Large 5FT Mixed Media Butterfly Art with Reclaimed Wood and Vintage Sign Look, Recycled Art Sculpture

Huge wooden butterfly...

actually, it was a butterfly makeover...

a metamorphosis!... pun intended ;)

Do you remember this butterfly?

I made him, then wasn't happy about it and set it aside in the until 

I decided how I wanted to approach it. And then I got busy and it sat in the garage... 

for a loooong time.

Ok, it's been a year.

 

I finally had a little extra time to play with it and decided to change it up! 

When I took it apart to repaint the wings, I decided I would like a different body and

took the whole thing apart, removed the fence post caps on the wings and started over.

Kind of like when you decide to paint a room in your house

and next thing you know you are remodeling the whole room!

I painted each wood shim with a layered paint look in different colors

trying to give it that "reclaimed wood" look. 

I had to patch the holes where the fence caps were, and I wasn't real neat about it.

I wanted the extra texture it would add and even applied more spackle in random spots

 on the wings to make it rough and uneven for the layered paint finish to latch on to.

After I painted, I washed with brown and wiped off the excess so 

it would seep in all those crevices and tone it down.

I ended up combining two wooden lamps and a wooden candlestick 

that I had cut in half for the body, all glued and screwed together. 

At the tail is a piece of a brass pipe fitting that I aged with 

vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and salt. It gave it a great verdigris look.

On the top wings I free handed lettering, wanting it to look like 

a vintage wooden sign that had been cut apart. 

Lots of layers and distressing.

I added metal numbers to the body that I had aged in the same vinegar solution

Verdigris copper pipe for the antenna... 

actually from my aunt's bathroom sink fittings when they were replaced.

She thought I was nuts when I asked her to save all of it for me.

On the sides I added "aged" metal strapping around all the edges.

I took a whole roll of this plumbing strap and put it in the same solution as the

metal numbers and brass pieces to age it. 

Sold

This piece was finally listed in my Etsy shop and sold.

I appreciate you stopping by to check out the butterfly makeover!

Update May 2017

Visit my new online shop featuring my mosaic art

Come on over and join me on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Pinterest too.

I still have some items listed in my Etsy shop and reduced items as well.

Thank you!