Comments on: Make a Delicate Butterfly with Paper Mache Clay

By: aditi

aditi — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:26:26 +0000

i loved it

By: aditi

aditi — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:25:28 +0000

same here

By: Nadine Miller

Nadine Miller — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:12:01 +0000

They will be inside a big American Legion building. The armature is the problem. I had a thought but didn’t carry through: A wire frame with aluminum foil wrapped around then the paper mache over it. I have plenty of wire (do garden topiary). I make some big balls covered with paper mache over balloons last year and they are still holding up, I decorated them like Christmas balls. It was fun and ever since I keep wanting to make more objects using paper mache.

By: Jonni

Jonni — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:52:47 +0000

Will they be outside? If you make really big ones, perhaps cloth and wire butterflies would work better. Ideas, anyone?

By: Nadine Miller

Nadine Miller — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:51:10 +0000

I haven’t attempted the big butterflies yet. Christmas is right around the corner and the artist and crafters guild I belong to is gearing up for it already…so much to do, always ideas jumping around in my head to try. Thanks and I’ll keep in touch. Love this web Jonni

By: Nadine Miller

Nadine Miller — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:45:06 +0000

These are great and I love the techniques. I’m looking for a “how to” to make really large ones to decorate a big big building next spring. Have any ideas in that department?

By: Jonni

Jonni — Wed, 25 May 2011 05:15:48 +0000

Thanks, Felicia. Did you take photos so we can see your butterfly? I’d love to see how it came out.

By: Felicia

Felicia — Wed, 25 May 2011 04:06:31 +0000

Thank you for this. A few things that I found helpful were adding linseed oil to the completed product. Linseed oil is known to give a nice glossy look that exaggerates the hue of the colors well.
Using a thin slate to smooth over the clay on the wings helped with the bumps for me. Also with drying the clay, it is best to use a hair dryer which works a lot quicker that leaving time to dry it, but by the window over night works nicely as well. I hope this helped, my results were excellent. My first attempt was redone because of the painting job, but the second butterfly went a lot smoother.

By: Jonni

Jonni — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 03:47:23 +0000

Time is such a difficult thing to estimate – especially for other people. I always tend to underestimate how long something will take to make.

If by “huge” you mean up to 10 feet or more across, you’ll need some good reinforcing for the wings, and a really good, solid way to hang it so there are no accidents. For something like that in a public place, I’d ask an engineer or carpenter for advice.

However, if they’re only two feet or so wide (still pretty big for a butterfly) you could get away with a heavy wire frame around the outside of the wings, and wire running down the center of the body with some strong attachment points. To keep your wings from warping, which is always a problem with larger flat surfaces when you add paper mache, you might want to check Tani’s suggestions, scroll down on this page, in her comments about her desktop junk drawer. She has a technique for preventing the piece from warping. Other than that, you can make your big butterflies exactly the same way the smaller ones were made on this page. Be sure to let us see them when they’re done.

By: Nadine Miller

Nadine Miller — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:30:16 +0000

These are all terrific I love working with paper mache. Can any one tell me how to make a very big one to decorate a huge building for our craft show held in an American Legion Building? What to use for the frame and such. They will hang above so need to be large to be noticed.