Unicorns & Pixie Dust

While most of the things I make are Halloween related, sometimes I get asked to make things for relatives that have nothing to do with haunting. The Alice in Wonderland-theme Sweet 16 party is one example. Pictured to the right is another one of those things that I was asked to make: a series of butterflies that will adorn the wall of a baby's room.

I'm supposed to make four or five of them, but I've been a slacker because I have been focusing on Halloween stuff mostly. So I finally completed the first one. It's made from paper clay over a cardboard base. The body was made from balled up aluminum foil and covered with clay.

It was then given a light sanding and covered with a Monster Mud-like gesso that provided a very smooth surface upon which I could apply the primer and two coats of paint. Two wire antennae were attached to the head and it was covered all over in two thin coats of gloss polyurethane.

Although I painted it to resemble a Monarch butterfly, but was really designed as a Blue Mountain Swallowtail. It thought the black and yellow looked better than the brown and purple I was told it should be. The heck with what they want! I wanted it to look somewhat more realistic.