Quimby’s “Best Of” Button-O-matic

Button-O-matic with Alex from Busy Beaver and Liz from Quimby's

Since 2002, the Busy Beaver Button-O-matic released buttons from 120 artists, including Tim Biskup from Gama-Go, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo, Jesse Le Doux of Le Douxville, and comic book artist Chris Ware.  Every year, a new series fills the forty Button-O-matic machines across the country.  Where do you think the the retired button series go?

The “Best Of the Button-O-matic” all go to Quimby’s, Chicago’s destination for the first amendment in print.  Liz from Quimby’s writes, “Quimby’s and its customers appreciates the small things in life.  Like little buttons with little pictures on them in little plastic bubbles in a little machine.” Glad you agree, Liz!

<<Click here to visit Quimby’s and complete your collection.

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Buttons as Educational Tool in China

Buttons made by Busy Beaver in Chicago at work in China

Pinsetter, a collection of alphabet buttons by Coudal Partners, has a ripple effect around the world.  And Busy Beaver Button Co. is proud to make them right here in Chicago!  Teacher Sam Potts uses buttons as an educational tool for first graders at the Nanshan Bilingual School in China, and shared these photos of students.  Click here to learn more and see photos of Hopeful Enterprise project.

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First grader is cute as a button, and wearing an alphabet pin!

Five Buttoned-Up Album Covers

Look closely, and you’ll see buttons all over album covers.  Here are five brought to you by Busy Beaver Button Co.

5.  Thee Makeout Party

How many dudes wearing buttons can you fit on a record cover?  Thee Makeout Party toured with fellow button head Nobunny, and you can grab their new album on Burger Records.  Their Anaheim, California sound is like Mickey Mouse making out with the 1910 Fruitgum Company.

4.  The Who

The Who album art for a 1987 compilation features a Richard Evans painting with super-mod-buttons on Pete Townshend, and an enormous “ELVIS FOR EVERYONE” button on dead hero Keith Moon.  His badge is probably 4-inches in diameter, which is the second largest size in the industry.  The comp features “Bald Headed Woman” and a Jimmy Page guitar solo from when, “he owned the only fuzz box in the country at that time.”  Click for Richard Evans‘ awesome website smattered with badges.

3.  BBQ

What yields greater joy than a big button on an album cover?  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.  There’s lots of Sultan buttons to be collected from his other Montreal groups like King Khan & BBQ, Les Sexareenos, and Mind Controls.  The BBQ website even uses buttons as the menu bar!

2.  Submarine Races

What do Jeffrey Lee Pierce from Gun Club and In the Red Records rocker Ian Adams from Submarine Races have in common?  A single Hank Williams button.

Theresa K. took this great Pierce photo thirty years ago, and her shots of the LA punk scene include Stiv Bators, the Ramones, and Blondie in her Punk Turns 30 photo gallery.  This Submarine Races cover came along decades later, and features Ian Adams also of The Ponys and Happy Supply wearing the same exact Hank button design.  Check out the jumbo glow-in-the-dark 2.25-inch button from Adam’s new band, Maximum Wage on MySpace.

1.  GG Allin

A mysterious element featured on the iconic GG Allin record cover “Always Was, Is, And Always Shall Be” is a Brian Jones 1.5-inch pin.  Is it a mini-porthole into his soul, or a wearable crystal ball into his future?  We may never know.

Honorable Mention  The MC5

The insert for Kick Out Jams by the MC5 is a button hall of famer where the White Panthers wear their hearts in the form of badges on their bare chests.  Buttons have been a “well-rounded” way to show dissent since the 1800s, to the 1960s, to present day (more here).  Pin out the jams, brothers and sisters.

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Happy Holidays from Busy Beaver Button Co.

Click play to watch this Busy Beaver video by www.loveslashhate.com

May your year be filled with health, happiness, and buttons.

Love,

Busy Beaver

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<<Cheap button gifts here.

Portland Welcomes Original Art Button-O-matic

Fake Your Own Death Hosts Button-O-matic in Portland

There’s only one “collaborative mega mini zine” in the country hosting an original Button-O-matic Series, and that’s Fake Your Own Death, curated by Nathan McKee.

Join a host of artists at the award-winning, Portland coffee shop Fresh Pot on January 7, 2010 to celebrate the Busy Beaver Button-O-matic custom series of little one-inch buttons.

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Historic Grassroots Button

“Whip Inflation Now (WIN) was an attempt to spur a grassroots movement to combat inflation, by encouraging personal savings and disciplined spending habits in combination with public measures, urged by U.S. President Gerald Ford.  People who supported the mandatory and voluntary measures were encouraged to wear “WIN” buttons… but the idea itself is nowadays viewed as, well, kind of foolish:”WIN” buttons immediately became objects of ridicule; skeptics wore the buttons upside down, explaining that “NIM” stood for “No Immediate Miracles,” or “Nonstop Inflation Merry-go-round,” or “Need Immediate Money.”  Click here for the complete article.

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Cameo Button Gifts for classy ladies

Cameos by Busy Beaver Button Co.

Want to dress up your button collection?  Check out the new Busy Beaver Cameo Buttons available on Etsy.  It’s a cool way to use the oval shape, which is a historic button size offered by Busy Beaver Button Co.  Click here to buy a Cameo.

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Fine Tuned Button Set Dialed in for the Holidaze

"Fine Tuned" button set dialed in for musician in your life

Looking for a cool, cheap stocking stuffer for the music lover in your life? Busy Beaver celebrates the holidays with “Fine Tuned” button gift sets featuring knobs from vintage guitars, drums, and bass amps, like a Rhythm/Treble knob from a Les Paul Special.  Buttons gift sets are available for five dollars on the Busy Beaver Etsy.

Click here to buy the perfect gift.  (And ship it to them too!)

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Gift Idea for “The Person Who Has Everything”

From the heart of Busy Beaver Button Co. For the Person Who Has Everything

There’s a lot of cheer to share here, and Busy Beaver celebrates the holidays with gift sets available under five dollars on the Button Etsy. 

Click here to buy the “I Have Everything” button gift “For the Person Who Has Everything.” (And ship it to them too!)

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Express Yourself with Pinsetter

Pinsetter is brought to you by Coudal Partners, the fine folks who make Field Notes with Draplin Design Co.

Click here to enter your text and receive a custom series of one-inch buttons that expresses your word.  And it’s a great gift idea for the button lover in your life at just a $1 per pin.  Click here for Pinsetter. 

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