by Alan Hepburn FAQ: Q: Why aren't ALL monthly recordings posted to our website? A: Due to copyright restrictions, we are not permitted to post any recorded program that contains copyrighted images without the author/owner's permission. Giving credit (attribution) for an image taken from the internet without the owner's permission still constitutes copyright infringement because the owner was not contacted, nor did they grant permission. The idea of using a copyrighted image or a large body of work for educational purposes seems straightforward. However, fair use is a very gray area. While we are educating dues-paying members and sometimes the public, our non-profit designation does not fall under an educational or academic institution. Colleges and universities can use copyrighted works without permission in the classroom, student presentations, and research, but not for publication unless they obtain permission from the author. Think of our monthly Zoom presentations as a LIVE classroom event every Tuesday! Public domain images can be used in any presentation under the Creative Commons license, and so can images where the copyright has expired. The bottom line: always ask permission from the author and let them know you would like to use their work for a recorded presentation for WBA, or try to find one in the public domain. Today, we have more public domain sites available than we've ever had before. Always check the fine print on sites for further use and attribution requirements. Here are a few fun ones. Perhaps some of the art could be used as backgrounds in a presentation or on your creative button mounting card. Inspiration can be found with just a click!  The jousters are 60mm (2.36"). Observations of a Button Collector's Husband By a Wargaming Hobbyist Who Knows Too Much About Scale and Too Little About Buttons I play with soldiers for fun. This is important context because it means I live in a house where the concept of normal surrendered long ago ... at least according to our daughter. When you willingly spend an entire evening debating whether a 28mm cuirassier should have brass or steel buttons, you lose the right to judge anyone else's hobbies. I am married to a button collector. Not a casual one. Not an "oh, I keep a little tin of spares" collector. This is an archivist of fastening history. A woman who can identify a Victorian glass button at ten paces and who feels genuine joy when someone says, "These came off my great aunt's coat." So here are my field notes recorded from the other side of the hobby table. Observation One: Buttons are apparently alive In miniatures, miniatures are inert until I animate them with dice and poor tactical decisions. Buttons, however, are sentient, at least according to my wife. Buttons "want" to be displayed. Some "don't like" being stored with buttons of a different material. Some spend a great deal of time in the "hospital ." Observation Two: Scale is a universal language We both speak scale, just different dialects. I say, "This tank is 1:56, but the hatch is slightly oversized." She says, "This is a late 19th-century military button, but it's a reproduction. See how the shank is wrong?" We nod knowingly at each other, two scholars of completely incompatible, yet spiritually identical obsessions. The real danger is collaboration. I have caught myself holding a button up to a miniature and thinking. You know, that would make a great objective marker, and she has caught herself thinking, That galleon would look nice framed. Observation Three: Storage is a moral battlefield Wargaming teaches you that storage solutions are never final and you're always needing more. Trays breed. Boxes multiply. Drawers fill mysteriously overnight. We once had a heated debate over who needed more storage space. I confess I knew it was me ... all that terrain. We settled on her having a dedicated room and me taking over the basement. Observation Four: We both hoard history I justify my purchases by saying I'm preserving history and educating myself. She does the same, except her artifacts are authentic, and mine are made of resin and regret. Still, the instinct is the same: to rescue a small piece of the past and give it a safe home. Observation Five: Mutual respect is earned through silence The greatest sign of love in our house is not shared hobbies, it is respectful non-interference. She does not ask why I need another army when I already have one in green. I do not ask why she needs more moonglows. We simply nod, get something to drink, and return to our magnifying glasses. Final Observation: We are the same species At the end of the day, a button collector's husband who paints tiny soldiers is not a contradiction. We are both people who see value in the small, the overlooked, and the slightly absurd. We both know that joy can be measured in millimeters and that history doesn't need to be big to be meaningful. Also, we both know this: if society collapses, our household will not survive on practical skills, but by heavens, it will be beautifully curated. Happy Buttoning, David Allnutt : WEBSITE UPDATES ENCYCLOPEDIA: No new entries this month, but consider browsing through the many available. Any specific requests? Send them through the Contact WBA Form. PROGRAM RECORDINGS:
DIGITAL JOURNAL: Thank you to our member authors for this month's contributions. Grab a "cuppa" and enjoy the read.
