Buttons! A Peek in the Travel Souvenir Stash

I've been delighted and inspired by some recent posts on buttons from Sister Diane and Average Jane Crafter. Buttons - those delightfully detailed and colorful closures that open up all kinds of great art and crafting possibilities. And I was reminded of the fact that when I visited Thailand in 2001-2002, one of the souvenirs I picked up was buttons - found at a little sewing shop in the northern town of Chiang Mai!


And this got me looking at a bunch of other wonderful buttons in my button collection . . .

Some of which really need to be made into rings or bracelets . . . But then that reminded me of the wonderful Hill Tribe textiles that I also bought in Chiang Mai:

I took some of the fabric (I believe this is an Akha piece) and stretched it over canvas stretcher bars to make a wall hanging for my living room:

If you're interested in more detail, the Hilltribe Museum (which I visited while in Thailand) has a wonderful website with information about the different the Karen, Hmong, Mien, Lahu, Akha, and Lisu. And naturally, wikipedia has some interesting (and perhaps slightly better translated) information on the different tribes as well. I especially enjoyed the information on the Hmong. A great book on the various indigenous and migratory groups living in Northern Thailand and their traditional crafts is Peoples of the Golden Triangle by Paul and Elaine Lewis (I'll bet you can find it for less than this - this was just the page that had the picture!).


And that brought me back to using buttons in my own art - including this piece: a button-encrusted shrine to craftiness called "Frenzy" that's on display right now in the Agora room at CubeSpace (the opening is Friday, March 28th from 6-8 if you want to drop by!)


Well, I guess that closes up this one . . .