Coloring Bone Buttons

[RWL]

Is there a way to restore the red and black color of bone buttons?

Is there any safe way to whiten the white bone buttons?

 

[david robertson]

You can clean bone buttons easily in a domestic dishwasher. Just put them in a little net bag first. When they're dry, wax them with the aid of your trusty Dremel or similar and a cloth wiped in neutral boot polish. Red and black buttons can be given a coat of nail varnish - it's hard and durable.

[RWL]

I recognize you as a restorer, so I accept the voice of experience with regard to the use of nail polish. Neverthess, I was curious; were the buttons painted red and black originally, or were they stained with a dye and then sealed with a wax?

 

I was wondering also if a 10% household bleach solution would be OK on the white buttons, or whether that would damage the bone.

[sqzbxr]

There's a thread here on cleaning bone buttons:

 

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=15873

[Geoff Wooff]

Originally the coloured buttons of an English would have been stained Ivory. Red Staining using an Aniline dye and Cochineal produced that typical red Ivory colour. I have an old Chess set that belonged to my great grandparents which is white and red Ivory.... a couple of the pièces have been broken or lost and I've been meaning to make replacements but figuring out how to match the red colour had me scratching my head......

Now we have the Internet and a search will reveal all.

I assume the black buttons were treated in a similar way.

[Ann-p]

Were red and black buttons coloured with Indian Ink? It's waterproof and pretty durable.