Butterflies in the fall

A few weeks ago, my kids found a pretty green caterpillar on a bunch of carrots we purchased from a market. We put him in an empty fish tank, and in less than a week, he turned into a chrysalis. The kids were exited that in a few weeks, they would see a pretty butterfly emerge. One morning, around 9am, I checked on it. Nothing. A few hours later, I checked again. It was a butterfly... yet somehow, in those few hours, it managed to emerge, dry it's wings, and die.

Needless to say, the kids were disappointed. So I bought a shadow box at the dollar store and glued the butterfly on a piece of card stock. They were happy to come home from school and see their pretty butterfly framed on a shelf.

This inspired me to try and figure out how to incorporate butterflies in jewelry. I thought a butterfly covered in epoxy would be a good idea on a necklace. But where would I find another butterfly? Once in a while, you see a dead butterfly on the ground, but I have yet to see one this year. Then I realized you can buy anything online. After some searching, I did find a few sites that sell unframed, whole dead butterflies. They weren't horribly expensive per se, with some butterflies being only two or three dollars each. Some, however, were heinously expensive (in the $700 range). They also had minimum purchase requirements.
 


So, now what can I do? I then realized a photo could be almost as realistic as the real thing, but much easier to come across. That's when I decided to use some great photos, a good printer, and a little Photoshop. I printed the images on card stock, put two together for two sided imagery, and went at it very carefully with a crafting scissors (that part was tough). I then covered it with two heavy coats of Mod Podge, purposely creating dimension, and a good lacquer varnish. I put it on a necklace with glass and paper beads to match, and it somewhat looks like a real glossy butterfly to wear around your neck.

I think I'll be making a few more, in different colors. And definitely one for myself!