How to make political buttons from scratch--no button-making machine needed!

I was raised in a family that included one uncle who was, some claimed, a member of the John Birch Society. Another uncle was a Communist. A third uncle was left leaning, but he spent most of his time telling stories of how the Finns were responsible for every positive advance known to human society. Did we invent the wheel? Most likely. The printing press? No doubt. Diet Pepsi? If we'd have had Diet Pepsi when my Uncle Alex was alive, and if he had grown fond of Diet Pepsi then, yes, he'd have spun a tale of how the Finns invented that too.

I remember vividly the Thanksgiving at our house when one of those uncles put on his hat and coat and announced he'd heard enough and was walking back to Duluth, a trek of about 100 milies. I rode with my dad, always the peace maker, when we later went to retrieve my Uncle Matt as he trudged along Highway 63 heading north.

Were these blow-ups among my uncles traumatic childhood events from which I may never recover?

Hardly. I loved those discussions, no matter how loud they became and no matter how red the faces of my uncles grew. My aunts and my mom were all huddled in the kitchen wringing their hands, perhaps fearful of impending heart attacks, but my sister and I were all ears loving every minute of these battles.

These discussions among my uncles taught me to respect and listen to people when they were sharing -- even shouting -- their political views. Now as a mature adult I usually prefer civil discussions, but even now I'll take a shouting match over political apathy any day.

And that leads me to how I just couldn't help myself from bringing politics into my latest "how to" crafting eBook.

I had every intention of writing a standard instructional book to introduce people to a new way to use a computer, office supplies, fabric, and some recycled materials to create some attractive and inexpensive pins and pendants.

What happened?

Wisconsin Public Radio happened.

Coming up on a decade ago I was downsized from one of our nation's finest corporations. I opted to give up life in the city and decided to move to a little piece of property in northwestern Wisconsin that I'd inherited from my parents. In my new home I didn't have TV because, well, the antenna just couldn't rally itself to bring in any kind of reliable signal and I couldn't rally myself to part with any of my limited funds to replace that antenna.

I came to rely on public radio. I came to adore public radio. Thanks to public radio and the World Wide Web I came to discover some actual news and some real issues.

And that has WHAT to do with this latest instructional eBook from TimpyWorks?

As John Grisham said just the other night when answering a question from Bill Moyers about why his writing is so political now, "It's risky...I think we're all caught up in politics...with a war going on--a bad war--how can you not be caught up in politics? A lot of the issues of the day are political issues."

In posing that question Bill Moyers had specifically noted how raising political issues can offend a writer's readers because those readers might not agree with what the author has to say.

I knew I was running exactly that risk when I included in the eBook so many templates having to do with war and peace. Several people advised me to eliminate all of that so-called controversial artwork. I listened to all of this advice and knew that, in a way, my friends were absolutely right. Why risk offending people? After all, it's just a little crafts book. It's not as though I were running for some high political office and my opinions actually counted for something.

And that was precisely the point. In the end I didn't want to be like one of those people running for political office who appear often to speak only after their words have been tested by polsters. I much prefer to be like my uncles, those men who had strong political opinions and voiced them even if it meant the possibility of going without Thanksgiving dinner!

And, of course, our opinions do count for something.

DIY Pins and Pendants is a 177-page eBook that introduces new ways to combine some rather common materials. The 40 page Appendix includes graphics to use in designs. Most of these graphics are either shapes or colorful graphics that will be offensive to no one.

So what's the problem?

The problem is that some of the artwork in the eBook WILL be offensive to some people. Some people find peace symbols offensive. Some people agree with Nancy Pelosi that impeachment should be off the table.

With the techniques in DIY Pins and Pendants you can make pins and pendants that say whatever you want to say. You don't have to wait for someone else to design it and you don't have to wait for someone else to make it. You can make a single pin or you can make 50 pins. (I made 56 pins one beautiful September afternoon to give away at Fighting Bob Fest.) It's all up to you. Of course I could have avoided any mention of political matters, but these days I'm thinking about politics a lot. As John Grisham asked, how can you not be caught up in politics?

For my part, I haven't picked a favorite candidate for president yet. Last week I was wearing my "We the People like Dennis" button. I have a stunning red and gold "Obama" pendant that I love to wear, and my "Hill's Angel" pin always brings smiles and comments when I wear it. Who knows? We might still hear from Al Gore. I've made several "Reelect Al Gore" pins that I've already been handing out to my friends.

The web is full of sites where you can order political gear of all kinds, and there are also sites where you can design your own buttons and shirts. These sites provide us with terrific opportunities to let our views be known. It's a different animal, however, to create something yourself from scratch, and that's what my books and workshops are helping people do these days. My personal favorites are the pretty little pins and pendants that are just that: pretty little pins and pendants--until you get close enough to see that the lovely little trinket you've been admiring from across the room is actually promoting an idea or a candidate. Gotcha!

Conversation starters all.

Good conversation is precisely why I fell in love with Wisconsin Public Radio all those years ago. Now I'm used to hearing respectful and informative conversations throughout the day whenever I have the opportunity to listen to WPR. And now with streaming audio, you don't have to be in Wisconsin to get this great programming.

Ahhhh, what a wonderful world we live in. I can't help but wonder what those uncles of mine would have been reading and listening to were they still with us here on earth. I'm quite sure they wouldn't be holding hands and singing Kumbaya.