Happy Holidays, all of them. My gift to you- Focal button- diy

Happy Holidays to one and all, that means all of the holidays. No matter what you celebrate, you are important to me. Blessings all over you and yours and may the new year be very kind to you.
2012, how can it get any better than that? :-O

This is my gift to you.

Thank you for following, your kind comments and support, your friendships, and a reason to keep going everyday!

Large focal buttons can be used on handmade coats, purses, bags, and scarves. Or they can be put on factory manufactured things to give them a little individual style all their own.
Easy to make and great for adding a little flair and uniqueness to a special gift.
This is also very basic instruction. You can use a clay machine if you want and if you do, use the thickest setting for everything.

You will need:
Black Cernit
Two accent colors of Cernit, I used turquoise and poppy red
Cocktail straw
Clay blade-SB
Makin's clay cutters-M36002 set of 3 squares
Pearl-ex powder-658, I used Aztec Gold
Makin's Texture sheet set- 38003 I used the "weave" one
Button mold, I made my own from old German glass buttons
Rolling pin or dowel
Ball point pen

Condition black clay and flatten in to a pancake shape.

Roll with dowel until about 1/8"thick.

Roll clay on to texture sheet.

Use largest square cutter and cut out square.

With a little of the Aztec gold powder from the lid on your finger rub the gold powder in to the four corners of the black textured square. Leaving the center of the square free of powders. Put the powder only on the top of the black square and keep it away from the sides of the square too, we are going to place a twisted coil around the square.
Wash your hands to remove excess powder.

Condition and roll out turquoise clay to about 1/8" thick.

Cut out medium square from set of cutters.

Put turquoise square on top of the black textured square off-center from the black square.
Condition some of the poppy red clay and roll in to a coil about 1/8" in diameter and then do the same thing with some of the turquoise clay.

  Twist the two colors together.

Roll the colors together on the work surface.
Roll down to about 1/8" in diameter.

Place the twisted rolled out coil around the large black square.

Roll out a smaller coil of the poppy red, about 1/8" in diameter, and place around the smaller turquoise square.

Make a button from your button mold or some other decorative center.

Powder the top of the molded button.
Place powder on your finger from out of the lid.
Rub your finger around a couple of times to smooth out the lumps and then brush on to the clay lightly and in circles.
You can also roll the whole ball in powder. Make it a little bigger to begin with , press into the mold and then cut off the back so it is flat with the mold.
This insures that there is fresh un-powdered clay on the back to attach to the turquoise square.

Press gently on to the turquoise square.

You could leave the button like this, but I am going to add a couple more things.

Roll 4, 1/8" or smaller balls of black clay and place in the corners of the turquoise square.

With a ball point pen tip make a little mark in each of the black balls.

With one end of the cocktail straw cut a hole on the right side of the button top.
Turn the straw over and use the other side of the straw to cut another hole on the left side of the button.
I have cut my button holes so the button will sit and be sewn on diagonally.

Like so.
Bake for 30 minutes in a pre-heated 275 degree F oven, shut off the oven, and let cool till you can touch it, in the oven.

Happy Holidays Ya'll, all  of them!!