Beautiful Butterflies

It’s beginning to look like I’m obsessed with projects I can add lights to. I never pictured myself as a lighting designer, but I now have 2 battery operated light fixtures to my credit. Is it possible for such a thing to become an addiction?

This is another of those projects whose original concept began simply, if you call hand-painted, shrinky-dink butterflies simple. I had ink-jet friendly shrink film sitting on my shelf for a little over a year. About a month ago I decided to try making butterflies with it. The initial creatures turned out nicely, but needed a bit of pizzazz to enhance the realism. It’s for occasions such as this that I really appreciate well-stocked art supplies. Some metallic water color paints and tiny brushes from an art supply store were just what I needed. (Got the paints last year, too. I found them with rubber stamps and other paper crafting supplies.)

Once I had a few completed butterflies, figuring out what to do with them became a challenge. After shrinking they were translucent, so letting them lie around on flat surfaces wasn’t appealing. A mobile, perhaps? No, maybe not. Those require hanging, and I had decided the butterflies were going to be used for a gift. So making them easy to enjoy without extra work for the recipient was best. I wanted something with a sculptural quality that would enhance, not compete with the butterflies. I decided I needed some more acrylic flower sprays, like the ones I used on my gazebo chandelier. I knew where I would get those, along with a glass bottle to support everything.

How, you may ask, did lights enter the picture? I was wondering around a store again. I tell you, it’s amazing what can be done with LEDs these days. I found some small, submersible light strands made for flower arrangements. Suddenly, I just couldn’t picture my butterfly project without lights. Four sets went into the cart. Oops! Where did those come from?

After the butterflies were given bodies, it didn’t take too long to assemble the project. (I don’t know what to call it – Nightlight? Lamp? Candelabra? Wait, no candles…) I gave it to a friend yesterday and am very pleased she likes it. Now, I think it might be nice to make one for myself, with lights of course. Are there support groups for this sort of thing?

The Project Queen