Wonder how many buttons I have? I have lots. Thousands. It's not like I can just pick up one button and pick up another button and put them together, though. I carefully pick buttons with matching tones of colors (there are so many shades of greens, blues, and browns), designs, shapes and then match those elements with the right characteristics of the salt cellar, feel of a brooch pin, usability of a bookmark, and the style for the neckline. To say the least, it's a lot of work!

Finding the buttons is probably the toughest part. I'm always running out of larger sized buttons. I use the larger diameter buttons for the bases of the lids for the Salt Cellar Ring Boxes, Button Pendant Necklaces, and for Button Brooch Pins. As part of my full-time self-employment, I am always digging and sorting through all the vendor booths at flea markets (sometimes there are 500 vendors!). I feel the obsession to go into each vendor's booth so that I do not miss my opportunity to find the buttons. Bakelite is my favorite find! It's such an interesting history to our world and not very many people know its importance. It was the first all-chemical plastic invented in 1907 by a Belgian chemist named Leo Baekeland. This substance was the springboard for a long future of plastic. I like to get these Bakelite buttons, and all cool old buttons, out of the closets and attics and give them a new prestigious life as new handmade items. There are so many beautiful buttons out there just waiting for me to find them!