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Art You Can Do: Button Crown
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It’s been a while since we tackled an art project so I thought I would bring you a rather simple one. Using things you may likely have in your home already, you can produce one of a kind works of art. Today we use buttons, but I have done similar projects (with my kids) with dried beans.
One of the best things about Art You Can Do (AYCD) is that is doesn’t have to be perfect. Make it personal. You might even want to get your family involved. Since you didn’t pay a fortune for a piece of artwork you won’t feel bad if it goes wrong or you decide to change it out. You can also customize it to coordinate with the color and mood of the room. You may be surprised at what you can do if you put your mind to it.
savour… creative thinking
Get the rest after the jump…
Button Crown
Before you start:
Don’t go nuts with any of the materials. I used an old dress that was going to be donated. You could certainly use some scrap fabric or pick up a remnant at your local fabric store for very little money.
Avoid patterns, but texture is fine as long as it is subtle.
You may be tempted to skip the preliminary layout without glue, but don’t. Make sure you have the design you want and that it is centered before you apply any glue.
If you accidentally get a spot of glue on your fabric, do not try to rub it off. Let it dry and see if you can scrape it off.
Put your imagination to work. I used white and cream buttons on my project with a little shine only because I wanted the finished project to sparkle a little. You may choose to go a different route.
What you will need:
- Shadow box frame
- Cardboard or foam core
- Straight pins
- Fabric
- Duct tape or similar sticky tape
- Lots of buttons
- Fabric glue (fabric-tac)
The steps:
-
- Decide on your graphic.
- Cut your base to fit inside the shadow box frame with equal space around all sides.
- Cut a piece of scrap paper the same size as the base.
- Rough sketch your graphic on the paper so you can estimate placement.
- Cover the base with the fabric using tape and straight pins in the edges.
- Lay your buttons out in the pattern you want.
- Adjust as necessary to get it just right.
- Glue down each button with fabric glue.
- Remove any excess strings of glue with adhesive side of tape.
- Mount to shadow box with glue.
- Assemble shadow box.
- Hang.
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I love buttons and use them all the time in my art. This is a great and simple way to use Granny's jammy buttons. Those tiny tiny mother of pearl beauties. They are too gorgeous to be in a box or jar somewhere. Nice job, thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Patti Robinson Beaded Bird | 09/21/2010 at 08:55 AM