A few years ago, I started a project of buying old leather coats from the Dig and Save and revamping them in an odd, urban fantasy way...the aesthetic that soon took over a lot of what I was doing. (I don't have any of the coats ready for sale just yet, but you an glimpse a bit of one here.) Part of the revamp was to replace the plastic buttons with more interesting things. Around the same time, a local fabric store was going out of business, and I ended up with a whole mess of plain wooden buttons that were crying out for some pyrography. Of course, I liked it so much that I ended up with way more buttons than I would probably use.

This particular button plays with surfaces and textures. The design is owes more to pressure than to burning—quick, heavy presses with the tool. When I finished, I realized that it reminded me of the old Aztec and Mayan calendars. (Hence the name.)