A LIVING HISTORY BLOG.

18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.

Friday 30 August 2019

Wooden Clothing Buttons.

Wooden Clothing Buttons.

American Artifacts of Personal Adornment, 1680-1820:


Blank/Mold: A “Blank/Mold” is a bone or wood button with either zero holes or one hole. The single hole was a product of manufacturing, when these buttons were cut with a lathe or a carpenter’s brace and bit (Hinks 1988:67). They could be used as the backs to stamped metal buttons, the supporting disc for cloth buttons, or more holes could be drilled in them to make simple, one-piece bone or wooden buttons (ibid).
https://www.daacs.org/wp-content/uploads/buttons.pdf
"Wood buttons were also made in colonial crafts shops and homes. During the 18th century, most wooden buttons were plain and utilitarian. In 1770, Benjamin Randolph advertised his apple, holy, and laurel buttons (Luscomb, ix). Decorated wooden buttons, which were carved, painted, and inlaid, were popular in the 19th century".
https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1042&context=utk_chanhonoproj


Wooden Button Moulds.
Wood backed 
 brass button with catgut shank.

To date I have not come across any images of original 18th century wooden buttons with more than one hole, other than the sample above which is a wood backing for a brass button.
Keith.

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