Years ago, my advertising company was sometimes asked to make buttons to promote a restaurant or event. A lot of customers didn’t want hundreds of buttons, which is what you need to make it realistic to get buttons printed, so we found a button maker that let you assemble the pieces, with a custom printed insert, to make a few buttons at a time. It was a clever device, made by the Badge-A-Minit company. You had to assemble several metal rings of different colors in just the right order, press and clamp, and eventually you had a nice button, about two inches in diameter. I haven’t thought about buttons in awhile, but my daughter showed up with some “Old Curmudgeon” buttons the other day, and I found out she still has a button maker. It’s not the same one—all the rings are plastic now, of course—but it still works well to make a few buttons at a time. And it is still made by the Badge-A-Minit company, too. So, look for these Old Curmudgeon buttons on a lapel near you soon . . .
