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Each of our carefully researched, styled, tested and distributed collections reflects a particular aesthetic and ethos. We hope some of these speak to your own style, and help you refine and redefine your own look and style philosophy in the process.

Turn a Plain Button Into Art With This Easy DIY!

May 27, 2025

Easy to Make! Learn how to turn a plain large wood button into a piece of art, using cork, torn denim and my favorite glue gun, which is the cordless AdTech Essential Liberty glue gun. This is a great technique to learn to use other materials in your designs, including leather, vinyl, and other fabrics. Plus Jewels also teaches how to further enhance your designs with wire wrapping and adding beads. Give your jewelry your own personal designer look by decorating your own buttons!

Watch this quick and easy design trick below.

Get a collection of sustainable baltic birch wood buttons here: https://jewelloom.com/collections/jewelry-making-buttons/products/jewel-loom-designer-series-baltic-birch-wood-buttons-36-piece-collection

Save 15% off your first order, plus Get 3 Free Patterns: https://jewelloom.com/pages/get-3-free-bead-patterns-and-save-15-percent-on-supplies

Did you know Jewels has a Book? It’s true! You can get a digital copy of the Jewel Loom Inspirations book here: https://bellacraftspublishing.com/jewel-loom-by-julianna/

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Transcript:

i am going to show you how to take this

really cool blank

button and make it even more cool with

cork and torn up denim wire and beads So

let's take it down to the mat and talk

about what you will need So I am working

with a blank button This happens to be

2.25 25 in round I've also got a piece

of denim and a piece of decorative cork

You're going to need some wire and a few

beads of choice And some of the tools I

be I will be using will be wire cutters

nylon jaw

pliers and some

scissors And let's see Oh you're going

to need a pen or a pencil because we're

going to be tracing around that button

And I am going to show you one of my

most favorite tools that I use And this

is the

Atte Liberty cordless glue gun I'm so

excited to show you this All right let's

get started So what we want to do first

I'm going to scooch this

over is we're going to take the button

and we're going to put that on the back

side of the decorative cork And then

we'll bring the pen in And I'm just

tracing it Okay So you're just going to

around And then you also want to do a

little wiggle wiggle into each hole And

then you will cut that Now I've already

done that for you and well for

me And so here we go Right here We'll

scooch that over And we're going to put

that to the side And then I'm going to

bring in the denim so I can show you how

I made all of these really fun you know

irregular shaped pieces to put onto my

button So what I did was I

literally just started to cut So I'll go

like at an

angle and then maybe I come in and maybe

I go that way and then maybe I go maybe

I go that way So really I'm just having

fun I'm cutting pieces They look like

they kind of look like diamonds They

look like little um uh what would that

be called like a half a diamond I guess

Little points And so I just make a

random random cuts here and there so

that I can get started with the gluing

part process And that's pretty much it

right pretty simple So let's bring all

of that in Oh I have a sweet little mess

which you can't really craft if you

don't make a mess right so we're going

to just get a little cleaned up here And

we want to bring our button back in

Let's clear this off because I think we

probably don't want that residue of

denim in our glue So we'll just scooch

that

over And then we're going to check out

Is this one did I cut the holes i think

I cut the holes Let's check it out I

think they're just really tiny Yeah

they're just really tiny So let's let's

make them just a little bit bigger I

know you're here buddy Where'd you go

there you go I think I just did one So

that's all I'm doing is kind of like

poking the scissors They're very sharp

so be careful And then I'm going to

bring in my Attack Liberty glue gun I've

got some of the glue stick already in

the uh the glue gun And I've got a drip

going on here I don't want to waste I

think I want to That might have dried a

little bit Let's see Um we got a piece

of paper somewhere

calling in the the production

assistant It takes a team over here

right we're having fun Okay look at the

little light The little light indicates

that it is on and it's charged There's

Oh hey did I say that this was cordless

i'm going to tell you right now that it

is I know you're probably tripping out

like "Where is the cord Jules?" There is

no cord because it's cordless So to

charge it you just plug it into the USB

and then into the proper um proper plug

So I'm already turned on and what I'm

going to do is I'm just going to do a

nice

layer and I want to get to the

sides as much as I can to the outer

sides over here And then I'll do like a

crissross maybe one of those guys

Just trying to cover the wood as much as

I can so this piece adheres

nice And of course I want to make sure

that my button

holes Was it good did I do good i think

I did pretty good There we go Okay And

then I'm going to smush that

down And I can already tell like my cork

is is bigger Look it I'm just going to

have to go back and I'll have to trim

that But I'm good because I was able to

cover the entire button um base So

you're not going to see any of that wood

So we'll go back and we'll trim that up

here So just grab the

scissors

