I love making buttons. I love selling buttons. I love SEEING my buttons on projects.

For a person with such an obsession for making small flat items, my problem is an unexpected one. For most of my family and my friends, they just don’t use buttons. They could replace their current buttons with my buttons but they aren’t the type to make things that need new buttons. They don’t knit or crochet, sew or make. With this in mind, I’m at my worktable trying to figure items that will capture their hearts like the buttons are capturing the hearts of crafters.

I have trouble stepping into the minds of non-crafters – what can I make that you want? What can I make that non-button-lovers would covet? Since I can’t step into your mind, I stepped into my own.

The mugs I drink from every day are all pieces that I have made. They are functional art, turning my boring morning coffee ritual into something meaningful, contemplative, beautiful. The ceramic lip of my mugs are thrown just so to meet an approaching lip. The mug is thick enough to retain the heat of the  drink and thin enough to feel light in the hand. The handle, flat and wide for easy of handling and the body a perfect rounded angle to cup your hands around, absorbing the heat of the coffee on these cold mornings. As I drank this coffee, I look around at the activities I enjoy. How can I make them more beautiful?

On the table is my newest find from the library. As much as I use the e-library and ebooks, I read real books more often than not. My husband and I have three large bookshelves holding our favourite copies, to be read, lent out and read again.

It only makes sense that my newest experiment be bookmarks. As a bonus, the half moon and circular tops are as fun to make as buttons. I have enjoyed figuring out the process and, not only can everyone I know enjoy them, I can also put them up in my shop for others to enjoy.  I popped my first batch up on my etsy shop, posted a Facebook and Twitter advisory, and these babies were almost sold out within the first 24 hours.

In a world where I thought the ebook was the majority, I’m very happy to be wrong.

It’s not a surprise that I’m working on a larger batch this week. Do you have any ideas for the tops? I’m imprinting textures, dreaming of glaze combinations and looking forward to these being a permanent fixture in my shop, and in my own books.