Buttons

Button making is not new, but it sure is fun and we consider it our gateway making project for the Fab Lab!

The Fab Lab has multiple button presses, which are able to produce buttons with customized designs. Users can create a design in a graphics software like Adobe Illustrator, then print it onto a button template. The template is then punched into rounds and placed into the button press, along with a button shell, and the actuation of the press binds the assembly together into a finished button.

In 1787 Josiah Wedgwood of the Wedgwood pottery dynasty ordered the production of the Wedgwood anti-slavery medallion to promote the British anti-slavery movement to the House of Commons. This is believed to be the first use of a slogan on a product and a forerunner of today's political campaign button. Benjamin S. Whitehead patented the first innovation to the design in 1893 by inserting a sheet of transparent film made of celluloid over a photograph mounted on a badge to protect the image from scratches and abrasion. Whitehead had patents for various designs of ornamental badges and medallions previously, patented as early as 1892.