Cottage button - Stage 1

I love painted buttons but it a major operation for me and tends to make a huge mess so I usually paint a couple dozen at a time... Although painting roses is the fastest and easiest, I prefer to paint birds and cottages. I will take you through the stages of painting a cottage.. Although I repeat them all the time people always want to skip the prep steps... Bad choice!!!

Critical Preparation: First glue the button to a scrap of felt. If the button has a shank cut a hole in center of felt so you can glue felt tightly to the botton of button... In addition to giving you a handle while painting, the felt will provide a surface for beading and attaching to your block... This felt gives you a handle so you do not touch the button itself. It to easy to get oil from your fingers on the button surface or smear your work. Plus it's tiring holding a 1/2" button steady.

Once dry, fill any holes with any white putty from the hardware store. and the sand button lightly with fine sandpaper. Unless you sand the surface the paint tends to "puddle" on the surface...
Now for the most important prep step. Brush a very thin layer of blue wash (blue paint mixed with water) over the button. This must dry or cure. I leave it sit overnight. The wash gives the button a tooth or surface that makes painting soooooooo much easier and it is thin enough to let the luminosity of the button shine through .
You can see other buttons I've painted on my other blog.... http://olderrose.blogspot.com/search/label/button%20painting.

Now the next step..... The button on the right has been glued to felt, sanded and covered with a thin coat of blue wash...I sketch the shape of a cottage with a pencil. Start with a very simple shape. If you are uncertain of your drawing skills. Reduce a simple cottage shape to size of button, cut it out and trace around it...Now we're ready for next step... stage 2
Added note: The putty is called spackle and is sold in the paint dept. in small containers. Whether it's gray or white doesn't really matter as you are going to paint over it with cottages... But with birds or roses the holes may be awkward so I like the white.... If you look closely at the cardinal you can see the filled holes under his body but after it is finished they will hardly be noticeable.....