Friday, January 7, 2011

Fun Finds Friday - Buttons


Buttons.
A whole BIG zip lock bag filled with buttons.
I washed them all, then put them out on two big
cookie sheets to dry.
They almost filled that 8" jar in the top picture.


That was what was left after I sorted out all
the "Mother of Pearl" buttons.
I said it like that cause I'm not sure
I know how to tell if they are or not.

I think most of these are.
Can you tell?
How can I tell for sure?
My friend Dinae (Diane Knott's Musings left this comment:
Blogger Diane said...

Barb, they sure look like MOPs to me!! YOU DID GREAT!!!! Wonderful find!! MOPs are usually not perfect and they actually do have the pearly look of the shells they're from. If you compare them side-by-side with plastic or bakelite ones, you'll see the difference right away. You have a good eye!
You go!
Diane

Tete said...

Mother of Pearl will look like an opal- kind of shimmery to the light- and not a solid white.
Love buttons! One of my favorite things and I love the rusty ones!
Hugs- Tete

Thanks Ladies!!!
And look what else I found.
RUSTY buttons!!!
I just love rust.
These will be so fun to play with on my art.


That was just a smidgen of my fun finds last week.
Rest still waiting to be unloaded from car.
(had to do inventory before I could lug more treasures in.)

Hope you are all having a great first week of the New Year.

blessings

barbara jean

Oh, I forgot to tell you:
That whole big bag of buttons was only $2.00!!!!!!!

10 comments:

Angela Richardson said...

Oh How I love to find such treasures.
I'm an easy girl to please.

Tete said...

Mother of Pearl will look like an opal- kind of shimery to the light- and not a solid white.
Love buttons! One of my favorite things and I love the rusty ones!
Hugs- Tete

Anonymous said...

Barb, they sure look like MOPs to me!! YOU DID GREAT!!!! Wonderful find!! MOPs are usually not perfect and they actually do have the pearly look of the shells they're from. If you compare them side-by-side with plastic or bakelite ones, you'll see the difference right away. You have a good eye!
You go!
Diane

Rose ~Victorian Rose ~ said...

Never have thought of washing the buttons I find..but it probably is a good idea.
You do have a number of them to look thru for the Mother of Pearl ones...I do not know buttons well enough to help you out..but I am sure there are others who can.

LOVE the rusty ones too.

Rose

Denise said...

I will be waiting with you for the answer.I just had to smile when I saw your post.Right before Christmas I found two jars full of buttons at my Goodwill in their glass cabinet.I did the same,washed and dryed then looked at everyone of them.Wow was that fun.They are all different materials I can tell by the feel of them but thats all I know.Would love to know more.

Linda @ A La Carte said...

I love buttons and a big ole bag for $2 score!!

Glenda/MidSouth said...

I wish I did know how to tell the difference. I have wondered that myself.
Have a great weekend.

Robin said...

Great find and those rusty ones look sooooo cool!

Hugs,
Robin

Vicki said...

Love those rusty ones...and $2 sounds like a great deal.

Lululiz said...

Great find! And isn't it just so much fun emptying out a big bag and searching through to find the good stuff? I can happily spend hours doing that.
As to recognising MOP buttons, this is how I do it -
Turn the buttons over and look at the back. Especially on old buttons you will find that the back is not very smooth, it will often be bumpy and show little bits of the shell outer

Touch the button to your cheek. Plastic buttons will feel warm compared to MOP, which are cold when you touch them to your skin

If you have washed them, click one against your teeth, I know it sounds silly, but you can tell by the sound whether they are plastic or MOP/glass, plastic sounds much duller than MOP or glass

The beautiful shimmery shine can never be properly imitated by plastic, once you have looked at a few, you will just know

Hope that helps a little
xx