BIOGRAPHY, From the Button King HimselfMy name is Dalton Stevens and I suffer from insomnia. In 1983 it got so bad that I got up one night and started sewing buttons on a denim suit. Two years and 10 months later I still couldn't sleep and the suit was covered with 16,3333 buttons. It weighted 16 pounds.
Things kind of evolved from that starting point. After the suite, I glued 3,005 buttons on my guitar, then I glued 517 buttons on my shoes.
When I completed the clothes, the guitar and my shoes, I went to the newspaper in Sumter, SC and then to our local paper, the Lee County Observer in Bishopville. They gave me quite a write-up. Soon after, I went to a television station in Florence, WPDE, and they aired my story too. From there I was featured on CNN and then my story went worldwide.
A reporter from Star Magazine visited my home in Cedar Creek and did a story on me. That got me on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I was on shows with David Letterman, Regis and Kathy Lee, Bill Cosby, Geraldo, Charles Kuralt, Ralph Emory and others- too many to mention.
My insomnia- I would go four and five days with no sleep- got me on TV and radio across the world. I got the chance to visit and entertain people in places I never would have gotten to if it hadn't been for the insomnia causing me to put buttons on items.
Recently I opened a Button Museum in a building near my home. It's filled with unique items- covered in buttons, of course. There's my hearse, a couple of coffins, an entire outhouse, a piano, guitar and of course, what started it all- my suit.
I believe I've been blessed in life to be able to do something that seems meant to be.
I don't charge admission for visitors to my Button Museum but I do accept donations to help cover expenses. I also sell CDs, tapes, and a video on DVD of the shows I've been on.
So if you're ever in our great state of South Carolina, stop by and take a look at the unique creations I have in my Button Museum. If you do come by, I hope you will have a good memory that will last forever when you see firsthand the results of so many years of sewing and gluing buttons.
