MAKING BUTTONS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 155, 29 December 1936, Page 5

MAKING BUTTONS

UNUSUAL MATERIALS

NUTS AS A BEGINNING

Because a zipper closing on a beau* tiful London-made leather jacket offended him, Warren C. Anderson, of 'Massachusetts, decided to do something about it, writes Ethel M. Eaton in the "Christian Science Monitor." And what he did was to go out and buysome shagbark hickory nuts. His chil T ' dren ate the meats; he experimented with the shells. While he worked, his thoughts reverted to boyhood days in Virginia and old John, the coloured coachman who had been with the family for many years. Old John always had carried in his pocket a horse chest? nut as a charm. It had been the same horse chestnut for twenty years or more, and it had taken on a brilliant polish with the passing of time.

If a horse chestnut was capable of such a polish, what about other nuts? The hickory nut experiment was a sue* cess. Merely the perfect halves, polished, filled with plastic, an attaching device inserted—lo! a beautiful, distinctive button.

Driving in the country one autumn day, he spied by the roadside some acorns. Out he got and gathered a pocketful. In this case he decided to use the cups only. As with the hickory nuts, nothing was done except to polish, fill with plastic, and insert an attaching device. . With the present vogue for knitted garments and sportswear of tweed, these buttons fitted perfectly. And it was all so simple. No trick arrangements. The nuts themselves provided the colour, form, and line. MOST OF THE NUT FAMILY. In the wake of the acorn followed, one by one, practically the entire nut family—filberts, pecans, almonds, Brazil nuts, butternuts, peach and apricot stones, date pits—all destined for k decorative life, after being polished within an inch of their lives. Encouraged by the results of his experiments, and by the reaction of the foremost New York fashion designer's, Mr. Anderson secured an idle factory building. Unemployed people were put to work —girls to pick out nut meats, men to cut, polish, and complete the finished button. And all this time, the experiments were continuing. Harking back again to childhood days in the South, he remembered the Kentucky coffee bean tree that grew near Stonewall Jackson's grave. He had often gathered these beans just foe the sake of gathering them. Accordingly, he now procured a supply. The shape was interesting; the colour rici* seal brown, and it took a beautiful polish. With green or yellow garments, it was perfect. In fact, it proved td be one of the aristocrats of the nut family. , Coconut shells in the-rough wouldn't seem to present many possibilities, but surprisingly beautiful flat buttons —square, triangular, and round —were made from them. These have slightly curved surfaces, of course, and possess a certain rugged charm. And coffee beans, too, just ordinary ones—fragrance and all—were pressed into button service. THE CORN COB. Next to come in for a share of aU\ tention were—of all things!—corn cobs.; Yes, just plain corn cobs. The cobs aiSs first aged from one to two years, when' they will have become very hard. They then are cut into slices and pieces otvarious sizes and shapes and polished.. And do they give distinction'to the gap.l ment they adorn! , T Natural woods came forward for .* place in the sun. One of our common wild shrubs, the sumach, took on the' rich, colour and texture of . pulled I molasses candy and was named tho "molasses candy wood." ; From buttons it was but natural that the next step should be sport "jewel-i lery," designed to co-ordinate with thei fastenings. Cuff links, belt buckles,; bracelets, studs, pins, ear ornaments, i etc, are all fashioned from these pro-! ducts of Nature. Date pits mako; charming little pins, as well as buttons. Tips of the larger nuts are used for this: purpose, as well as slices, in addition! to the wholes and halves. Tiny cones] from native fir trees were also mobile ised for the fashion world. Then they went to sea for material. Shells got themselves into the fashionj news. Tiny coral-coloured lobsterj claws, the smallest of clam shells, littlesand dollars, blue mussels—whole regi-l ments of them are pouring into the factory to be converted into attractive ornaments. Up in a Maine coast town! a boy earned his first year's collegs expenses gathering sea urchins. : The vegetable kingdom was invaded, too. Fascinating beans of all colour* —native and imported—peas, .lentils, sunflower seeds, barley, even macaroni' and spaghetti. The result is that today several hundreds of hitherto unemployed men anaj women are finding gainful employment; [and the fashion world is agog ovet! k>mething new.