Outside Inspiration: The Humble Button Clasp

Today we’re just going to take a quick look and a well-deserved bow to a humble finding used regularly in seed bead pieces – the button style clasp. This is simply a bead or button that slips through a loop to secure it. It’s quite the popular clasp among seed bead artists for both necklaces and bracelets.

This bracelet showing a pretty typical button clasp is by Rachel of Balanced Crafts in Dublin, Ireland. This shows a button clasp that is really the central focus of the piece, one that contrasts with the even pattern of the beading, adding that focal point to bring it all together.

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Here’s one more by bead artist Smadar Grossman. Looks somewhat like a toggle clasp, doesn’t it? The toggle and button clasp are essentially the same concept, only the entry point with a button clasp is a loop, and the back-up piece is the larger part of the pair.

 

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Do these give you any good ideas? You can make the button from polymer, although you will need a cord, ribbon, or beaded loop of some sort to accomplish create this kind of clasp; but the cool thing is, the loop can be made basically invisible if the button half of the clasp is big enough. That way the button can become a focal point or a major component, without even drawing attention to its necessary function. Neat, huh?

Sage

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