CREATIVE GALLERY: Check out a few of the member submissions for the Art Styles Challenge from the February Creative Program. MEMBER MARKET: Continue to support our members by shopping the Member Market. All are thankful for your purchases. WEBSITE ASSISTANT: We're still looking for an assistant to help with the website for a few hours per month. If you have Weebly experience, website design/layout, or know HTML (nice but not required), we'd love to hear from you.  Hello Fellow Buttoners, The shortest month of the year is a very busy one, at least here in America. First, there's Groundhog Day, where Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his hole to tell us whether we'll have more winter or see an early spring. Next up is the Super Bowl, then Valentine's Day, then Presidents' Day, and the whole month is a celebration of Black History. Whew! Perhaps the most celebrated event this month, unless your team wins the Super Bowl, is Valentine's Day. With that comes one of the most universally recognized symbols, the heart, along with gifts of chocolate and flowers to our loved ones. Mostly forgotten, however, is the role buttons have played in how we express love. From heart-shaped designs to sentimental keepsakes sewn onto clothes, buttons have long been a part of how we show love and creativity. In the 18th and 19th centuries, buttons were more than fasteners; they were statements. Sometimes they were given as a token of affection, especially when the cost of jewelry was too high. Carved bone, porcelain, and glass buttons featuring hearts, flowers, or initials displayed feelings or intentions. During the Victorian era, when emotions were kept low-key, buttons sewn onto clothing could signal mourning or affection. A button could sometimes say what words were unable to articulate. One of the most endearing traits of a button is its ability to hold memories. Buttons may be small, but they connect us to one another. A tin of buttons can evoke warm recollections of the mother or grandmother who saved them. A lone button found in the bottom of a drawer can be a precious reminder of days and people gone by. On Valentine's Day especially, a button can remind us that love lives in the small things every day of our lives. Happy Buttoning, Debbie WBA UPDATES Lynn Keller has resigned from her position as parliamentarian and as host of New Collectors' Club. Thank you Lynn for your time and effort on behalf of WBA. Jocelyn Howells will be the new host for New Collectors' Club. While the focus of this group is on guiding new collectors, Jocelyn wants everyone to know they are welcome to come and participate. After all, everyone is a new collector of something. Gina Barrett will move into the monthly hosting position for Creative Expressions beginning in February. Welcome, Gina. Joy Journeay will continue to host the spring and fall events. Finally, WBA founder Simone Kincaid has announced her resignation. Her familiar and hearty laugh will be missed at Button Talk as well as her ability to Google and come up with answers at a moment's notice. She worked tirelessly to help create WBA. Thank you, Simone. WEBSITE UPDATES Still thinking about contributing to WBA? Send us your short encyclopedia entries, articles, anecdotes, or whatever stories of interest you'd like to share! A small paragraph or two and a button or two make for a nice post! ABOUT: New Board Members ENCYCLOPEDIA: Berlin Iron PROGRAM RECORDINGS: Mourning Buttons by Dorothy Krugner Bring Your Bling with Joy Journeay Queen Bee Millinery with Ranelle Larocque MEMBER MARKET: Don't forget to shop the Member Market! New buttons have been added to many of the stores. Do you have some buttons you'd like to sell? Set up a Google Photo, Flickr, or other photo site, and we can help you from there. We'll use that link to point members to the buttons you want to sell. If you already have a selling site, we can link to it as well. Wanna trade? Looking for something special? We can post those requests on our Bulletin Board at the top of the Member Market page. Member Market is an awesome member benefit. Use the Member Market Form to send your requests. WEBSITE ASSISTANT: We're still looking for an assistant to help with the website for a few hours per month. If you have Weebly experience, website design/layout, or know HTML (nice but not required), we'd love to hear from you. Hello Buttoners, It's 3am. I can't sleep, so I try to be productive instead of just begging the sandman to come. I just finished the book I've been reading, so now what? I think about WBA and what needs to be done. Ah, the blog! I'm no Clement Moore, but I write anyway. Happy Holidays, Debbie  Website Updates What's New for 2026? We added a few new features to the website. There are two buttons for help: one for general login issues and another for Zoom help. If you are having issues registering for programs or missed registering, click on the button, and your Zoom host will do her best to review the emails a few minutes before the presentation opens.
