6 - 1" Buttons from Re-Conceived.com @ Renegade Craft Fair

Item Purchased: 6 - 1" Buttons from Re-Conceived.com @ Renegade Craft Fair
Location Purchased: re-conceived.com / Renegade Craft Fair / 1419 W. Blackhawk / Chicago, IL
Price: $5.00 w/tax

Review: Again with the buttons?

Yes... Again with the buttons.

I don't know what it is about these kids these days with their button making machines and the bowls upon bowls of these little badges of nostalgia crowding up every DIY fair I go to. I don't know what it is about me being drawn to these bowls, plunging my hand into them as if they were fine grains or accupuncture needles that instantly cure me of all of my ills. I like buttons. I like the personal decoration they provide without necessarily being categorized as jewelry. I like the advertising some buttons achieve (hint hint). I like the recycled art ethic that button making highlights (of course, the plastic and metal used in making buttons isn't necessarily recycled). My name is Kevin and I am a button addict.

Standard price for 1" buttons nowadays hovers right around $1.00 (except in some cases). In addition to the time and materials used in making buttons, what else am I paying for? I suppose I am paying the button maker for their haphazard design luck or their keen eye (I'd wager 50/50 between the former and the latter). The buttons at re-conceived.com's table at the Renegade Craft Fair were priced at $1.25 each or 6 buttons for $5.00. Though a little steep when compared to the other buttons at nearly every other table, re-conceived.com had the widest variety of found-art buttons of the vendors. I spend nearly 15 minutes scooping buttons out of a bowl and examining them one by one until I came up with six I liked. By the looks of my choices, I can now wear on my lapel my fondness for happy clouds, coffee/tea, baby ducks/chickens, fans of paper currency and 1970's era abstract design that resembles a tree from an Ed Emberley book.

Hooray me.

A part of me thinks I should get my own button making machine and tailor my flair more accurately to my personal taste, but half of the fun is in the hunt.

Rating: 3.75 / 5

Visit the Forum! / Enter the Dec. 2006 Contest!