Polymer Clay Butterflies

This tutorial will describe how I make these realistic, translucent butterflies. 

Items you will need:

Premo Translucent Polymer Clay

Black & White butterfly picture

Piece of glass

Scotch Tape

Pasta machine or rolling pin

Soft Pastels

Exacto Knife

Tissue Blade

Black Acrylic paint and fine point brush,

or Black Sharpi Pen

(optional)

Extruder, tiny round bit and Black clay.

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Look for a black and white graphic of the butterfly you want to create. I found this beautiful Monarch Butterfly on the computer and printed it out with black ink.

Tape the picture to a piece of glass with the picture facing down so it shows through the glass. 

 Condition your clay well and roll it to the thinnest setting on your pasta machine,

 (#9 on my machine)

Lay the clay over the glass so the picture shows through. Be careful not to trap air as you lay it down, but that's hard to do with clay this thin. If you get any bubbles, just break them with a pin.

I used soft pastel to color my clay, ... after I rubbed the color on with my finger, I added water to smooth it out and make the color more transparent . 

Following the graphic lines, carefully cut the clay around the edges of the butterfly with a craft knife.  It may be a bit hard to see the pattern underneath, but once the clay is cured it will be more transparent.

 

At this point, you can add more detail as shown below. 

Keep the clay attached to the glass and paper and bake for 1 hour at 275 degrees. (Yes, I know it's very thin clay, but I bake everything for one hour. :)

After the butterfly has cooled, time to add the detail. I used black acrylic paint to show the veining on the wings, but you could use a fine black Sharpi pen if you want, it would make it easier. I used a Sharpi on the small butterflies. The pen could fade in time, just a thought.

 

When the paint is dry, time to remove your butterfly. 

Hold them up to the light, they look so pretty. :)

The butterfly will be completely flat when removed from the glass and the underside will be shiny, but that can't be helped...

 I received a great tip from Nancy Couste', she suggests "removing shiny spots left on pieces after curing on a shiny surface by dipping a cotton swab in pure acetone and lightly rubbing over the shine"  Her tip works like a charm, thanks Nancy!  I used 98% acetone finger nail polish remover on the reverse side of the butterfly and it made a nice mat finish. Be careful not to get to much near the edges because I had a little bit of the acetone escaped to the front side and remove the paint. It can easily be touched up, just be careful with the acetone, powerful stuff! :)

My efforts to reshape Premo clay after curing has not worked very well, so to create a more naturalistic pose, add a tiny bit of super glue with a toothpick along the sides of the body and clamp the wings closed for a short time until the glue sets. 

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Hope you enjoyed this tutorial as much as I enjoyed bring it to you.