Packing and prepping

Just a short update for today. We are busy busy packing new kits for our first Hochanda shows of 2021 next week. I'll be on at 5pm with buttons - and launching the above kit.

This is a new Little Button Journal kit - "Embroidered Zwirnknopfe". So a really nice addition to your button making skill set. 

At 9pm it's all about ganutell - and a new kits and new tool set which I am really excited about. It took us a while, but I have been having fun playing, so more about that later :)

Have you seen our latest jigsaw?
If the game below doesn't work - click here.

Have fun!

Right, off to wind off more wire for the new ganutell kits!

Two birds with one button

Lots of pretty silks from Au Ver a Soie

On Friday I was been asked to contribute some buttons to an exhibition in Paris which I am totally thrilled about.

Au Ver a Soi silks is celebrating their 200th anniversary and will be exhibiting items from around the world that use their silks. I'm really honoured that I have been asked - but the deadline is really short.

And of course I can't use my thumb for long.

I know this is going to prolong the injury, as I'll be working more than One Button a Day - but I am determined to get a nice selection over to France.

Working with silk is different from working with cotton. It is slippery, and some modern designs don't work so well. Of course, the original passementerie buttons were usually made of silk, but I'd rather not simply go with the traditional for this exhibition, that would be too easy really. I'd like to add a few that are unique.

I've pretty much planned what I will do, and how they will be presented, and as I am currently also working on two books, have set everything up to take step by step pictures of the ones that are relevant. In theory, that will save some time in a few months. The set up is also all ready for videos, so I spent a long time playing with different settings and not actually buttoning... 

Wish me luck!

My set up - lights, overhead holder for camera, more lights...

If it's too good to be true...

For those of you who buy Au Ver a Soie silks from us, please be on the lookout for outlets / people selling them cheap.

It turns out that between Christmas and New Year, the Au Ver A Soie factory in France was robbed. This is a huge blow to the small company, who really had managed to get themselves back on a good footing after losing virtually everything in a major fire a few years back.

They announced this theft on their social media pages, and it seems from the translations that the majority of what was taken was their Soie de Paris, Tram and Perlee, along with their sewing silks, "surfine" and 1003.

I am not sure how the stolen items were packaged, but they do have loose skeins, and have been using more and more of the reels as you can see in the image above. If the mini perlee has been taken, these are on little wooden spools, and is the tram silk (often used for fly fishing), and occasionally cardboard spools are used. The image shows some of the options.

Please - if you see any of their products sold at prices too good to be true on outlets such as eBay, etc, let them know at info@auverasoie.com - I am sure they would rather be falsely notified of a real seller then not told about a seller that is actually a thief.

Of course, this may mean that some colours and types are not able to be ordered for a while, as they will need to get their stocks back on track.