Button Mural Installation Tips

Excited about creating a modern family photo display with buttons? Here are a few tips for easy installation of your mural:

1. Commission Anders Nilsen— he’ll do all the dirty work! Nilsen is the Michelangelo of button murals and knows all the secrets to perfecting your family photo button display. His previous installations include a 10,000 piece mural so he’ll definitely be able to tackle your family tree! You can contact Anders Nilsen at ndrs@hotmail.com; prices depend on the size and scope of your button mural project.

2. Nail ‘em! Expert Anders Nilsen creates his murals by adhering buttons to nail heads that have been placed strategically on a wall. We can’t give away Nilsen’s secrets to making them stick, but we can tell you it’s not chewing gum.

3. Use Magnets! Magnets are a great solution for apartment dwellers who have limited space. Just pop your family photos on the fridge and be reminded of crazy Uncle Carl every time you grab a cold one.

4. Pin on Cork board. Production manager, Joel Carter, displays his button collection on a cork tiled wall in his kitchen. Whether you stick your family photo buttons in a cork wall or on a simple bulletin board, cork is a great semi-permanent solution for your family photo button mural.

5. Frame ‘em! For smaller quantities, like a mural of just your immediate family, buttons can be adhered with poster tack within a shadow box frame. If you’re feeling extra creative, make a heart-shaped display.

Looking to start your own family button mural? Place your custom button order now at busybeaver.net.

Button Up Against Fur

Are you an artist who loves animals and buttons? Then check out the PINNACLE: Reinvent The Icon Pin Contest sponsored by Busy Beaver Button Co. Design a button with an anti-fur message for a chance to win prizes. Click here for details and to enter.

Need inspiration for your button designs? Check out the anti-fur buttons the Busy Beavers have designed:

Need to create custom buttons for a cause close to your heart? Shop now at busybeaver.net.

SCAD Buttons Up

Designer and professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Henry Hongmin Kim, recently put in this order for custom metallic 1.5 square buttons. Kim created the “Graphic Designer” logo back in 2008 to promote the school’s design department. The logo, which received a SEED Award in 2009, is a unique play on punctuation and numbers and has been featured on both square and round custom buttons, t-shirts, and other promotional items for the design school.

Need unique promotional items for your university? Shop now at busybeaver.net.

Nick Cave Pops Up (and Buttons Up) at SAM

Fashion designer turned mixed-media sculptor Nick Cave takes over the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) today with the opening of his first major museum tour Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth.
Along with 50 wearable sculptures called Soundsuits, the exhibit also features a Pop-Up Shop where museum goers can purchase wearables, paper goods, and custom 3-inch buttons like the one featured here. Not in Seattle? Check out  SoundsuitShop.com for a limited selection of Nick Cave designed objects.

Wanna create your own custom artist buttons? Shop now at busybeaver.net

Banksy Meets Buttons: Kid-Friendly Street Art

This cute post about kid-friendly street art has been making the rounds on the blogosphere this week.
Inspired by a viewing of “Exit Through the Gift Shop” this crafty family went to work creating street art that wouldn’t damage their neighborhood. Think Banksy minus the threat of being arrested for vandalism. The kids painted silly faces on rocks then placed their creations in unexpected spots around town while Dad recorded with his camera.

This got us thinking— what other materials could kids use for street art projects besides painted rocks? Check out the Busy Beaver list of 5 Kid-Friendly Street Art Materials:

1. Magnets: Twipple founder Floyd Hayes uses magnetized buttons as his own form of removable graffiti. Hayes says magnets are “less ‘aggressive’ than paint, pens or stickers. They just lift off – how can anyone get cross at that?” Kiddos can customize their own magnets and place them on swing sets, bike racks, even Mom or Dad’s car.

2. Pipe Cleaners: A play on yarn bombing, craft store pipe cleaners can be used to wrap around telephone polls, parking meters, and more. Or get super creative and create an army of pipe cleaner animals to perch around town.

3. Buttons: A friendly form of tagging, kids can custom create their own buttons and pin them to community bulletin boards and friends’ backpacks.

4. Googly Eyes: This idea is a tad more permanent, but with double stick tape and a bag of googly eyes your kiddos can turn everyday objects into unexpected goofy faces.

5. Chalk: Most kids already own a bucket of sidewalk chalk. Encourage them to go beyond drawing hopscotch squares and create mini masterpieces for the neighborhood.

Looking to make custom buttons or magnets? Shop now at busybeaver.net.

“Black Swan” and the Avant Garde

It’s time to cook up some Jesse EisenBurgers and True (Cheese) Grits! The 83rd Academy Awards air this Sunday on CBS. Will Natalie Portman win Best Actress for her performance in “Black Swan”? We’ll have to wait and see but in the meantime take a look at this striking “Black Swan” movie poster created by British design studio LaBoca:

Black Swan movie poster by British design studio LaBoca

One in a series, this poster’s design was influenced by Polish and Czech posters of the 60s and 70s. The designs are rather reminiscent of a series of 1966 avant garde art buttons currently housed at the Busy Beaver Button Museum:

Art in America Nov/Dec 1966 about avant garde buttons from Park Place Gallery in New York.

Scot Bendall, the art director on the project, compared designing the “Black Swan” posters “to creating a record sleeve“. We say he should’ve taken that concept of branded merch further and created a set of avant garde “Black Swan” buttons. Maybe for the DVD release?

Want to create your own custom buttons? Go to busybeaver.net.

Renegade Craft Fair Chicago

Busy Beaver sponsors Renegade Craft Fair

What does fall mean to you?  Back to school, crisp weather, and Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago!

Busy Beaver Button Co. is proud to sponsor Renegade with adorable 1-inch buttons. Crafters love that Busy Beaver makes everything by hand right here in Logan Square.

Have a fun weekend and say hi to all of these cool artists!

Back to BusyBeaver.net

Golden Message

Gold project optimism Buttons by Reid Seifer

Reed Seifer deploys thousands of buttons around the world to promote project optimism, and now his message is golden with the new Busy Beaver 24-kt option. Isn’t it cool to see his design evolve from the button batch featured in March?

Collect the gold optimism button here for a friend who needs a lift.

Order Gold Buttons on BusyBeaver.net

Chris Uphues Button (He)art and Video

Check out this “lovely” video by Button-O-Matic alum, Chris Uphues.  Just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Chris designed these custom buttons for Busy Beaver Button-O-Matic Series Three, available at Quimby’s Bookstore in Chicago:

Check out a story about Chris Uphues’ work on Fred Flare. Busy Beaver Button Co. hearts you, Chris Uphues!

www.busybeaver.net