Button art

I've always loved buttons. As a child, I would sit with my mother's button box and sort them by size, color, and sometimes, just loved to play with them and match them up. I spent hours doing this. I have her button box and three of my own. So, a few years back, I made this:

I made it from buttons from her button box. Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I went to see my daughter finish the Monument 10K in Richmond, VA. Walking from the parking spot to the race finish line, I passed a small art gallery. In the window was this:

My brain started spinning. I could do this! I have small manikins and oodles of buttons, right? I started it the next day. I picked one of my mini dress forms, the biggest of the bunch and one with a stand. I cleaned up the felt finish and started going through buttons. I decided to keep dark colors and white out of the mix, focusing on red, green, blue, yellow, pink, purple, and orange. I do a few buttons a day and stare at it a lot, trying to decide what to do next. Here's the progress since April 13, 2013:

Front 

Side 

Side

Back

It's taking a lot longer than I expected and I was running short on buttons. I contacted a button collector friend of mine, and she sent me a jar of colorful ones. Now, I'm looking for very tiny buttons to help fill in some spaces. 

Because I can only do a few at a time in order for the glue to dry and the button not to shift, I suspect it will be another month or so before it's done. I will finish it with acrylic to keep it together and give it a washable coating. 

Who knows what I'll do next. With my sewing machine in the shop, I have to find something related to sewing, you know!