THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 291, 9 December 1936, Page 16

THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS

JgECAUSE a zipper closing on a beautiful London-made leather jackel offended him, Warren C. Anderson, of Belmont, Mass., decided to do something about it, writes Ethel. M. Eaton in “The Christian Science Monitor.’' And what he did was to go out and buy some shagbark hickory nuts. His children 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 chestnut as a charm. It had been the same horse chestnut for 20 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 sikv cess. Merely the perfect halves, polish ed, filled with a plastic, an attaching device inserted —10l a beautiful, dis tinctive button.

Driving in tho country one autumn day, ho spied by tho roadsido some acorns. Out ho 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. Tho nuts themselves provided the colour, form and line.

In the wake of the acorn followed, one by one, practically the entiro nut family—filberts, pecans, almonds, Brazil nut's, butternuts, peach ’and apricot stones, dato pits—all destined for a 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 designers, Mr Anderson secured an idie factory building. Unemployed people were pul 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 childrood days

Some Unusual Materials

in the South, he remembered the Ken* tucky coffee bean tree that grew near Stonewall Jackson’s grave. He had often gathered these beans just for the sake of gathering them. Accordingly, he now procured a supply. The shape waa interesting; the colour rich seal brown; and it took a beautiful polish. With green or yellow garments it was perfect. In fact, it proved to be one of th e aristocrats of the nut family. Cocoanut shells in the rough wouldn’t seem to present many possibilities, blit 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.

Next to come in for a share of attention were—of all things!—corn cobs. Yes, just plain corn cobs. The cobs are first aged from one to two years, when they will have become very hard. They then are cut into slices and pieces of various sizes and shapes and polished. And do they eive distinction to tho gar' merit they adorn!

Natural woods came forward for a place iu the sun. One of our common wild shrubs, the sumac, took on th e rich colour and texture of pulled molasses candy and was named the “molasses candy wood.”

From buttons it was but natural that the next step should be sport “jewellery,” designed to co-ordinate with the fastenings. Cuff links, belt buckles, bracelets, studs, pins, ear ornaments, etc., are all fashioned from these products of nature. Date • pits make charming little pins, as well as buttons. Tips of the larger nuts are used for this purpose, as well as slices, iu addition to the wholes and halves. Tiny cones from native fir trees were, also mobilised for tho fashion world.

Then they went to sea for materiall Shells got themselves into the fashion news. Tiny coraLcoloured lobster claws, the smallest of clam shells, little sand dollars, blue mussels—whole regi. meats of them are pouring into the fac* tory to be converted into attractive or* naments. Up in a Maine coast town f a boy earned his first year’s college expenses gathering sea urchins. The vegetable kingdom was invaded too. Fascinating beaus of all colours—native and imported—peas, lentils, sun* flower seeds, barley, oven macaroni and spaghetti. The result is that to day several hundreds of hitherto unemployed men and women are finding gainful employment and the fashion world is agog over something new.