This pair is actually the first in the series of floral buttons I made, but as I had attached them together to make a double ‘cuff-link’ style button for holding my frankenstein vest together, they were difficult to photograph.

So I suppose the only real upside to the one breaking is that I no longer had an excuse to not photograph them. (Of course I could've taken the middle link apart at any time, but I was too lazy to do that.) These buttons are significantly smaller than the other ones depicted.

soda lime buttons, 30 and 26mm respectively. Feb or Mar 06. Evidently I was careless about getting the camera level on the copystand, hence the button on the left is out of focus. Sorry.

The back side clearly shows how the shank, made of .045 316 (bent) mandrel wire just ripped right out of the glass. The connecting link is copper, ’cuz I had fantasies of soldering it closed, till I realized there was no way I could get a torch flame in there without cracking both the buttons. Duh. Given that the shank for another button out of the total of 4 I made for the vest is loosening already, I'd say my test, currently with a 50% failure rate, would indicate that steel wire shanks are Not A Good Idea.

Back. Isn't that sherbet orange luscious? Alas, the same cannot be said of my shanking methods. The dimple/slit near the edge is no doubt a mostly healed crack, but the small slit near the breakage is an earlier, failed attempt to insert the shank.

I plan to epoxy the other loose shank in place, and I s'pose I could stick this one back in the kiln, run it up to boro soak temps, and slap a glass shank on it. It might not even crack...

file originally created 20mar06

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.