These Spanish darlings finally have their own button box thanks to popular demand!!! Each box contains 200 one inch buttons featuring the “retro pop” art of Naranjas Chinas. Pick one up here

Here’s a look at the first of 4 new button boxes coming your way this spring from Badge Bomb!   The Yummy You box is filled with buttons featuring highly detailed photos of the crocheted creations of Twinkie Chan!  Keep an eye out for a whole line of scarfs, accessories, and savory stuff by Yummy You clothing. Boxes are in stock and ready to ship. Pick one up for your store here

Come by our booth and get some free buttons!  Made with love by One Inch Round

Check out this translation of Retard Riot’s latest review in Sydsvenskan:

With a fantastic imagination à la Bosch Lyon gets his nourishment from popular culture, news flow, contemporary society, international politics and doomsday prophecies. Noah Lyon ”Look at All Your Stuff”

Galleri Thomas Wallner, Malmö, Sweden through May 27
Noah Lyon’s drawings are like graffiti-covered walls. Bright colors call you in to take a closer look; in the multitudes I’m drawn to “All Your Stuff”. A man, or is it a bird, in a wheelchair is chewing, like Moloch, on a naked figure, who is expelling gas in anticipation of death, while another guy without a head slinking away with a turd on his shoulders. Some poor wretch is flushed down the toilet, and a miserable bastard, trapped in an orange bag, is vomiting from his torture. The colors of U.S.A. are shining through like a dirty rainbow. The doomsday horn is blowing.
Figure is added to figure, scene added to scene, one image next to another, in a color scale that would do credit to any Concretist. With a fantastic imagination à la Bosch Lyon gets his nourishment from popular culture, news flow, contemporary society, international politics and doomsday prophecies. Full to the brim. It is important to say everything, all at once. Then he can leave the words and thoughts to the beholder. Implicitly he is offering his world, what does yours look like? ”Look at All Your Stuff” is the name of the exhibition!
The pressure in Lyon’s imagery is kept high by the small format. Sometimes down to mini size. Then they are small picture buttons that are also put together into “button paintings”. The effect is stroboscopic; quick punch lines about his world.
Alongside the image fury Lyon shows more conventional paintings. Loaded with air, light and dreams of a sort of American mythology. The painting “Pyramid Me” is just a small picture of a man in a cowboy hat in front of a wall that has been sewn together; the seam resembles a pole with a small owl. Within, I hear Hank Williams’ tragic dreams and painfully beautiful music!
Lyon’s images collide in a way that would have put André Breton in ecstasy.
- Thomas Millroth, art critic - Sydsvenskan April 30, 2009

Get some of Noah’s art on his rad one inch buttons - available from Badge Bomb!

Celebrate May Day in style with radical new buttons by Retard Riot! We have the International Workingmen’s Association to thank for making the 8-hour workday official. Freedom from the factory is your legal right so fly free bird, fly! If the 8-hour workday isn’t enough for you than you can celebrate the 18-hour workday with a Made in China button.

Speaking of China… Communism Rules! Pin that to your Che t-shirt and have people Rage Against You!

Then we have the circle A, which means no one tells you when or were to work. You’ve got a mind of your own. Congratulations, you’re an anarchist.

May Day is also commemorative of an 1886 Chicago labor rally in Haymarket Square that exploded into a violent clash between police and protesters. The riot resulted in the deaths of both workers and police. The Haymarket Affair resulted in the prosecution of several anarchists who were publicly executed for their political beliefs. World-renowned activist and “rebel woman” Emma Goldman considered the Haymarket martyrs to be “the most decisive influence in my existence”.

May 1st is a day to celebrate the struggle of the workingman, remember the riots and all the people still stuck in sweatshops. It’s also a good day to wear a Retard Riot protest button. (Proudly made in U.S.A. by left wing radical nut jobs at the Badge Bomb sweatshop in Portland OR.)

