Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Ramirez.
Amanda, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
All started when I was five years old: that’s when my grandmother taught me how to cross-stitch, and it just launched from there. As I got older, my grandmother also taught me how to crochet, knit, hand sew, machine sew, and eventually embroider. But I would have to say cross-stitching is still the medium I feel most comfortable and confident with. I love seeing those little x’s come to life as you stitch. The process is definitely slow and time-consuming, but I always feel the result of seeing the image you created with such a simple stitch is well worth the wait. It’s like painting, but with hundreds of little thread x’s. There is nothing else like it. I am addicted to it.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It is definitely challenging running a business all by yourself, especially when you literally do everything by hand. No button maker over here! I hand stitch everything, cut everything out, press the button together with my own two thumbs, glue the pin backs, and let the buttons sit and dry overnight. My hands hurt after a while, and my eyes get a little crossed, and the process is pretty time consuming, but I think the results are well worth it. A lot of love and care go into making these buttons and feel like my customer can tell that.
Blue Hair Wonder Buttons – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
It all started on Election Day 2016. I couldn’t sleep that miserable night, so I decided to create and came up with my “not my president” button. The next day I posted it on my Instagram with the idea if anyone was interested, I would make more for a small price, and I would donate 100% of the proceeds to Planned Parenthood. Well, it was hit and spread like wildfire through social media. All of this led me to making more resistance buttons with different sayings that related to other protests and political movements that were happening around the nation. Again, with all the proceeds being donated to the organizations that button was representing. Today I have gone beyond just resistance buttons (even though that is still my main focus) I started to create custom buttons for independent artists/craftivists: i.e., put their logo on a button or their hashtag. I started to create random fun pixel art buttons, funny phrases buttons, hashtag buttons. My creative thoughts for these buttons are pretty much endless at this point, but the end result is always the same: donating the proceeds to organizations that I believe in and hopefully making a little bit of difference along the way.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I would say having my buttons be featured on two TV shows: Starz’ Vida and Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why. And on top of that, having the showrunner of Vida, Tanya Saracho, boast about my work. Pretty surreal.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bluehairwonder.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluehairwonderbuttons/
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Image Credit:
DeSean McClinton-Holland (my portrait)
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