Button Shanks are meant to be glued or soldered on to an item, turning that item into a usable button or a decorative finding that can be sewn in place. For example, you may think that one of our cameos would make a nice button. You could glue one of the shanks to it and attach that to a sweater. You can use anything that is size appropriate. You could use semi precious stones. I have people who are glass artists buy the shanks to make glass buttons and also button collectors to repair or refurbish an antique button.
The other product in this category are button covers. Button covers can be slid over a button to provide a decorative covering. The metal cover itself has a nice flat pad to glue something on like a cameo, stone or your own art work. Some people like to just wear a single cover on the top button ( at the throat ) others have a cover for every button on the outfit. Button covers are pretty simple not much to go wrong, Just make sure the button will fit into the button cover. If the button cover is sold as a 25mm cover it will not cover a 30mm button as the button diameter will be to big.