BUTTON STORAGE

[Former_Member]

When I started making buttons I used plastic cups to keep them separated. Each design gets a number and so did the cups so all I had to do was dip into the right cup to grab the right button. After the first 25 designs I realized that took up too much room.

Now I use quart size zippered plastic food bags and use a felt tip marker to write the serial number in the upper corner of the bag on both sides. The bags get stored sequentially in a 16 X 13 X 6 plastic tote. Takes up lots less space, but has some drawbacks, too. The bags don't stand up straight, soit's very difficult to get them back in the right order after removing a button. Makes crafts shows/flea markets hard.

Any suggestions on a good, reliable, small-foot-print way to store and transport buttons?

[TotallySparkler]

I have mine in plastic bags too - but I don't have huge amounts of them. I think I only have 10 different designs at the moment.

[Former_Member]

60 designs, 3 buttons each as stock. I'm looking a, eventually, 600-1000 designs which means 1800-3000 buttons in stock and to transport to craft fairs and flea markets.

I suppose if I shifted to 1" buttons the problem would be cut in half? :o)

[Former_Member]

We use large Rubbermade tubs for the button parts and Ziploc bags for competed buttons. We are still working on our displays for events. So far we have done something a little different at each event.

[Former_Member]

Plastic bags were just to much trouble for me, so I've finally "invented" a method for storing and transporting, in one unit, buttons of various sizes.

Plastic totes about 18" X 12" X 8 inches tall with easy to remove covers (about $3.00 at the discount stores)
Cut heavy duty cardboard or 1/16" plywood to fit the totes and then glue plastic cups to these bases.
I stack the collections of cups two high inside each tote. Use smaller cups for smaller buttons. Right now I only make 1" and 2.25" buttons, so I have two separate sets of totes.
Larger cups are cut in half in order to get two stacks in a tote.