pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on mon 11 dec 06
rambley...)
Hi Snail, Jim, all...
The decidedly Porcelain Buttons I have seen ( or
have here amid the endess accumulations of old
stuff, ) were ( are ) mostly matte or slightly
frosty looking, and approximatly White. Some have
a 'Brown' Glaze reminisent of various kinds of
Jugs of the period...and may be something like an
Albany slip for all I know.
Certainly, these could have been made to any
colors ( so far as their Clay Body, ) whenever
appropriate Oxides were at hand, but White, and
un-glazed, seems to have predominated so far as I
have seen.
These seem to have been used primarily on what one
might call 'Work Shirts' and not, or never on
otherwise Casual or Day or Evening Clothes, so far
as I could tell...that is, never on anything but
Shirts of a rugged or Work-Chore kind, so far as I
have seen.
So, I do not believe they were used on Trousers,
Breeches or other orders of classes of Day or Work
garments for either gender...but there may have
been some exceptions, and I just woke up and am
just now sipping some just-made coffee and shaking
off some short sleep, so...
Lol...
The Dominant Button kind, so far as I know, was
Mother of Pearl, and this from the tiniest (
barely 3/16ths of an inch diameter) to the
largest.
These were sometimes tinted or dyed to achieve
hues other than their intrinsic sort of 'White'.
Bone also was very popular for Buttons of many
kinds for all classes of Work Clothes and some day
clothes otherwise and sometimes 'up' from there.
These similarly were sometimes dyed to be Black or
Green or Brown or as may be.
Too, Oyster Shell Buttons, often of sensibly small
size oweing to it's frangibility, were used in
occasions where their colors of blue-grey or grey
were desired.
Glass Buttons likely represent the greates gamut
of forms and extremes of virtuosity and
sophistication in their color, texture and vast,
if not almost incomprehensible variety...from the
humblest two-hole Shirt Button ( again, for Work
Shirts usually, ) to virtual Jewells of incised
and facteted forms in Jet or brilliant Blues,
Ruby-Reds and on and on...
Glass does not seem to have been considered
appropriate for undergarments' Buttons, I will
guess, for one thing, because compared to Bone or
Mother of Pearl, it tended to feel ( initially)
'cold'...and, was not suitable for making so
'thin'as Mother of Pearl could be.
Coral of various colors also was used for Buttons
in some classes of outer Garments for Women...
Various kinds of Horn of course were used for Coat
Buttons or other larger strong Buttons...and
sometimes for Trouser or Breeches' Buttons for
either gender ( which for Women of course, meant
side-botton, though almost no one anylonger
remembers the difference of Women's Trousers or
Breeches, from Men's...and one never sees Women
wearing side-button Trousers or other 'pants'
anymore... which would look one hell of a lot
prettier on them too, if they'd bother...but
anyway...)
Tortoise Shell also for more sophisticated
contexts sometimes...Coat Buttons or similar,
usually...
So called 'Zink' Buttons in small sizes were used
for many Work Clothes and used for the Breeches
and some other garments by the United States Army
and Cavalry...as well as civilian clothes also of
course.
Similarly, thin, built-up stamped Steel Buttons,
whether Zink or Tin plated, Blued or Japanned (
usually) were popular for rugged wear Clothes of
all kinds. These sometimes being called
'Do-Nut-Hole' Buttons oweing to their recessed
center part.
Hard Rubber Buttons of all sizes, following
Goodyear's 1844 Patent for the Vulcanization of
Rubber, became pretty popular and so far as I
recall were made in a very pleaseing shade of Tan
to Brown and sometimes Black or Redish Brown, but
likely other colors or swirl-colors were also
made. These were very durable and cabable of very
refined designs and executions and perfect detail,
as well as their humble forms own handsome or
elegant simplicity.
I still have some here in-a-jar, which in tiny
Roman fonts on their back side, make mention of
the Goodyear's 1844 Patent.
I assume these were made within the initial 17
year run of that patent, which would put them
sometime before 1861.
So called 'Soy Bean Process' Buttons, again, of
all sizes, became very popular for all kinds of
outer garments by the latter 19th Century, and
these tended to be shades of light to medium
'tan', and once one knows their look one can spot
them in a heartbeat. These also occurred in
Black...and were what one tended to have on
Leather Jackets and various Coats and so on for
either gender, for many outer garments of
Winterweight or heavy kinds, as well as endless
lighter sorts of things.
I imagine that the Porcelain Buttons were made by
a 'dry' process...of pressing a slightly humid
powdered Porcelain in a mould, under great
pressure of course, making a firm-enough little
result for subsequent secure handleing, and then,
of course, fireing it.
The Glazed ones I have, or recall seeing, have
little blotchy non-glazed areas on their back
sides, which suggest their having been fired on a
shelf with some coarse refractory of some kind
suporting them, crushed Sea Shells maybe, but I am
sure various methods were used by various makers
of them.
Arraying tens of thousands of these on the kiln
shelves, in neat rows of course, setting the
presumeably 'short' stilts for the next tier of
shelves and so on would seem a tedious
undertaking..!
Lol...
I am sure that generally, they were fired in some
practical expeditious way or other...possibly even
on Platinum Wires eventually, or who knows...
Interesting question though, as to how they were
fired...
Anyway...
Fun stuff for sure...
Damn, put me in a Sewing mood! - but I got other
stuff to-do, so...
Oh well...
Love,
Phil
e l v e
----- Original Message -----
From: "Snail Scott"
> At 11:30 AM 12/11/2006 -0500, you wrote:
> >I'm trying to find out if there is such a thing
as
> >colored porcelain paste. [19th century
buttons]...
>
>
>
> Wasn't 19th c. Wedgwood ware (blue, green,
> black, etc.) made of colored porcelain?
>
> It's not tough to make colored porcelain,
> and colored clays of other types were common
> in that period also. As for buttons
specifically,
> I can't say. It was certainly possible in
> terms of manufacturing capability.
>
> I'm curious: are these buttons glazed (shiny)?
> A glazed porcelain or china button would have
> to have an unglazed area (inside the shank
> or on the back) so as not to stick during
> firing, or would have little stilt marks from
> a support. A shiny-all-over button would
> probably be opaque glass.
>
> -Snail
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