and you know we'll cut Oh I want that to

better You have to get your scissors to

go in one motion or you'll end up having

um what would that be called like a

jagged a jagged edge I guess I could be

part of your

design All right there you go So much

better And I'm seeing I'm seeing that

I've got a little peekaboo area here So

I'm going to come back

in and we'll just push that

down And I'm seeing that I got a little

bit going on over here So we're going to

do the same

thing Push that

down And I might have a little peekaboo

over here I didn't go to the edge enough

That's all right

Most of the time I am living on the edge

So So we did good We did good All right

So I'm going to turn that over And now

we're going to start making some more

magic And just to kind of give you an

idea of what I do I grab a piece of the

denim All right And then I just start to

randomly you know you could just kind of

get an idea like how's this how's this

going to work out i'm going to do some

um inside of the denim look Right So

this would be the inside of the

fabric Maybe I want to do that So I'm

just I'm not you know I'm just placing

it I'm just seeing if I cut correctly

How's it going to go for me and I'm

feeling pretty good about my cuts So

let's back that

up And what we're going to do is we're

going to

bring bring the glue gun in And you want

to make sure just to you know protect

your fingers And then we're going to lay

that down And I'm just I'm not going to

worry about it I'm not going to be all

like "Oh it's got to be this way or that

way." I'm just going to make it happen

Make the magic

happen And we could do

that And so this is just placement right

let's see Oh I'm all right side up Must

be upside down

Let's do one of those And it aderes

pretty quickly So it's okay if it

doesn't get in that right spot right

away And I like this piece because it's

pretty big So we're just going to scooch

that

glue And again let's see I'm kind of

thinking let's let's do something like

that And the whole Yeah So like the

whole process is just fun like you're

just finding all these little

pieces And I'm going to make sure that

my glue stick is really really in there

Well and let's see Let's see Let's see

Oh that's fun Cuz that's like got the um

you know like the torn look So do I want

that side up i think I want that side up

which means I got to do it on this side

Okay

So okay we're doing

this Getting really into

it And I'm feeling like why don't we do

that that's like fun So now we kind of

got some we've got some uh what you call

some layers going on

here And is that going to be good i

think that's probably going to be good

So don't overthink it because I can

already see like I could start

overthinking it and then you know I'm

here at midnight like why is this taking

so long shouldn't take that long Okay so

we're just Yeah we're putting the glue

on and we're laying it down We're laying

it down Hey you know what if you wanted

you could um you could

paint you could

preaint or stain or color in with a

pencil that way you know like if if the

spaces of the wood if that you didn't

want to see that you could do you know

you could be sure that it coordinated I

don't know You could do that I think

that would be okay I don't think you

have to but I still think that would be

so good you know Um I feel like the glue

I feel very empowered right now with

this glue gun because I'm really getting

it I'm getting it done Mama's getting it

done folks Mama is getting it done Okay

What do I need i feel like I need some

some darker darker denim So let's let's

this Okay And which way do I want to go

oh I want to Okay I got to peek over

here Oh no No no no Oh no I want you to

move I want you to move but you don't

because you're so good You're just going

to stay there Be

careful because it is good stuff It is

good stuff Once it lands it's sticking

Okay I'm sorry I just have so much fun

when I'm doing doing projects and I know

that I'm making something so incredibly

unique and different So we're going to

scooch all this over I've got all kinds

of fun stuff going on What more do we

have here hey you know what maybe I

think I'm going to do this now that

these are getting smaller Why don't we

try that method you could do that too

Let's do that Let's Let's do this and

see how that

works So I kind of like that idea too

And don't worry we can either leave all

of these excess pieces or we can go back

and trim them up Oh here's a thin one So

I want to get that into that spot Oh I'm

kind of liking this idea of putting the

glue glue down on the button and then

coming back and filling in the space

That's working for

me You'll have to let me know what you

think Can you see how this really I know

it's kind of like what is going on right

now but let's bring in the finished one

and remind you of where we're going

Let's just remind you of that because we

are going somewhere and it's pretty

stinking cool when it's all done Okay

let's keep going So we'll get

something we'll get something in there

Get it Get it Get it Get it Okay I'm not

too worried about my button holes like

being too cover because I'm just going

to be putting some very thin wire in

that area So you know Whoa Don't cover

it all though Jules You need a little

You need a little peekaboo space All

right I see it Okay Um Okay I know this

is going to be overkill but I do you

know Come on now You know I gotta like

get this spot So let's do that one Don't

cover your Don't cover your button hole

You still got to see

it All right Okay I'm just I think I'm

good All right I know I'm good Okay

Let's do this though Let's get back

Let's

trim Okay So I'm just going around the

