The Button Craft Book

by Dawn Cusick

Contains many ideas for using buttons creatively, and also for making buttons. The book demonstrates the use of a variety of craft techniques and materials, ranging from metal, wood and gemstones, to polymer clay, seed beading and tatting.

Genres: Crafts

144 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1995

About the author

Dawn Cusick is blessed with many talents. She combined her writing and artistic skills and spent nearly twenty years working an in-house author and editor for a craft book publisher, producing titles such as Tabletop Fountains, The Michaels' Book of Arts and Crafts, and multiple editions of Quilt National. Her fascination with science and nature has now led her to create children's science books.

In between books, Dawn teaches biology at a community college in western North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, two sons, and not nearly enough cats.

Reviews

[Coffeecups]

I love that there are so many button fanatics that's so neat of humanity.
I do think this book is slightly misrepresented as a how-to. It does have some instructions on projects but ultimately is an inspiration book and an ode to button collections of every size.

[Amy Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for a book with lots of fun projects to do with all those buttons you have lying around, you've come to the wrong place. The first half of the book is about where buttons come from and how wonderful they are. (Hooray. I get it. Buttons are cool and people want to do things with them. That's why I checked this book out.) There are a few bits about how to create special buttons like cross-stitch buttons or knotted buttons. The next section shows buttons used to decorate items, mostly vests and hats. These displays are accompanied by descriptions of who created them and why. There are a couple of projects, such as the button earrings, that have a brief description of how they were made, but the descriptions use lots of jargon that the average crafter may or may not know. The section about the Button King (picture as many buttons covering as many surfaces as you can, then double it) is both interesting and slightly creepy.
Overall, this book is good for someone who says, "I'd like to see a bunch of crap covered in buttons. I also love vests."

[Bonnie Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic coffee table book. Cusick has scoured near and far and pulled together and interesting and fun collection of buttons, their uses, and their art. This book is sure to please button enthusiasts and those merely interested in flipping through a few pages to pass the time.

[Barb Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many great ideas, button beret, button headbands, vests, quilts.