Tutorial: Button Badge Heart Picture

Button Badge Heart Picture by Brigitte Herod

£175 at Rockett St George

(Also check out the Scrabble LOVE YOU Picture, £59)

 Much as I love Brigitte Herrod’s ingenious ‘Button Badge Heart Picture’, I’m far from able to afford the £175 price tag.

So I got out my huge collection of badges and worked out how to make my own for free!

 

 My version; cost: free
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Here’s an easy-to-follow tutorial for how to make a button badge heart picture of your very own.

You can either make a temporary version or a permanent version, depending on whether or not you want to reuse the badges!

Time needed: 1-2 hours

You’ll need:

Large selection of badges (try ebay for job lots)

Paper/card/board for background

Pencil

Blu-tack (for temporary version)

Glue gun (for permanent version)

Frame (optional)

 1. Lightly draw a heart shape onto your background (I used a page from an A3 canvas paper pad). It doesn’t have to be perfect because you’ll adjust the shape as you go. 

2. Decide how you want to set out your badges. Start by setting some around the edge of the heart and then fill up the space inside. 

3. Stick the badges to the background. If using blu-tack, use a decent-sized piece on the pin of each badge. In cases where the badges overlap, stick a bit of blu-tack to the underside rim and affix the badge to the badge(s) it overlaps with. Work in a similar fashion if using a glue gun.

4. Once you’re finished, check all badges are attached securely and frame or display as wished.

Suggestions:

• If making this as a gift, include badges that are personal or hold special memories--a favourite animal, cartoon character or beverage, badges from trips out, etc.
• Experiment with colour and patterns. This could be the background or the badges e.g. outline the heart with all red badges and fill the inside with black and white badges, or glue old newspaper to some board to great a more interesting background.
• If you don’t have enough badges, why not try something else? Buttons, bottle caps, even jam jar lids could make a stunning alternative.