This season seems to be all about the details; tactile fabrics, textures over flat colour and maximalism over minimalism – well it is for me anyway! A few months ago I spotted a vintage butterfly box in a local charity shop and I just had to have them. I remember seeing them in the local museum when I was a little girl and I was always fascinated by them. Now I’m not a girlie girl, but recently I purchased my first pink top, shortly followed by some pink cushions and bedding for my bedroom. Whether its fad or whether I’m discovering my inner girlyness, I don’t know, but I’m quite enjoying it! Anyway back to the butterflies…
The box contained 5 different butterflies and they all looked to be in good condition. I only wanted to use two and I had my eye on the white one and the black one so I had to be very careful not to do any damage when opening the box.
I’d purchased a couple of ‘keep sake’ or ‘box’ frames picked up from two separate stores. Each one cost me less than £3 – I like a bargain!
The first task was to get the butterflies out of the box. Â I carefully cut away the tape that was ceiling the box and removed the staples holding it shut. The box seems to be glued shut which mean i had to cut it open a bit more that I would have liked – I half expected the butterflies to have disintegrated with all the motion.
Once I managed to get the box open I could see the butterflies in the full glory. Two of them were slightly rotten – I think the box might have gotten a little damp at some point. However, the two I was after were still in great shape! They were each pinned to sliced of cork which had been glued to the red velvet background. Getting them off was a little tricky! I have to pretty much slice them off the backing and then pull the pin with tweezers. I decided to leave the butterflied pinned to the cork as they were very delicate and I didn’t fancy re-pinning them.
I picked some colour papers to use as my background and cut them to shape. I found the centre spot and used a glue gun to attach the cork plus butterfly to the paper. I then carefully sealed the frames.
I’m so pleased with the outcome! I’ve used them in my bedroom above the bed, between my homemade juju hat and my Seventy Tree poster print. I hope you like them!
