Thursday 27 March 2014

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #160 Buy Coconut Shell Buttons & Buckles

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #160 Buy Coconut Shell Buttons & Buckles


Apart from the fact that there are probably enough buttons already in the world, enough to last our needs well into the future, if you have to buy new buttons or buckles, consider buying ones made from coconut shell. This is a renewable resource, as well as being a product with several uses, such as: coconut milk; desiccated coconut; livestock feed; the coir is used to make ropes, mats, brushes and potting compost; coconut oil; and of course buttons. The rest of the tree is able to be used in many ways as well, but for now I’ll concentrate on the coconut shell. It is made into buttons fairly easily, with no chemicals being used in the process, which consists of boiling, scraping to clean, cutting and drying. The varnishes may not be entirely environmentally friendly, but at least when you’ve finished using a coconut button or it gets lost somehow, it will eventually biodegrade.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'd never heard of (or thought of) coconut shell buttons! Is the button on this (gorgeous pink fluffy) flower a coconut shell button? Where do you buy them? What a great idea! Aren't coconuts & their trees so very versatile?! :)
Sue xx

Margaret A. Rowe said...

Unfortunately it is not a coconut shell button on this Flower. I do recall it as being one donated to the project, so although it's plastic, it is recycled, as are all the buttons in this project. You can get coconut shell buttons on ebay or other internet sources, or a specialist button store (there's one in the CBD in Melbourne). M xx