Tag Archive | tagua nut buttons

Friday’s Favorites: Tagua Nut Buttons

Nov6
tagua nut buttons, Bakelite roses

Woodland Roses

Friday’s Favorites is all about “tagua nut buttons”. The vintage buttons on the necklace and bracelet are made almost entirely from tagua nut (the necklace has a few celluloid buttons). I have used mostly natural colored buttons, but a few have a darker brown dye added to the carved ones, some even have a cross-hatch pattern which is quite pretty. I used a variety of buttons on the necklace, two hole, four hole and shank; in designs such as “fish eye” and whistle; where as on the bracelet just shank buttons. The vintage roses on the necklace are carved Bakelite, and the round discs on the bracelet are wood. The necklace is a variation of my “Vintage Bling Bling” pattern, and the bracelet is the “Bohemian Button Bracelet” pattern.

Vegetable Ivory- or Tagua Nut from the Corozo Palm (except from Button Identification and Cleaning)

This nut comes from the Corozo Palm that grows in South America. It is a hard, versatile nut that can be carved and dyed. It has been used since the late 19th century s an alternative to ivory because the striations of the nut resemble those in ivory. It is softer than bone. The dye only absorbs on the surface layer, so the carving is left as the natural color of the nut. The tagua nut was popular from 1890- 1920, but has found resurgence since 1990.

vintage tagua nut buttons

Tagua Nut Buttons

All of these buttons here except for the red button are vintage.

What is amazing about tagua nut buttons is that each vintage one is made, one at a time, hand carved, hand dyed. Pretty remarkable.

The colors are so pretty close-up, rich natural browns; when dyed the colors tended to be greens both dark and light; black (which I ask what is the point because it is hard to see the beauty of the nut); browns from light to dark; and red as seen in the group that is tied together, notice the carving and how it shows the nut underneath. Some tagua nut buttons were inlaid with shell, or metal, some were dyed, carved and another color rubbed into the carving.

For further reading may I suggest “Button Button Identification & Price Guide”.

Enjoy your day, play in the button box if you have time! Christen

Woodland Roses- necklace

Jun1
Woodland Roses- necklace

Woodland Roses- necklace

I have been collecting buttons for as long as I can remember, nothing really fancy or too expensive, just colors and shapes that I liked and thought that I could use. At first all buttons ended up on garments, my imagination being somewhat limited to their use I guess.

Several years ago when I started to create jewelry that was more complicated than stringing beads, I started to look at my button stash as a source for more creative designs.

This particular group started with the lovely carved Bakelite roses, which took me several months to collect on ebay. During this time I had found a wonderful collection of celluloid buttons in taupe, maple and chocolate with great patterns and shapes. I then looked into my tagua nut collection, these carved beauties come in such lovely understated tones that I new they would blend in nicely. A few carved horn buttons fell into place here and there.

Other treasures I found to carry out my theme here are the clip-on earrings which are a pair of vintage rosewood discs with celluloid roses. The pin shown below the earrings is an old Bakelite “Deco Era” buckle that I glued a pin back to.  The base of the necklace is made similar to the “Vintage Bling Bling” pattern; gathered and stitched with a silk cord for the tie. The buttons and the rose charms are stitched to the base with pearl cotton.

Woodland Roses- bracelets

Woodland Roses- bracelets

The first cuff bracelet is pierced with a lovely design and made tortoise shell. The second bracelet is made using my “Bohemian Button Bracelet” pattern. I used many vintage tagua nut buttons from my stash. The last bracelet (vintage) matches the first set of earrings (shown with the necklace), being made from rosewood discs with celluloid roses.

The pierced earrings are a collection of charms that didn’t end up on the necklace. The dangles are made from: rosewood with celluloid roses, wood discs, and carved Bakelite roses.

This was a fun ensemble to collect for, actually the collecting, hunting and gathering took longer than making the piece. That was the fun part of the adventure.

Happy stitching, make every day count, and enjoy- Christen