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Butterfly Pendants
Butterflies. These beautiful, tricky creatures are adorned with such gorgeous colors. They are vibrant and catch the light in just the right way. Through my work with nature, I have learned that there is an entire subset of people who are enamored by these floating, beautiful bugs.
The problem with working with butterflies* is that resin does not interact with butterfly scales in the same way as it does with plant matter. That beautiful refraction of light just falls flat after being cast.
The solution? Back to glass.
I was approached with a commission to recreate a piece. This artist who made it has retired due to arthritis, and is no longer able to use their hands. This piece was so different than anything else I’ve done, yet similar in other ways. For many craftsmen, the skill is in recreating, in practicing the trade, aiming for accuracy and the way others do things. Most of my career as a metalworker has been to innovate, to forge my own path, and create my own techniques. Sure, there are techniques we know and I mix and match these components, but it’s a very different thing than work in chain maille, in Windsor chairs, in weaving.
To look at this work and wonder how it began became a fun puzzle. The wings were pressed between two pieces of glass (what thickness?), bound and surrounded by silver (sterling, fine?) with a jump ring attached and a bail. Two pendants per butterfly. Made to match, like pieces of a heart in a friendship necklace.
Lesson: Do NOT press too hard
It took me hours of trial and error. How fun it was to figure out this way or that? Which comes first? Will that burn and ruin it? I went back to my glass working skills that predated metalledwith. It is working with glass that was the first craft to bring me closer to my husband when we were dating. It was the eastern woodlands line that was created from our wedding. I like it when things come around.
In the end, I have added a new technique to my toolkit.
*These butterflies are raised by the client and did not survive. I will not make art from a butterfly that was intentionally harmed.