IMG_4408

Yep, literally.

It may be carrying frugal behavior to a bizarre extreme, but I saved the prunings from my blueberry bushes.  I wanted them because they make great gee haw whimmy diddles, but I got to thinking that I could also use them for other things.

Like these:

IMG_4417

I don’t have a garment in mind for them yet, but I was thinking something wooly and knitted.  They have a great feel–smooth and hard as glass, but warm.

Best part? Saying “blueberry buttons.”

If you want some yourself, just take a hard, finely grained tree branch, saw off the size you want, drill the preferred number of holes, and sand them smooth (I bet you can get them smoother than I did–got tired). I dipped them in a mixture of melted beeswax with a touch of olive oil, fished them out and polished them with a soft cloth.

I also tried cedar and japanese maple with good results. Two of the buttons in the second picture are cedar.

Too weird?