Portlanders, check out the rad PDX storytellers tonight at Mission Theater & don’t forget to grab one of their free custom buttons!

Backfence PDX - Mission Theater

Badge Bomb recently kicked it with Tesha Beaudry, creator of “Cute Institute,” for a quick interview about her artistic inspirations and, of course, her love of buttons.

-What does it take for Badge Bombers to enroll in The Cute Institute?
Not more than 2 dollars; the price of a badge!

-What classes would I need to pass to attain a Master of Cute Arts?

For my students to get that far, they need to be hard working and loyal pupils for many many years. Having a sweet tooth always helps!

-Most of your designs seem inspired by a Japanese design aesthetic.  Can you pinpoint any specific moments of your life that inspired you to embrace this style?

One night, after a cupcake too many, I dozed off and I had vision of this cute pirate girl dressed in a bear costume that came to me with an important message: bring kawaii, cupcakes and joy to the world! That was my calling…

-Your mushroom buttons seem very Zen. Are you influenced by Eastern culture beyond the pen and paper?

I don’t consider myself a zen person, but I do seem to have been influenced a lot by eastern culture; I do martial arts, collect kung-fu flicks, have japanese tattoos and love japanese art and fashion….

-Who would win in a fight- a tough Samurai warrior or a brigade of smiley faced cupcakes?

I think the samurai would overdose on the cupcakes- the smiley ones are usually poisonous, so beware!

-Have you ever run across anyone wearing Cute Institute buttons?

Do my friends and parents count?! if so, yes and it makes me very very happy!

-Do you wear buttons yourself? If so, what was the first button you loved to death?

I wear them all the time! My favorite button I made has a closeup of my cat’s face. It was adorable! I put him with the rest of my badges during one of my craft sales for just for fun.  Believe it or not, someone bought it!

-How/where do you wear your buttons?

I tend to lose em’ often if I put them on my purse or hoody…  I’ve decorated some cute ballerina shoes, used them to attach my tops and dresses to my bra (yes, very classy, but practical!), and they work perfectly to replace that missing button on your pants. When I feel sweet, I’ll put on a cupcake badge, if I feel badass, I’ll put on a skull!

-Have you had any problems with fans trying to sneak off with handfuls of your dessert themed buttons?

I caught a bunch of ninjas one night trying to steal my new stash of pins. That didn’t end well!

-Have you had to expel anybody from the Cute Institute? I need to know what heinous acts to avoid- I pride myself on being a model student.

I rarely expel my pupils, so no need to worry!… But, I do not tolerate art theft. Just be original AND be yourself!!! cheers! +____+

Visit Tesha at The Cute Institute!

The Streets of Jeremyville invaded Italy at the Area B art gallery in Milan, which opened on April 7th.  Badge Bomb even shipped them some Jeremyville button boxes made specially for the show- (we love the thought of our buttons being intercontinental.)  He has some other great events coming up too, like a Giant Robot event in New York.  Click the pic below to check out more details in the News section of his website.  Good work Jeremyville!

While participating in this years infamous SXSW Indie Rock extravaganza in Austin, TX, I had my eyes peeled for any festival goers with particularly interesting button stylez.  I figured someone would be thinking outside of the button box at a week-long festival showcasing the newest of new and hippest of hip in the music-verse.  It wasn’t until the final day of the festival that I spotted this beauty at the roller rink show on Cesar Chavez Blvd.

Matt, of Toronto based band dd/mm/yyyy (spoken aloud as day-month-year), doesn’t seem to think one button is enough, or even that the front of a button is what’s important.  To me, Matt’s DIY masterpiece is a “meta-button,” or a button about buttons; by velcro-ing smaller, building block buttons together to form one mega, franken-button, Matt forces us to focus on the buttons themselves rather than the images they display.  Thanks Matt for being so rad!  Check out dd/mm/yyyy’s myspace here. I recommend the “Imagine” video.

Like all gangs, we have our own unique initiation process.