Friday, January 20, 2012

Inspiration Avenue: The Butterfly

Hettiene asked us to honor butterflies this week at Inspiration Avenue. She showed us many fine examples of butterflies, everything from butterflies made from food to butterflies drawn on canvas. They were all very inspirational.

On Monday I started out by prepping one of my wooden blocks. I had planned to paint it, then place various butterfly images on tags, then glue the tags to the block. However, on Tuesday I learned I could no longer access any of my external drives, so taking photos of the block would have been impossible to show, and the block was too large for my scanner.

So off to "Plan B," which turned out to be "Plan Butterfly."



In keeping with my desire to use materials and tools I already have, I dyed some of my (now quite familiar) background fabric, as well as a dried up wet wipe, and a piece of cheesecloth. However, when I tried to iron the wet wipe, it disintegrated and I had to use only the portion of the wipe that didn't get demolished by the iron.

Lesson to be learned: Wet wipes, even with the iron temp set on the lowest setting, will melt.

Does the background fabric look familiar? It should. Here and the last photo of this post I show this same background fabric dyed in blue, and here in pink. This time I used butterscotch and lettuce color mists, along with a white shimmering mist, which doesn't show in the scan, but is gorgeous when the light shines just right.

EDIT: In comments, Terrie asked about the butterfly and if it was a transfer. I left a message for her on her blog (because as I've said in the past, I never expect people to return to my blog to read about comments I write to them), but thought I should probably add it here, too. This is an image I printed from somewhere (possibly/probably Art e-zine UK) years ago on some transparent paper. For this project, I cut around the butterfly and used gel medium to add it to the wet wipe. Thanks for asking Terrie.

Thanks for the challenge, Hettiene. To see what others have created, head to Inspiration Avenue Sunday afternoon and view all the awesome entries.

26 thoughtful remarks:

Anonymous said...

Yummy texture and a gorgeous flutterby....xox Corrine

Caterina Giglio said...

lovely texture and of course I adore the subject matter! xo

Terrie said...

This turned out beautifully! The cheesecloth is a great addition. Is the butterfly a transfer of some sort onto the wipe? It looks great!

Dianne said...

Beautiful quiltlet! the color warmed my heart as soon as the photo popped up on my screen. Just what I needed on a cold day.

Margaret said...

Lovely texture and stunning colour, butterflies are always going to ba a fav of mine... Mx

Jingle said...

Lovely piece!

Halle said...

Love the butterfly! The cheesecloth give the piece such great texture.

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Love how you used the butterfly in this piece. You have further inspired me...I never thought of beading a butterfly that has two different color sets of wings.

~*~Patty S said...

Love this cheery creation E and butterflies or schmetterlinge as they are called in Germany are always a fav of mine

wonder if you put a brown paper bag over the fabric softener sheet and ironed it ... would be OK on low heat?

your yellow is so pleasing!
oxo

Tracey FK said...

I love the butterfly transfer and all the textures you have used... textures make everything so interesting and this is spectacular... love it...xx

sandra de said...

I sooo love butterflies, they just seem to be right for any occasion.

Hettienne Grobler said...

What a great entry for the challenge!! I love out of the box and off the page and I love wearable art and this is all of the above! Butterflies are so inspirational - they remind us of such beauty dont you think?

Marjie Kemper said...

SO beautiful! I love the addition of the cheesecloth.

Gaby Bee said...

Gorgeous entry for the challenge. Your quiltlet looks fabulous. Love the butterfly transfer and the lush color!

Gaby xo

Healing Woman said...

I love it that you always have a 'plan B.' Not all of us do. LOL. Also appreciated your adding the info on how you attained and applied the butterfly. So, wet wipes melt when heated..dang.

Kat W said...

This is beautiful! I love the colours and effects. I gorgeous submission into this week's theme. Thanks for sharing your experience & tips too - its great to learn.

Kat :-) X

bohemiannie! art said...

Yours is one of the few sites I came to from Inspiration Avenue this week because your butterfly quilt is SO exciting and beautiful...that I had to see more!!

PetraB said...

This is wonderful and so full of inspiration, love the techniques you used.

Priti Lisa said...

Oh, this is wonderful, Elizabeth...
The butterfly reminds me of one displayed behind glass
in a collection. You have such inspiring ideas! ♥♥♥

Marlynn said...

Absolutely stunning, Elizabeth. I love the yellows and that butterfly. Just down right lovely. You and Bleubeard are inspirations! Love ya,

Kim Collister Studio said...

Sunshine,happy,creative,inspiring..very cool piece. I adore it!

VonnyK said...

That is so clever, so many different things coming together to make such a gorgeous butterfly
challenge.

Love it. :)
Von

Unknown said...

This is absolutely GORGEOUS- I love the colors you used and the contrast of textures between the wipe, cheesecloth and background fabric. Just BEAUTIFUL!

Gloria said...

The textures are interesting adjoining the butterfly and the mists are very pretty. Using what is on hand turned out beautifully. Hope you get your computer problems sorted out soon.

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