There's no such thing as a boring button

Had a fabulous catch up with my friend J tonight - she lives in Belfast and we haven't actually seen each other for a few years now, but we usually talk on the phone once a month or so and text in between. I don't think we've spoken since Christmas this time, so we were on the phone for 4 hours. Thank god for her free minutes!

She has in the past been a bit of a clothes hoarder - wardrobes and drawers stuffed to the gills, vacuum bags under the bed, spare room crammed with "pruck". But, the financial atmosphere being what it is, she's decided to put some stuff on that well known auction website to see if there are any takers. I assured here there would be - I once found a listing for a set of used false teeth which had 2 bids... The conversation segued to my love of buttons and she said she had a drawer full, but I wouldn't be interested in them because they weren't anything special. Little did she know... So now I'm waiting for an envelope of buttons in the post, quite possibly with a little more excitement than I should be!

I've spent this afternoon on campus - the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery occasionally run wee classes, and this afternoon's was bookbinding. The materials are all included when you book a place at a class, and they're (usually? always?) free.

So this afternoon, I expected some sort of arcane, secret knowledge involving top secret recipe glue and embossed lettering, but these are the products of my labour. My favourite is the fold out book (on the right) - looks beautiful but it's really quite simple to put together. The little ones at the front are paper and string, with a bit of clever folding, and the green one is the "20 second book". I may well be using the techniques for card making!

Also bought a piece of original artwork which I saw in a shop in Leeds last weekend, but didn't buy. It was still there today, which I took as a sign! And a few buttons, of course...

x

ps if you're in the Leeds area, take a look at Christopher P Wood's work in the Gallery - I just loved it and will be back for a closer look.