Button Earrings

I was in a fabric store and noticed they had all these tubes full of very old buttons.

So when I started looking at them I saw they would make ideal earrings.

I bought at least four of each and made a set in pierced and a set in clip earrings by clipping off the back of the button.

The were very popular and sold for $20 which was one of my most popular items in the early 90’s.

Later on I found the cutest animals, and Disney figurines that were buttons.

I sold those earrings for $10 and easily made three times profit on them since they were less than $2 for two buttons plus the earring backs.

It really surprised me when people would be more interested in purchasing manufactured buttons for earrings rather than customized clay earrings, but it was a great lesson.

The buttons were much more profitable and easier to create. I could make 20 pairs in one evening compared to two hours to make one pair of clay earrings.

It was of my earlier economic awakenings.

I was going to an event on the 4th of July in 1991 and I was looking for these earrings.

I couldn’t find them anywhere. The next day I dumped all my jewelry boxes on my bed and created my first jewelry hanger out of curtain white out and 10 point plastic.

I used a heavy duty plastic hanger and create 2 inch pockets to keep my earrings. It was great because I could finally see all my earrings. The missing July 4th earrings had been tucked behind a scarf clip.

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