Depression Era Celluloid Pins

Johnson Smith Buttons

A friend from Drag City Records in Chicago shared this awesome Johnson Smith Company catalog of buttons.  Busy Beaver Buttons collects the “Confucius says” pins made by the same company circa 1934 from Detroit.

Johnson Smith started in 1904 making novelties in Australia, moved to Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin, and still does business to this day, over a century later, in Florida.

The catalog explains how buttons are an ice breaker:

These Buttons provide subjects for pleasant jokes an amusing conversation, and thus smooth the way to a more familiar acquaintance and cordial friendship.  They are very wittily worded and quite unobjectionable.  Wear one and see the effect.

Are these buttons icebreakers…or pick up lines?  You decide:

Slip it to me

It’s Right Here for You

Smile Darn You Smile

I am the Vampire Kid

Pretty forward-looking for 1930s pop culture, don’t you think?  What’s the 2009 version of these buttons?

Click here to read about Johnson Smith Company history.

Click here to order custom buttons from BusyBeaver.net

Johnson Smith Buttons

Ravelry Makes Sweater for Mo Rocca

Ravelry.com Buttons by BusyBeaver.net

In response to Mo Rocca’s comment that homemade sweaters are “itchy” on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, the knitting and crochet community Ravelry.com presented him with a very soft, wool pull over on live radio.

Jessica “Mama Rav” is a favorite Busy Beaver Button client who offers 2.25-inch and 1.5-inch buttons on the Ravelry website, along with cute stickers and tote bags.

Next time it’s cold out, Mo’s gonna wonder, “Hey, where my stitches at?”

Watch video of Raveler-s presenting Mo with his new threads on NPR.

www.busybeaver.net

Shawnimals Wee Ninja

Shawnimals Buttons by BusyBeaver.net

It all started with a stuffed Ninja.  Then came a pocket sized, plush Moustache.  Now Shawnimals is an all-encompassing brand with vinyl toys, a Ninjatown Nintendo DS game, and of course, lots of 1-inch buttons.

In celebration of Earth Day, Shawnimals produced an eco-friendly Forest Spirit Wee Ninja.  The plush collaboration is with Noon Solar, a sun-powered purse company in Chicago.  Forest Spirit comes in an edition of only 100, so snag one now.

Click here to watch a new video of Shawnimals coolness (and a button cameo) in action!

www.busybeaver.net

Kitty Wigs Button Up

'Pink Passion' Kitty Wig

Is your cat’s birthday coming up?    Celebrate with Julie Jackson’s feline-friendly Kitty Wigs!   You may recognize Julie from starting the crafter-lution with Subversive Cross Stitch.  She includes a Kitty Wigs button with every order so you can point to it and say, “Yea, my cat is hot.”

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Kitty Wigs package includes a wig, carrying case, and a pin by Busy Beaver Buttons

Homegrown Button Contest

Eat, grow, express yourself at HOMEGROWN.ORG

HOMEGROWN.ORG wants your opinion on its newest 1-inch button designs!  The contest runs until April 24, and you can submit your ideas in their by clicking here.  Join HOMEGROWN.ORG to find out about coolness before anyone else.

www.busybeaver.net

From HOMEGROWN.ORG, just 'cuz.

Hero Workshop Impacts Community with Buttons

Hero in Waiting Button

Busy Beaver Buttons client Matt Langdon started the Hero Workshop to “prepare young heroes in waiting for their finest hour.”  In response to the Button Feature, Matt sent a link to these great photos of young Heroes in Waiting from Flickr.  Inspiration is simple:

The aim of the program is to show young people that by doing the little things every day they can become heroes. Far from having to perform miraculous deeds, they are provided with an attainable goal.

Busy Beaver Buttons is honored to help create symbols of the good work at the Hero Workshop.  Thanks for sharing, Matt!

www.busybeaver.net

Hero in Waiting Button

Buttons measure 1-inch and feature black printing on a variety of paper colors.  More photos on Matt Langdon’s Flickr.

BBQ Album features Button

"Tie Your Noose" album cover on BOMP! Records

What yields greater joy than buttons on album covers?  Tie Your Noose is Mark Sultan’s second solo album on BOMP! Records, and the record design features a 1-inch button pinned to a leather jacket.

You may recognize Mark from his many musical projects, including King Khan & BBQ, Les Sexareenos, and Mind Controls.  The Mark Sultan website even uses buttons as the menu bar, click here to check it out.

Watch this amazing video of BBQ with King Khan:

Buy Tie Your Noose on BOMP! Records

www.busybeaver.net

Hank Williams Button Sightings

Jeffrey Lee Pierce from the Gun Club

Submarine Races

What do Jeffrey Lee Pierce from 80s punk band Gun Club and In the Red Records rockers Submarine Races have in common?  A single Hank Williams button.

Theresa K. took this great Pierce photo thirty years ago.  She is a renowned photographer of the original LA punk scene, and you can check her out her epic shots of Stiv Bators, the Ramones, and Blondie on Punk Turns 30.  This Submarine Races cover came along three decades later, and features Ian Adams from the Ponys.

Where else can you find this Hank Williams button?

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Twipple Button Magnefitti

Twipple Magnets used as "Removable Grafitti"

When Floyd Hayes sold “voicevertising” to Hall’s Fruit Breezers, he made quite a splash in the marketing world.  These days Floyd causes a stir on Twitter through encouraging random acts of kindness, called Twipple.  The Twipple logo reflects the Butterfly Effect, founded by Edward Lorenz:

The idea was that if a butterfly chances to flap his wings in Beijing in March, then, by August, hurricane patterns in the Atlantic will be completely different.

Is it possible to achieve this phenomenon with kind acts?  Twipplers encourage each other to plant seeds, compliment a stranger on their jeans “without sounding creepy,” and give gifts as a way to improve society at large.  Floyd chooses Busy Beaver Button Co. to make his custom Twipple magnets and buttons:

They’re fun to put around too. Less “aggressive” than paint, pens or stickers. They just lift off – how can anyone get cross at that?

Floyd leaves them at New York bars, distributes them to Twipplers, and sticks the them unsuspecting light poles (see photo).  Have you Twippled lately?

Join Twipple

Visit Floyd Hayes’ Blog

<<Hang out www.BusyBeaver.net

Pin out the Jams

MC5 proves buttons and t-shirts are not mutually exclusive.

Pin out the jams, brothers and sisters.  Record covers feature special appearances by buttons.  A personal favorite is the insert for Kick Out Jams by the MC5.

How did they button their bare chests?  And more importantly, where can an authentic White Panther button from Detroit circa 1969 be obtained?

Post-edit:  Original MC5 White Panthers button revealed  here.

Motor City Darlings, the MC5