PRESENTATION RECORDINGS: "Carving Buttons" by Brad Elfrink We thank Judy Masur for gifting the "Is that a Colt?" presentation she gave to the Historical Button Club of Idaho to WBA, and Joy Journeay for her gift, "Bugs." Both are posted under the Recordings tab. NEW ARTICLES: Zwirnknöpfe Buttons by Gina Barrett ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES: Antiquarian shank Box shank Inserted shank Key shank - two new images Niello (early) - Outside of Thailand Omega shank - new image Soufflé glaze Tintype (ferrotype) Wood back Zwirnknöpfe MEMBER MARKET: Let's welcome Simone Kincaid to the Member Market! WEBSITE ASSISTANT: We're still looking for an assistant to help with the website for a few hours per month. If you have Weebly experience, website design/layout, or know HTML (nice but not required), we'd love to hear from you.  These are tomorrow’s collectables: plastic and natural materials. As I write this it's late November and the Holiday Season is in full swing. For us in America, the first "There goes my diet" day during the holidays arrives this month at Thanksgiving. We cook for days, eat in minutes, spend the next hour cleaning up, maybe go for a walk, then collapse on the couch. More and more events fill the calendar until, in a few short weeks, Santa arrives. Holiday light tours, shopping, special holiday productions holiday markets; it's a whirlwind. Then boom, suddenly, it's a new year. But now in the evenings I leave the TV football watching to my husband and retreat to my button room. The upstairs is quiet and there's nothing to distract me. I leave my phone and iPad elsewhere so as not to be tempted to scroll. Me time. Time to play with my buttons. I have a large wicker basket filled with buttons on cards like the ones you see here. These are buttons I picked up at sewing stores and wherever buttons were sold. I often forget they're around and am always delighted to rediscover them. Their subject matter is so varied and charming. I hope you take some time to pamper yourself during this season when we always seem so rushed. Make time for you, whether it's time alone, time together with some special people, or baking cookies. Focus on that which brings you peace and joy and you will pass those qualities on to others. I wish you much peace and joy as the year winds down and that they follow you into the new year. Thank you to Maureen Needham, who filled in as president last month. Maureen has resigned her position and we wish her well as she moves on to her next challenge. Happy Buttoning, Debbie WEBSITE UPDATES Thanks to all of our contributors to the website! New contributions keep our website fresh and interesting. We are building such a valuable knowledge base for all of our members and researchers. PROGRAM RECORDINGS: DRESSING THE GUILDED AGE with Gwen Whiting, Washington State Historical Society CHERISHED MEMORIES with Joy Journeay WBA DIGITAL JOURNAL West's Spring Solitaires by Alan Hepburn Dorset Buttons by Gina Barrett Early Niello Buttons (Made Outside of Thailand) by Jane Perry MEMBER MARKET - LET'S WELCOME OUR NEWEST ADDITIONS and LET'S GO SHOPPING! Kaori Uwashige of Japan Brad Elfrink of Missouri Gina Barrett of the UK NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES: We've added the following entries to the WBA Encyclopedia. Thanks to the members for their contributions. We are still encouraging members to contribute to this valuable resource. Submit your entry through the online form. Dorset Buttons Escutcheon Metal Deposit West's Spring Solitaires WEBSITE CHOPS: Do you have website design experience, knowledge of HTML, and graphic design experience? We're looking for a website assistant. Contact Pam Luke if you have a few hours a month you can volunteer. |
