I love Asian fabrics for my cover-button jewelry. Here’s a sample I made recently for Maeda Importing. This one is the Silk Fabric Cord necklace from my Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Cover-Button Jewelry book. I substituted Maeda’s beautiful hand-dyed satin cord for the silk fabric cord. Wild Iris is the colorway I used.
If you use craft glues you’ll be interested to know about a new adhesive I tried for the findings on this necklace, Beacon’s Tiger Bond. I don’t like using glues with fumes, and my previous fume-free favorite was discontinued last year. I was excited to give Tiger Bond a try. Here are my results:
Tiger Bond vs. E-6000
| Tiger Bond | E-6000 | |
| Clear | X | X |
| Extremely strong | X | X |
| Flexible/not brittle | X | X |
| Thick/easy to use | X | X |
| Fast grab | X | X |
| Cure time: 48 hours | X | X |
| Works well for metal/jewelry findings | X | X |
| Multi-purpose | X | X |
| Odor/fume free | X | |
| Eco-friendly | X | |
| Size tube for approx. $5.00 | .5 oz | 3.7 oz |
As you can see, Tiger Bond performed equally as well as E-6000 with the added bonus of not having to worry about health issues and headaches from the fumes. This will be especially useful for my jewelry-making workshops. If you think the fumes are bad with just one person in the room gluing stuff, imagine what it’s like when there’s 20 people gluing stuff, even with the windows open.
I’ve also noticed with jewelry that even after the 48 hour curing process is complete, you can still smell the fumes for days and sometimes even a week or more afterwards if you put the jewelry on. (Depends on the weather how long the fumes stick around.) I always set my finished jewelry in the garage to air out for a week or two before I wear it if I used E-6000 on the findings.
Tiger Bond is more expensive. But here’s the thing, I don’t use my glue every day, or even every week. So usually my tubes of glue, whether large or small, dry up before I use it all. I don’t know how many large tubes of nearly full dried up E-6000 I’ve thrown out over the years. So unless you’re making stuff like crazy to sell on etsy or give as gifts, you’re probably not going to use up that entire super-sized tube of glue anyways. (And if you are using that much glue, you should really consider something that’s easier on your lungs.)
I used a 40% off coupon at the craft store for the Tiger Bond, but now that I’ve tried it, I like it so much that I’d buy Tiger Bond again, even without a coupon. In fact, I can’t imagine why I’d ever go back. E-6000 has been around for over 25 years, and it has served crafters well. But technology is changing at a rapid pace, and it’s great to now have more products to choose from that are just as effective, but safer.
If you like glue (and who doesn’t like glue?), there are some great resources on Beacon’s website, including a glue guide and helpful hints for working with glue.
dressing your coffee cup in style
blooming button jewelry to embellish clothes & quilts
vintage fabric fabric cover-button crafts
fun fabric appliques for card making & scrapbooking
#10. 
Soft Flex colored beading wire now comes in fabulous variety packs. Here are two of my favorites from the new 2010 collection: Egg Hunt and Be My Valentine.
#8. Halina Tepper, Button Sculptor:
20,000 buttons are sewn onto this lion!
The cute mouse pincushion has slightly fewer buttons than the lion, but would make a fun addition to any sewing room.
These little kangaroos give you a peek at how the button sculptures are made. The buttons on the finished kangaroo are made from the same used glue bottles that form the base.
Gill from the UK asks what 
These are my 
