Sometimes, when I have a little extra clay leftover from a slab type project, I make a few pendants or buttons so that I don’t waste the clay. I participated in a mini craft fair at my daughter’s elementary school last October and met a talented seamstress and designer, Eileen Schurer who promptly bought some of my buttons that I had brought with me. Eileen commissioned me to make about 24 more buttons in various colors to coordinate with some of the fabric that she was using for her gorgeous purses.
Unfortunately, Eileen doesn’t yet have a website, but she’s working on it. It sort of sounds like she’s plenty busy without the added exposure.
Meanwhile, I made more buttons to bring with me to the Fancy Tiger Holiday Handmade show last December and almost sold out. I had no idea that there was such a market for buttons - knitters, sewers, scrap book/altered artists and collectors are rabid about handmade buttons. Who would have thunk?
When I was at the Fancy Tiger show, I had a lengthy conversation with a woman who bought most of the buttons above for herself and her sister who both collect buttons. She advised me to market these more aggressively - telling me that truly one of kind, fantastic buttons can go for $50.00+ to collectors. That seems like quite a niche market, but one I’m not ready to dive into yet. I decided to do a quick search on ceramic buttons, and found this site - now here’s someone who has found her niche.The woman I spoke with advised me to sign my buttons for added value. Speaking of signatures, someone recently purchased a ceramic pendant from me, but was disappointed that I hadn’t signed it. I regularly sign my other ceramic work, but didn’t realize that people place a value on signatures for buttons and jewelry. What do you think?By the way, if anyone is interested in Eileen’s purses, shoot me an email and I’ll forward it to her.
Have a good week,
~Cynthia
Tags: ceramic buttons, clay button, designer purses, eileen schurer
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