Editing Button (section)

==Materials and manufacture==
[[File:Button stamping machine, Henri Jamorski Button Factory, Paris, France, 1919 (28206559760).jpg|right|thumb|Button stamping machine at the Henri Jamorski Button Factory in Paris, 1919]]
{{see also|List of raw materials used in button-making}}

Because buttons have been manufactured from almost every possible material, both [[Natural materials|natural]] and [[Synthetic chemical|synthetic]], and combinations of both, the history of the material composition of buttons reflects the [[timeline of materials technology]].

Buttons can be individually crafted by [[artisans]], [[craftspeople]] or [[artists]] from [[raw materials]] or [[found objects]] (for example [[fossils]]), or a combination of both. Alternatively, they can be the product of [[low-tech]] [[cottage industry]] or be [[Mass-production|mass-produced]] in [[High-tech#High-tech industries|high-tech]] [[factories]]. Buttons made by artists are [[art object]]s, known to button collectors as "studio buttons" (or simply "studios", from [[studio craft]]).<ref name="Studio buttons at Button Country">{{cite web |url=http://buttoncountry.com/studios.htm |title=Studios (Section 23-11) |last=Peach State Button Club |year=2010 |work=Button Country |publisher=Peach State Button Club |access-date=11 June 2010 |location=Georgia, USA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606190304/http://www.buttoncountry.com/studios.htm |archive-date=6 June 2010 }}</ref>

In 1918, the US government made an extensive survey of the international button market, which listed buttons made of [[vegetable ivory]], [[metal]], [[glass]], [[galalith]], [[silk]], [[linen]], cotton-covered [[crochet]], [[lead]], [[snap fastener]]s, [[Vitreous enamel|enamel]], [[rubber]], [[antler|buckhorn]], [[wood]], [[horn (anatomy)|horn]], [[bone]], [[leather]], [[paper]], pressed [[cardboard]], [[nacre|mother-of-pearl]], [[celluloid]], [[porcelain]], [[composition doll|composition]], [[tin]], [[zinc]], [[celluloid|xylonite]], [[stone]], cloth-covered wooden forms, and [[papier-mâché]]. Vegetable ivory was said to be the most popular for suits and shirts, and papier-mâché far and away the commonest sort of shoe button.<ref>The United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Paper and Stationery Trade of the World, Government Printing Office, 1918</ref>

Nowadays, hard plastic, seashell, metals, and [[wood]] are the most common materials used in button-making; the others tending to be used only in premium or [[antique]] apparel, or found in [[Button collecting|collections]].

Over 60% of the world's button supply comes from [[Qiaotou, Yongjia County]], [[China]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/welcome-to-button-town-china/|title=A look at China's "Button Town"|website=www.cbsnews.com|date=8 October 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5686805|title=Chinese 'Button Town' Struggles with Success|website=NPR.org}}</ref>

===Decoration and coating techniques===
Historically, fashions in buttons have also reflected trends in [[Applied aesthetics#Two-dimensional and plastic arts|applied aesthetics]] and the [[Applied arts|applied]] [[visual arts]], with buttonmakers using techniques from [[jewellery making]], [[ceramic art|ceramics]], [[sculpture]], [[painting]], [[printmaking]], [[metalworking]], [[weaving]] and others. The following are just a few of the construction and decoration techniques that have been used in button-making:  <!-- Incomplete list. Please help by expanding to it -->

{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
*[[Arita ware|Arita porcelain]]
*[[Cloisonné]]
*[[Daguerreotype]]<ref>{{harv|Luscomb|2003|p=53}}</ref>
*[[Electroplating]]
*[[Embroidery]]<ref name="French embroidered decorative buttons, made 1785-1792">{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127202/mans-suit-coat/|title=Man's suit, Coat and breeches|last=Victoria and Albert museum|author-link=Victoria and Albert Museum|publisher=V&A Images|access-date=10 March 2010|location=London, UK|archive-date=24 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824194648/http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127202/mans-suit-coat/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*[[Filigree]]<ref name="Elements of German filigree button, made 1880">{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O140427/elements-of-a/|title=Elements of a German filigree button, made ca 1880|last=Victoria and Albert Museum|work=[[Victoria and Albert Museum#Jewellery|V&A Jewellery collection]]|year=1880 |publisher=V&A Images|access-date=10 March 2010|location=London, UK}}</ref>
*[[Intaglio (printmaking)|Intaglio]]<ref>{{harv|Luscomb|2003|p=104}}</ref>
*[[Lacquerware]]
*[[Lithography]]<ref>{{harv|Luscomb|2003|pp=123–124}}</ref>
*[[Metallizing]]
*[[Metal openwork]]<ref name="Gilded and enamelled metal openwork buttons">{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O22588/jacket-from-bridegrooms/|title=Jacket from bridegroom's outfit|last=Victoria & Albert museum|work=V&A Jewellery collection|year=1992 |publisher=V&A Images|access-date=10 March 2010|location=London, UK}}</ref>
*[[Opus interassile]]
*[[Passementerie]]<ref name="Passementerie buttons, made 1740-1749, probably French">{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127140/coat/|title=Coat - Victoria & Albert museum|publisher=V&A Images|access-date=10 March 2010|location=London, UK}}</ref>
*[[Portrait miniatures]]
*[[Satsuma ware]]
*[[Vitreous enamel]]
}}

