Inspired by her northern Wisconsin cabin, Suzanne Proulx translates the beauty of nature into intricately designed, handmade buttons.

Proulx is one of the many button collectors showcasing their passions at the annual Illinois State Button Show in Bloomington, Illinois, from April 25–27. 

Proulx, however, differs from most button collectors by opting to create her own buttons this year to sell as a studio button artist.  

“I used to collect buttons to make jewelry,” she said. “And then I found out there was a national button society, which led me to investigate more about old buttons.”

One of her mediums is the tagua nut, a popular button-making material similar to the feel of ivory. For other creations, she etches designs into celluloid and mother of pearl, using the traditional whaler method of scrimshaw, which involved carving bones and ivory.

Many of those present had different ways of showcasing their collections.

“Everybody does it differently, and that’s OK,” Midwest Regional Button Association President Paul Thomas said. 

Thomas comes from a long line of button collectors, being the fifth generation in his family to carry on the tradition. 

“Every single [button] is an individual work of art that somebody created somewhere, somehow,” he said. Everything throughout history—from religion to politics, and from art to war—has been depicted in buttons.

Thomas explains that there are two different ways most people collect buttons: for competition or for fun.

“If you’re competing, we have a very strict set of rules we have to follow for competition,” he said.

For example, there’s a “20% rule” where you can’t have more than 20% of your collection submitted together by the same button artist. 

Jean Curtis, the award and judging chair at the show, explained that this rule was created to ensure that collectors represented a wide range of artists with a central unifying theme in their characteristics. 

“When collecting at home for fun, you can do it any way you want to,” Thomas said. “You can do it by material, subject matter, shapes,

color, you name it.”

“There’s all kinds of different ways you can take in the button hobby.”

Russa Milburn, the president of the Illinois State Button Society, got into the hobby through her sister.

“My sister did custom sewing and she wanted to see what the button show was all about,” Milburn said. “That was back in 2009. She did it and I kind of got hooked,”

Founded in 1941, the Illinois State Button Society has provided a gathering place for button collectors and enthusiasts across the state. 

Next year, in 2025, the National Button Show will be hosted in Springfield, Illinois, from Aug. 3–9.

Addressing concerns that their society wouldn’t be able to pull off the national show, she told members to “prove the naysayers wrong” in the 2024 spring issue of the Illinois Roundup, the button society’s newsletter. 

Coming up soon is Aurora’s Annual Button Market, which will be on May 18 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 5110 Grand Ave. in Gurnee, Illinois.