We knew button love was strong in China, but now love for badges has taken over Japan! The Busy Beaver Button Co. Museum was recently featured in a Japanese newspaper. Domo arigato, Nippon!
Archives for posts with tag: badges
In England, people call buttons “badges.” Artist Peter Blake designed The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band record cover, and loved badges. Here’s a painting he made called, Self Portrait with Badges.
Also, the his painting On the Balcony features people wearing badges.
While there’s no buttons on the Sgt Pepper’s cover, there is a button collector in the top row with a mustache and hat between Fred Astaire and the Vargas girl named Richard Merkin.
Learn more about artist and button enthusiast Peter Blake here.
Look closely, and you’ll see buttons all over album covers. Here are five brought to you by Busy Beaver Button Co.
5. 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!
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.
HPT Buttons by BusyBeaver.net
St. Augustine’s Original Pub Tour combines Busy Beaver’s three favorite Bs: Booze, Banshees, and Buttons.
When you visit St. Augustine in Florida, you can tour the city’s most haunted bars in a hearse. The tour departs nightly at 8:30 from 162 St. George Street, and cruises four pubs in two and a half hours. Jolly drinkers wear HPT 1.5-inch custom buttons from Busy Beaver.
Yet another cool use for custom buttons: identifying yourself whilst drinking in the company of ghosts.
Click here to check out the St. Augustine’s Original Pub Tour.
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.
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!
'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.”
Kitty Wigs package includes a wig, carrying case, and a pin by Busy Beaver Buttons
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.
From HOMEGROWN.ORG, just 'cuz.
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!
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- 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.