===Styles of attachment===
[[File:Plastic & fabric buttons showing holes & shank.jpg|thumb|right|Three plastic sew-through buttons (left) and one shank, fabric-covered button (right)]]*'''Flat or sew-through''' buttons have holes through which thread is sewn to attach the button.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |editor-last=Colton |editor-first=Virginia |title=Complete Guide to Sewing |publisher=Reader's Digest |page=352 |date=1978 |isbn=0-89577-026-1}}</ref> Flat buttons may be attached by [[sewing machine]] rather than by hand and may be used with heavy fabrics by working a thread shank to extend the height of the button above the fabric.
[[File:Shank_buttons.jpg|thumb|left|An assorti of ''shank buttons'']]
*'''[[Shank (sewing)|Shank]]''' buttons have a hollow protrusion on the back through which thread is sewn to attach the button.<ref name="Button shanks, various materials & types">{{cite web|url=http://buttoncountry.com/shanks.htm|title=Back Types/Shanks (23-3)|last=Button Country|year=2010|publisher=Peach State Button Club|access-date=11 March 2010|location=GA, USA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617004046/http://www.buttoncountry.com/shanks.htm|archive-date=17 June 2010|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Button shanks may be made from a separate piece of the same or a different substance as the button itself, and added to the back of the button, or be carved or moulded directly onto the back of the button, in which latter case the button is referred to by collectors as having a 'self-shank'.
[[File:Durchsteckknoepfe.jpg|thumb|left|Plastic studs for bedclothes]]
[[File:ShirtStuds.jpg|thumb|left|Shirt studs]]
*'''Stud''' buttons (also push-through buttons or just studs) are composed from an actual button, connected to a second, button-like element by a narrow metal or plastic bar. Pushed through two opposing holes within what is meant to be kept together, the actual button and its counterpart press it together, keeping it joined. Popular examples of such buttons are shirt studs and [[cufflink]]s.
*'''[[Snap fasteners]]''' (also pressure buttons or press studs) are metal (usually brass) round discs pinched through the fabric. They are often found on clothing, in particular on denim pieces such as pants and jackets. They are more securely fastened to the material. As they rely on a metal rivet attached securely to the fabric, pressure buttons are difficult to remove without compromising the fabric's integrity. They are made of two couples: the male stud couple and the female stud couple. Each couple has one front (or top) and rear (or bottom) side (the fabric goes in the middle).
[[File:Chambers 1908 Toggle.png|thumb|alt=Short stick on a cord (attached centrally), with both ends of the stick passed through a separate loop of cord.|Illustration from 1908 Chambers's Twentieth Century. Toggle, n. (naut.) a short bar of wood, tapering from the middle towards each end, placed in an eye at the end of a rope, to keep the end from passing through a loop or knot.]]

*{{anchor|toggle}}'''Toggles''' are stick-like, with a cord attached at the center. They are passed endways through a hole and then rotated sideways.
*'''Magnetic buttons''', as the name implies, are buttons that attach to each other by being magnetic.<ref>{{Cite patent|number=US2397931A|title=Magnetic button|gdate=1946-04-09|invent1=Robert|inventor1-first=Ellis|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2397931/en}}</ref> The buttons can be attached either by sewing or snapping them into the fabric.

===Fabric buttons===
*'''Covered buttons''' are fabric-covered forms with a separate back piece that secures the fabric over the knob.
*'''Mandarin buttons''' or [[Frog (fastening)|frogs]] are knobs made of intricately knotted strings. Mandarin buttons are a key element in [[Mandarin dress]] (''[[qipao|Qi Pao]]'' and ''[[cheongsam]]'' in [[Chinese language|Chinese]]), where they are closed with loops. Pairs of mandarin buttons worn as [[cuff link]]s are called '''silk knots'''.
*'''Worked or cloth buttons''' are created by [[embroidery|embroidering]] or [[crochet]]ing tight stitches (usually with [[linen]] [[yarn|thread]]) over a knob or ring called a '''form'''. [[Dorset button]]s, handmade from the 17th century to 1750, and Death head buttons are of this type.

===Button sizes===
The size of the button depends on its use. Shirt buttons are generally small, and spaced close together, whereas coat buttons are larger and spaced further apart. Buttons are commonly measured in [[ligne]]s (also called ''[[Line (unit)|lines]]'' and abbreviated ''L''), with 40 lines equal to 1&nbsp;inch.<ref>{{cite web |title=An Easy Guide to Button Measurement and Sizing |url=https://www.sunmeibutton.com/button-measurement/ |date=2019-06-19 |publisher=Sun Mei Button Enterprise Co., Ltd.}}</ref> For example, some standard sizes of buttons are 16 lignes (10.16&nbsp;mm, standard buttons of men's [[shirt]]s) and 32 lignes (20.32&nbsp;mm, typical button on [[suit (clothes)|suit jackets]]).<ref>{{Citation |title=Standard Buttons |date=1990 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-107250-6.50007-3 |work=Brain Browser |pages=86–90 |access-date=2023-11-18 |publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-107250-6.50007-3 |isbn=978-0-12-107250-6 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>