Outside Inspiration: The Humble Button Clasp
Today we’re just going to take a quick look and a well-deserved bow to a humble finding used regularly in seed bead pieces – the button style clasp. This is simply a bead or button that slips through a loop to secure it. It’s quite the popular clasp among seed bead artists for both necklaces and bracelets.
This bracelet showing a pretty typical button clasp is by Rachel of Balanced Crafts in Dublin, Ireland. This shows a button clasp that is really the central focus of the piece, one that contrasts with the even pattern of the beading, adding that focal point to bring it all together.
Here’s one more by bead artist Smadar Grossman. Looks somewhat like a toggle clasp, doesn’t it? The toggle and button clasp are essentially the same concept, only the entry point with a button clasp is a loop, and the back-up piece is the larger part of the pair.
Do these give you any good ideas? You can make the button from polymer, although you will need a cord, ribbon, or beaded loop of some sort to accomplish create this kind of clasp; but the cool thing is, the loop can be made basically invisible if the button half of the clasp is big enough. That way the button can become a focal point or a major component, without even drawing attention to its necessary function. Neat, huh?