button and I'm trimming

It's like a pin wheel right it's got

like this cool you know and not for

nothing I could like if this was bugging

me like right here could put like a

little glue right there And then let me

come in over here I know I'm being a

little too much right hey that's the way

goes But I do I want to fill these in So

just bear with me I think it's important

So let's just do that And that's for me

You You could have just been like I

totally left it the way it was And

that's fine All right So let's trim this

off And we'll just do a little snippity

snip And we'll do a little smoochy

smooch Perfect

Yay Awesome Awesome Awesome Okay Now

what we're going to do is we're going to

decorate with the wire and the beads And

so I have a very thin piece of wire This

is like a 26 gauge non-tarnish wire And

I'm going to bring in the nylon jaw

pliers And I love working with nylon jaw

pliers when I'm doing wire working

because it really takes all of the kinks

out of the wire It also hardens the wire

So I like to fold it And then I'll come

back um from the back

side And I'm just putting it through the

holes And then I'm going to pull those

two

pieces All right And then I'm going to

just start

wrapping So then we're inserting that

back into the

hole And we'll just like take that guy

let him lay there I think I think Okay

Yeah Let's get that one one more

time And then let's come over here and

we're going to do the same thing

Basically

just weaving the wire into the button

holes Now I think I think we should add

some uh beads So let's add a bead

here I think that's cool Let's do

something a little different We'll add a

bead

here And then we're going to come in

again

Fantastic

And I mean that's kind of interesting if

they were like like this one I have like

they're

scattered This is kind of a little bit

more like in the same spot But I feel

like Okay I'm going to overthink it I'm

going to overthink I'm just going to do

it Uh we're going to teach each other

how to just like get over it and do it

It's going to be unique no matter what

you do But you know here watch this I'm

just going to do that Okay that worked

out Now I'm happy Oh I'm really happy

Okay so I'm going to bring

this back to the back side

And what I want to do to lock all of

this in place is

um I'm going to get my round nose

pliers I didn't mention those did I so

hang tight I'm going to grab my round

nose And I've got them And so what I'm

doing is I'm working the tip the very

tip of my round nose pliers And I'm

going to grab that wire I pinch it in

between my fingers and then I I gra I

grab that wire and I just do like a

little rubby rubby because I don't

really want to fill the tip there and I

can see it Oh now it's better And what I

do is I just give it forward like a

forward turn release Put it back in

there

Okay And then we're going to get our

flat nose pliers Don't go anywhere

We've got like a working situation folks

Okay And then we're going to grab the

side of

that And we're

turning I would love to know do you have

all your crafting supplies within

reach or do you have to like get up you

know how when you're like laying in bed

and you find something you want to buy

and they're like "Put your credit card

in." And you're like "Yeah no I'm not

getting out of bed."

had is like tell me about your crafting

supplies Are they are they close by

because I literally just had to like uh

grab two of my tools that I realized

were going to make this project a lot

easier to complete Come on now I'm just

going to tell you who's the queen of

making a swirl I'm just going to I'm

going to give myself a hand So I'm just

rolling this back into

itself And awesome Um and then what I

could do is come back in and kind of

give it like a little bend And now look

doesn't that look neat oh my gosh Okay I

love how these come together so quickly

By the way the longer the wire the

bigger the swirl The shorter the wire

the smaller the swirl So let's do this

one I know it's I love when we can make

things that just set our our pieces

apart So you're making jewelry

um and you just want a really unique

piece this is definitely going to be

unique And I I love wearing these

Personally I love wearing these big

buttons And I'm super excited that I can

use my fabrics my denim These are a pair

of old jeans I I had I could not throw

them away I was like "Someday I will

turn you into something." And how

wonderful is it that we have a tool like

the uh Essential Liberty glue gun that

really produces a

nice strong adhesive to keep it all

together Oh my gosh you guys Come on now

Come on now Let's bring the other one

that I've made Do you want to see it

actually on on a bracelet cuz look how

cool this is Let's get all this stuff

out of the way Look at this one This is

a bracelet Are you excited this is so

cool I mean I get so many oo and a's and

wows And I do I sport this y'all Check

it out Look at how fun Isn't that great

and and just minimal product minimal

items some cork some old denim wire

beads I will tell you this is a

gemstone because I wanted it to match

these So you could do that too You could

like add some value to your

button All righty You know what let's

take a really quick look again We've got

um we used cork we used denim we had a

blank button we had wire I used all the

wire And we had round nose and we had

flat nose and we had nylon jaw and wire

cutters and scissors And we had my

bestie We had my bestie the Adtec

Essential Liberty cordless cordless glue

gun All right I want to see your button

when you get it done Have fun

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