Current
Notes: Like half a pound of buttons. Hours of fun !
And now for something
completely different…
I did what I thought was the
smart thing, but it turned out to be a bad decision – then went with the other
option, only to find out that was flawed, too. (sigh) I hate eyelets / grommets…
Had a few bucks to spend, so
I thought I’d get an eyelet setting crimper – kind of like a pair of pliers,
but with various bits that could set an eyelet without crushing the face or
pushing half the ‘crimp’ part into the eye-hole. I had one, years ago, but
donated it because I wasn’t using it. Bad mistake. In the store, I was
confronted with a crimper just like the one I used to have - $25. ! – and the
cheaper ‘hit these pieces with a hammer’ option, for $3.. Well, for once in my
entire life, I went with the more expensive option.
And regretted it
immediately. The tiny disc that holds the bits in place pops off with every
use, sending the disc and spring and bits flying. The fifth time I found the parts and went to
put it back together, I rebelled and decided this darn thing was going back.
The one time it worked, it didn’t crimp half the back down, just left it up and
jagged, and I knew sooner or later, I’d lose a flying piece. So, because
returning it the same day you bought it makes more of a statement, I bagged the
pieces, unfolded my receipt, and grabbed the car keys.
The nice cashiers didn’t
quite get what I was explaining, so I put it back together and let airborne
springs and plastic do the talking. I had my refund seconds later, while the
others looked for pieces among the shopping carts. My old one was evidently
welded together, instead of just barely tapped in place. Note for my future =
metal pushed onto plastic is not a good design choice, especially if it’s
holding down a spring.
Honor thus satisfied, I
bought the ‘hit with hammer’ option, and once I got it home, it performed only
slightly better than the crimper. At least it didn’t fall apart. Directions
were scanty, so I tried it every way I could think of, only to still end up
with crimped bits either not crimped, or showing up inside the hole. Kinda
defeats the purpose. Beloved Hubby even gave it a go, thinking of yet another configuration
for the parts, but we still got the same result. So I’m giving up on grommets.
I think I’ll just get really good at small buttonholes or something.
The one thing I did buy that
was fun and as shown was a bag of misc. buttons from Jesse James & Co. –
the one that makes all the fun shaped buttons for holidays and such ? This was
called ‘Grandma’s Grab Bag’, and it’s a freezer-thick sandwich baggie stuffed
with 8oz of buttons. All kinds of buttons ! Basic four-hole blouse buttons,
shank buttons pretty enough to be earrings, flowers, cats, snowflakes, white
shirt buttons, stars, a few beads, lots of Christmas shapes, you name it. I
even got two cameos, a tiny one in a gold-tone ‘frame’ and a larger one with no
backing at all. I confess, I saw the tiny cameo before I bought it, but I can
tell ya, I had a solid hour of fun going through it all and sorting it out. I
got seventeen of one button, unfortunately, not the cameo one ! I have all
kinds of ideas to use them – not bad for less than $4. Retail was $5.99, but I
had a coupon.
Beloved was so tired, he
went straight to sleep after a quick dinner. I think I’m gonna crash, too. And
tomorrow, I’m finding a place for all that stuff clustered around my Arena. I
need to create, bad !
No comments:
Post a Comment