When I was in high school my dad bought me a button maker, really I think because he wanted one. I love making buttons, and I’ve made a lot of them over the years! I love making them out of found materials – magazine pictures, photos, fabric, newspaper scraps, etc. Once I found a butterfly wing and that button was my good luck charm for years. I used to always wear two buttons at my jeans pocket, and I’m sure I thought this was a very cool thing to do. I had a tiny business I called Button Up! and made buttons for the local bands in town. I would do birthday parties, and bring sheets of animals and dinosaurs for little kids to color so everyone got their own custom button. My favorites, though, were the hand drawn buttons, or the ones with random inside jokes that only me and my best friend got.

More recently, I’ve been making buttons each year to hand out at a planetary science conference I attend every year. These buttons have become collectors items, and nearly started bar fights. I also made button “merit badges” for academic achievements and gave my PhD advisor a sash covered in them. I’ve made buttons for burning man, buttons for parties, buttons for clubs – you get the idea 🙂

I even made these super fancy buttons for my friend who loves Disney:

Anyone need any buttons?