Crafting is like cooking: much of it is about finding the best materials. In a community of crafters, vintage fabrics, ribbons, pins, buttons and other materials can also serve as a sort of local currency, which entitles crafters to participate in a swap.
Inspired by the Open Money Manifesto, I decided to explore materials swapping. As a start, I invested in five kilos of vintage buttons. Consider this my initial capital as a trader on the market. In the next two weeks I'm going to find out what I can buy with this currency and how.
Here are some examples of what I've got.
Hop to and keep us posted, we're waiting with baited breath. Great buttons. Certainly there are some crafty chicks that can dish you up some nibbles in exchange for a bunch of buttons.
Posted by: Debra | May 27, 2005 at 09:48 AM
Thank you for encouragement, Debra!! I will certainly carry some buttons with me if I'm ever in your neighbourhood..Those pictures in your blog are just wonderful!
To be honest, I haven't made a great progress with my swapping project yet, so I better be patient and prolong the time of this experiment. I actually did get some foam rubber from my friend Liisa in exchange for a small selection of buttons, but I guess she would have given me that anyway. Actually, I was thinking that it would be great if could buy some web design with buttons but I haven't met a designer yet who would appreciate this currency :-) Anyway, I'll keep you posted!
Posted by: Ulla-Maaria | May 29, 2005 at 12:44 PM
The large greenish button in the first photo looks like a possibility, or maybe the greenish woven looking one for this jacket I'm working on: http://maryburr.com/studioblog/?p=13
What are the diameters of the buttons in this photo?
Posted by: Mary Burr | June 11, 2005 at 07:20 AM