The magic of the button tin
Or as seen on the internet now, granny's deceptive cookie tin
Both of my grandma’s had cookie tins full of buttons and one of my favorite childhood activities was to rummage through their buttons. We even learned simple physics using a button to create a whirligig. I didn’t know it was called that until I just looked it up. I must have made a million whirligigs as a child.
To make one you need:
One large heavyish button
About three feet of string
put one end of the string through both holes
pull through
tie a knot
one loop on the index finger of each hand
whirl it like mad in the direction away from you until it’s pretty winded up
move both hands in towards the button and out until it starts to work on it’s own
keep trying if you don’t get it right, it’s really easy but it might take a few tries.
I completed the last project I worked on so I spent some time with my youngest today. We ran through the rain for a while, then came in and played some video games together. While I was playing, it came to me that I should start a project I had on my mind for a weeks now but haven’t done yet. I’m going to make earrings from buttons. I got the idea from this pin. I thought that this craft would make an excellent $1 item for my shop/craft fairs when I start doing them. I have about 1 million buttons because I have such childhood nostalgia from going through the button tins that I buy every single button jar, box, bag, and tin full of buttons that I see. So I bought some hypo allergenic flat earring posts (I had no idea what those were called when I was trying to search for them) and some metal glue which my husband already used to fix something with, so it paid for itself. This is definitely a small profit idea, but I think it would be really great for children looking for gifts for their moms or grandmas.
The thing about buttons is that they are addictive. I still go through my buttons now as an adult, and I still get as much joy from it as I used to. I often find I need a button in my crafts, so there is no fear that they will go unused. When I die, my children will inherit their share of my button stash, sure, but I think they will be okay.
The thing about the tin is it is constantly multiplying on its own. It is actually magic. Take these CIA hat pins for example.
I knew that I had one but now somehow I have two. Every time I go through my buttons, I find something I feel like I’ve never seen before.
And it is always like stepping into another world, another life, if in a small way. The CIA pins came in a nurses stash of buttons from a nurse. I know that because she had a nurse pin and a blood donor pin as well. I also believe she could have had a military affiliation because she had buttons typical of military uniforms.
These Docendo discimus ex nihilo nihil fit buttons are very interesting to me. A quick google search leads me to see that it is possible that buttons like these are replicas British coinage. There is not much more information about them, but I find these quite often in button stashes. Her stash also included plenty of small white buttons which would make sense for an older nurses uniform.
Now I have a lady I have never met in my mind and I can see her career all laid out before me. It may or may not be accurate, that is not really the point. The point is the fun of imagining. She could have been Clair from Outlander (the first book in the series is one of my all time favorite books) which is not possible obviously, but imaginations are great like that. The fact that her buttons are possibly replicas of British coins makes the idea that much more awesome.
Anyway. This phrase on the buttons “Docendo discimus ex nihilo nihil fit” means “We learn by teaching. From nothing comes nothing” according to the source linked above. I think that is a very awesome phrase that I feel might fit substack. These buttons seem possibly masonic or something like that. I would use these for my earrings, but something tells me there is more to be learned about these buttons, so I will leave them as they are for now.
I decided to keep my first earrings simple and also match my new purse (fly agaric mushroom purse here and it can be commissioned here).
I’ll be sure to let y’all know how it goes. Thank you for being with me today while I talk about my button obsession. If you like what you read, please subscribe. Your support will go a long way towards a stay at home mom growing a business that could truly change the lives of myself and my family.