Mixed Media Butterfly Art Recycled Art, Funky 5ft Butterfly

Update as of 2014, I'm no longer creating these giant butterflies.

I sincerely appreciate all the past orders, thank you!

Please visit my new online shop featuring my coastal and 

nature themed mosaics. 

Just like the one year dollar store flamingo project,

this is another project that has been sitting in my

garage for about a year waiting to get his wings and today was the day.

(I'm sorry you had to see my fence that needs to be pressure washed)

This wasn't my first oversized piece...

Do you remember this recycled giant butterfly I made?

It's a big one...as in a little over 5ft wide.

I cut the wings out of plywood...

in hindsight, I would not have used 4 separate wings but...

Since I did make separate wings, I attached it all together 

on the back with a wood cut out, wood glue and screws

I took extra long wood shims and glue and started making a 

herringbone pattern with them.

I also used shims on one of my dragonflies, they are fun and inexpensive to work with.

This is how it looked before I cut the wing shape out.

from the back...

I cut the edges of the shims off with the jigsaw following the wing shape.

One happy day, I found this big box of metal chain link fence post caps

at Restore for 7 bucks for the whole box.

I thought I could incorporate them in the design somehow.

As luck would have it, I had a hole cutting bit the exact size as the metal caps

I made a design around the edge for the caps.

I didn't cut all the way through with the hole cutting bit, but made

areas where I could place the caps...I applied glue and

pounded them in with a rubber mallet

The body is flat...

I added a finial to the bottom

I added brick ties to the body...

I had saved this galvanized star that used to be a lid to a candle and it fit 

perfectly behind the body of the butterfly...

it pays to be a hoarder sometimes

You can see the star and brick ties on the body in this pic

I had these large metal I have no idea what they are  pieces

 and combined them with rusty nuts for the eyes...

I used a large wrought iron piece for the antenna...

Gave the whole thing a gray-whitewashed-driftwood colored finish...

and it was done!

I hung it on my fence to get photos but it is indoor use only.

This butterfly had a metamorphosis!... Check out his new look here.

Visit my new store or find me on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Pinterest. 

I still have items and reduced original paintings in my Etsy shop as well.