Speedy Tolliver and Bluegrass Buttons

Musician Speedy Tolliver with the Gibson Brothers. Photo by Maureen Staples

Ninety-two-year-old Speedy Tolliver, Washington’s musical treasure, received the first Virginia Heritage Award in October and was named a Master of Traditional Arts. Arlington County, Virginia has also named their annual fiddle and banjo contest after him.

Speedy is pictured here with bluegrass music artists, The Gibson Brothers, at the DC Bluegrass Union Fall Concert.  Notice that all three musicians are wearing pins designed by Busy Beaver Button Company.  The pins depict the cover art of the Gibson Brothers latest Compass Records CD, Ring the Bell. 

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Vampire author makes buttons not suck

Author Heather Brewer uses symbols from her book covers on buttons for her fans

Young adult author Heather Brewer was not your typical teen growing up.  She wore black, danced under full moons and devoured every book in sight.  She hasn’t changed much.

Heather writes The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod and makes buttons with the imagery from book covers.  Heather rewards her fans with bling when they send her a self-addressed envelope, and writes,

My Minions ADORE their Minion Bling and without you guys, they would not be.

Busy Beaver loves making your buttons, Heather!  Click here to get your Minion Bling from author Heather Brewer.  Click here to check out BusyBeaver.net

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Button-O-Matic designer Spacesick

Spacesick gold button featured in Button-O-matic Series 10

Have you seen the Zelda-rupee-esque button in the Button-O-matic Currency Series?  Ohio-based Spacesick designs throw back to a simpler time when there were only eight bits.  About all of the Busy Beaver designs:

It blows my mind how everyone scampered off with the same theme and then came back with something completely unique to their personality! And how amazing do these suckers look as a set?

Click here to check out Spacesick.  Click here to cruise BusyBeaver.net

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World’s Only Geothermal-Powered Button Maker

Optimal Energy drills through bedrock at Busy Beaver

Did you know that Busy Beaver installed geothermal heating and cooling in the new Logan Square button building?  When rehabbing the two flat, vintage storefront we decided it was a good idea to save money and energy at the same time.

Click here for a video of a semi-truck equipped with a diamond-tipped drill digging 400 feet into the Busy Beaver backyard bedrock.

How does this system work?  Wikipedia describes geothermal energy as, “heat retained within the Earth’s core since the original formation of the planet, from radioactive decay of minerals, and from solar energy absorbed at the surface.”

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Artful Animals at the Smithsonian uses buttons

Artful Animals exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of African Art

Be sure to check out the new Artful Animals exhibit When you visit the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in Washington D.C.  Artful Animals explores how African artists create striking works of art using images based on an array of domestic and untamed animals.  You might see some cool 2.25-inch buttons on your visit too!

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Button-O-matic Artist Damien Correll

Busy Beaver Button-O-matic Artist Damien Correll

How do you transform a wooden nickel into a gold button?  Let’s ask Button-O-matic artist, Damien Correll:

As a kid, my elders always warned me “not to take any wooden nickels”, and being a child of the 80s and 90s I hadn’t the foggiest clue what a wooden nickel even was and therefore what that old American adage even meant. Years and years later, I thiiiink I now get it.

Originally from Philadelphia, Damien Correll is a designer/illustrator/maker living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Formerly a member of the Rad Mountain collective, Correll is now a creative partner at the small design studio, Part & Parcel. His work has been featured in a variety of publications including in the pages of New York Magazine, XLR8R, Juxtapoz, IdN, STEP, NOVUM, The New York Times Magazine and Faesthetic.

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Chicago Art Openings Tonight

Jesse Le Doux custom Busy Beaver Button-O-matic with 35 designs

Wondering how to follow up the magic of Devo playing the Vic last night?

Start off Friday the 13th with an exhibition of video, painting, and sculpture by Aline Cautis, Josh Mannis, and Andy Roche at the former Busy Beaver Palmer Square location.  Join curators and button-maker team Old Gold to transform the former button shop into a newly inaugurated gallery space.

Hop on the Blue Line to the designer toy store Rotofugi on Division where you can check out the Jesse Le Doux “Exit Strategy” art show and custom Busy Beaver Button-O-matic.  It’s filled with 35 different buttons, including original, hand-drawn button art.  You might recognize Jesse’s work from the Shins “Chutes Too Narrow” album art,  rock posters, and even a slime-filled Target gift card.  Click here for more info.

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Busy Beaver Welcomes Worms

Welcome the newest addition to the Busy Beaver Family

What’s slimy, cute, and transforms your garbage into compost?  Local company Urban Worm Girl hooked up Busy Beaver Button Co. with an indoor/outdoor compost bin and 1,000 red wigglers to turn organic trash into garden treasure.  Click here to see what worms like to eat.

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Swell Season tours Button-O-matic

Custom Swell Season Button-O-matic goes on tour

Award-winning band The Swell Season is vending custom glow-in-the-dark, transparency, and full color buttons on tour with the Busy Beaver Button-O-matic.  You can collect them all, and win prizes like a Swell Season tote bag. Take photos to post on their MySpace.

You may be familiar with Swell Season from the Sundance Film Festival award-winning movie, Once.  Check them out at the beautiful and historic Auditorium Theater in Chicago, or click here for the nation-wide tour schedule.  Click here to see the Swell Season merchandise line.

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Even Patti Smith likes buttons on her vest

Patti Smith wears a one-inch button on her vest in Rock Scene magazine

The two things Busy Beaver has in common with Patti Smith is being from Logan Square in Chicago, and wearing buttons.  More here.  Click for BusyBeaver.net

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