Button Art for a Gloomy Day

Cynthia H
by Cynthia H
5 Materials
$15
2 Hours
Easy
My kids would say I hoard buttons. Since I do have a lot of them (I really like them) I just smile, because if they need a button, guess who they always come to? When I was a child, my grandmother would let me string buttons from her button tin. I loved the colors and shapes and even the feel of them. It became my relaxing go-to in a crazy world. I rediscovered buttons as an adult, sorting them by color and shape. Did I accumulate a few? Yes, but, the jars of different colored buttons take up little room and bring me so much pleasure, I find it a harmless way to accumulate something. So, today, it was gloomy, I was feeling out of sorts and I decided to create a canvas art with buttons.
I watered down some leftover blue Fusion paint and started painting a canvas I had on hand. They are both available at Amazon.


After painting the entire canvas, I dragged a damp paper towel back and forth to give it a little texture.
Out came a couple jars of buttons. I ended up pulling some more out, but, this is how I store them, so it gives you a good idea.
I thought about making an actual picture with them. I made some curved lines and started playing with the colors. Before I knew it, I realized I wanted to try something different, so I started moving them around.
I kept moving them around until I realized how I wanted them.
I got out my trusty low temp glue gun (the buttons can be removed without damaging them if you decide to do something different with them later), spread out the the buttons into a design I liked, and then started gluing them on one and two at a time. Low temp glue gets solid pretty fast, so be ready to place your button after putting the glue on the surface. Find a comfortable spot to work, because it takes some time. I kept moving things around as I glued them, just enjoying myself.





You can do this with a child, as long as you are doing the glue gun part. The advantage of the low temp glue gun, is it really isn't that hot. I manage not to get any blisters or burns using one.
The glue holds them in place, and when I decided to remove one and use another, it was easy and didn't damage the button. It did lift the paint a little but the button I put on covered it. So there you have it! Something fun to put up on the wall of my craft room, on a gloomy day, brightening things up! You can pull the "strings" that accumulate when doing this, without disrupting the buttons.


Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
 3 comments
Next