Butterfly Scene

[DawninCal]

I've had this idea in my head to make little scenes using real leaves, flowers, moss and other materials preserved in resin. This is one of my first attempts.

The background is a fall leaf. In the foreground, we have some pressed flowers and a tiny butterfly sipping their nectar. I built the butterfly using a real butterfly wing I found on the ground. It was cut down to size, the body is a seed and for the antennae, I used "hairs" that are found on a type of grass that grows here. The scene has been preserved in resin and the bezel is one from The Olde Curiosity Shoppe which is a local shop that sells mostly vintage jewelry and jewelry parts. This is one of three pieces I submitted to the September Arts Element Foliage challenge:

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Scrap booking paper was used to embellish the back of the pendant. It is also sealed in resin:



A vintage brass butterfly is suspended from the stainless steel chain which you can see in this picture of the entire necklace:



Thanks for looking!



Dawn

[cymmy]

Those are so pretty, I love how you used an actual butterfly wing for your piece. I do a lot of work in resin right now too but I don't use natural elements. I imagine that is very challenging.

[togan]

Beautiful! Dawn The Butterfly Slayer =P (kidding)
I love the idea of the composed scenes and I like the butterfly connector that you added to the chain. It is interesting to me how it is reminiscent of spring, but boasts beautiful fall colors at the same time. Lovely work!

Have you tried doing any of the Resin + wood style pieces that have been appearing?

[Sophy]

A really cool and imaginative piece, Dawn.

[Michele]

Beautiful and creative. Love where you're going with the resin.

[DawninCal]

Thank you, ladies! I love the way our little group supports each other.

Cymmy, it has been a very challenging learning curve, but it's equally rewarding when things go right. But, when they go wrong, boy do they go wrong! Luckily, as I get better at doing this, that's happening less often.

Ha, Togan! I should put a disclaimer out - "No butterflies were harmed in making this piece!" No, no wood pieces at this point. I already have too many irons in the fire. However, I have a beautiful pair of deer antlers that one of the dogs found out in the woods. They are in pretty good shape except one was chewed on by a rodent. I'm trying to fill the chewed parts with resin with the idea of eventually sanding it to the right shape and then painting to match the antlers. The problem I'm having is that the resin soaks into the antlers. They are like sponges! For some reason, my brain thinks wood and antlers might react the same way to resin. Further research is required. Those wood pieces are gorgeous though - maybe one day.

Thanks Carole and Michele. When I look back to my first resin pieces, it's quite interesting to see the evolution from beginning to now.



Dawn

[michelle]

Those pieces are gorgeous, Dawn! Resin looks like it would be such an interesting medium to work with. So many possibilities. I love what you’ve done.

[caeterle]

Well, you already know how much I love these new pieces!!

The deer antlers sound interesting, too. I know this has absolutely nothing to do with each other, but suddenly I remembered your progress thread about Pat (I hope I remembered the name right). And of course the elephants. I hate that both of these threads got lost with SJA but maybe we'll get another of those "progress threads" with a new or even an old/renewed project?

[DawninCal]

Thank you so much, Michelle! Resin is one of those things that requires patience and perseverance mixed with a healthy dose of stubbornness, mainly because it is so freakin' sticky! If one isn't careful it ends up everywhere. But, to me, it's been so worth it to figure it out. I just love working with the stuff and trying new things with it. If you're interested in it, you should give it a try and I'd be happy to offer any advice or assistance I could if you would find that helpful. I'm not an expert by any means, but I've learned a lot in the last four years that I've been working with it.

Why, Cat, you little dickens, you! Very neat how you slipped that in there.

For our newer members who have no idea what Cat is talking about, I once did a WIP of a wood bangle I painted with elephants. It was back on our old site where we had a ton more members and that thread went to I don't know how many pages, but we had so much fun with it. Unfortunately, for reasons I won't go into here, we lost our site and all of our threads and history along with it. It really hurt to lose that elephant thread.

However, I do have all of the elephant photos (including the original sketches) on my laptop and I do believe that I have some of the other WIPs on my old desktop which has been retired, but is still sitting on a corner of my desk. Now that all of you are curious, I'm going to hijack my own thread and post the finished pics of the elephant bangle. Click to enlarge and you will really be able to see all the minute details of the bangle.











Actually, those aren't the finished bangle as I hadn't painted the inside of the bracelet yet.

Anyway, if there is interest, I could start a thread in our WIPs area and post some of the progress pics of the elephant bangle.

There's another project I've never finished and I might start a thread on it too, which I think is what Cat is getting at in her subtle way.



Dawn

[michelle]

Dawn, that bangle is gorgeous! I love elephants. By all means, post your progress!

And if I get brave enough to try resin, I will definitely pick your brain. 😄

[Irith-Rita]

Dawn, I find your creations are very special! I know how you love Nature, and admire the way you work with leaves or other findings in your living area, preserving them in your art! Beautiful pendants! The bangle is a masterpiece!

[caeterle]

Oct 1, 2019 12:44:56 GMT -6 DawninCal said:

Why, Cat, you little dickens, you! Very neat how you slipped that in there.


There's another project I've never finished and I might start a thread on it too, which I think is what Cat is getting at in her subtle way.



Dawn

Teeheehee ......

[DawninCal]

Thank you, Michelle - We can have a WIP rerun!

Irith, thank you very much. Your kind words mean so much to me.

There's Cat...see how she is?



Dawn

[caeterle]

But that's why you love me!

[cymmy]

Have you thought about using polymer clay to fill in the chewed spots and then sanding it down? you could mix colors to get the correct tint. Resin can be hard with anything porous. i once thought I had the best idea for resin and felt...uh, not so much