Sunday, April 15, 2018

Becoming a Fibulanomist

"Fibulanomist":  the scholarly name for someone who collects buttons.

Well, first of all, how wonderful to find a 'scholarly' name for anything that I do!  Secondly, in the midst of my year (s) of exploration and discovery, so odd to find a little rabbit hole through which I fell and decided to start a button collection.

There is something so satisfying about collecting, storing (doesn't take much space at all), playing with, sorting, and pondering these small, useful and at times antique little gems.  I'm not going hog wild into buying or obtaining just as many as I can.  I'm just enjoying the feel of them sifting through my fingers, appreciating the mother-of-pearl, bone, or wood as well as the lovely colors available. It's also entertaining to ponder just what the history of one little button might be - who wore the garment, who lovingly sewed it on, how it got lost and but was somehow saved, how they came to be preserved (with numerous others) in Grandma's button jar.  What a surprising way of connecting to the past.

And don't forget functional!  What started all of this was finding a photo of some tatted pieces - wait for it - around a button.  Lovely.

Simple pleasures, for sure!







2 comments:

Rebecca Wachtman said...

How nice to have a title to go with a minor obsession. I LOVE all my buttons. It's nice to have a friend who shares that obsession!! Lol.

Iris said...

Love these photos, a fabulous name for button collecting, and imagining what you’ll do next! I have quite a collection, too, and would love to share some with you. Maybe later this spring I can bring some by...