Pushing all the right buttons

KOCHI: A white reindeer preparing to gallop remains frozen in a frame which bursts with a silvery glow or rather a buttony glow. In yet another frame, stars wink and gleam, as they are strung together to form the Capricorn constellation. It is an art with buttons, all the hues and the contours being perfected using buttons and buttons alone.

With a set of gloriously crafted artworks solely made of buttons, Priyanka Sunil George proves that there is more to those ordinary looking buttons. “The constellation artwork was unique. I hadn’t attempted anything of that sort. The distance between the stars needed to be precise and exact,” recalls Priyanka, a former advertising professional. It is not just buttons that find their way into her canvas but sequins, laces, stones, feathers, glass pieces are also added in, heightening the artwork’s grandeur and adding an iridescent sheen to the work. “I once made a T-Rex using glass pieces,” she chuckles.

A self-taught artist, Priyanka says that she loves working with buttons and nothing else, having struck a comfort level working with buttons. “I have reached a comfort level when working with buttons. Whenever I travel, I always shop for buttons,” says Priyanka whose collection boasts of a huge variety of buttons, of all shapes, sizes and colours. It was during work whilst experimenting on using craft as a marketing tool that she came across the vast possibilities of using buttons as a medium of art. She ended up stocking buttons. 

And then it was when she took a career break while caring for her baby that she ended up crafting art with buttons. At first, she made them to while away the time. And then enquiries came pouring in, and now, this unique work of art of hers has even crossed seas.

The artworks are made on handmade or textured papers. “Once I used canvas, but that doesn’t come in diverse colours. With textured papers, you get to choose from an array of colour combinations. The coloured papers make the art more attractive,” she says. 
Once the drawing is made in the paper, the buttons are glued onto it. “I use my kid’s pencil to sketch out the art in the paper. At times when the drawing doesn’t come out good, I seek the help of my husband Sunil, who sketches really well,” she adds. On average, each work takes about a week, she says.The theme for the artworks is decided upon the availability of the buttons. 

“I don’t choose an image and then go about finding the suitable buttons for that. And in case I don’t get the buttons of the right shade, I try to fill it in with other materials. There was one time when I didn’t get the right coloured buttons and so the reindeer was crafted using multi-coloured buttons,” smiles Priyanka who has been personalising artworks based on order.