I can say that the DIY project I'm bringing you today is a collab with nature. That's because my role in producing it was minimal compared to the perfection produced by nature itself. Perfection in the form of a butterfly.
I found this headless butterfly corpse on one of my last walks. The region where I live has few places of unspoiled nature, but some very, very precious treasures. One of them is a magical waterfall located in the Serra do Japi, which I've already talked about in a previous post.
When I found this butterfly, I knew I had to take it with me before it became a feast for ants. I had always been so in love with this species of blue butterfly and the nuances of its wings that I wanted to immortalize it.
And so, with all the care in the world to make sure it wasn't damaged, I took the butterfly home.
As soon as I arrived, I immediately wrapped it in tissue paper and put it inside a heavy book, so that it wouldn't sag and its wings would remain taut. There, I let the butterfly corpse rest for a few days. I can't remember exactly how many, but I imagine a little over a week (because I also ended up forgetting about it in the rush of life).
When the big day came to frame the butterfly, I was very anxious because I really wanted this experiment to work.
So I started by unwrapping the butterfly to make sure everything was all right with it and choosing the frame I was going to put it in. So I took the glass of the frame itself to measure and cut out a piece of white canson paper of a reasonable weight.
At this stage of unwrapping the butterfly, I did it with the greatest care in the world, because its body was very, very fragile. The photos of this stage aren't very good, as I took screenshots of the video I made to document the whole process.
Once the paper was cut to the right size for the frame, I gently rested the butterfly on it and then covered it with the glass, applying gentle pressure so that the part of its body that wasn't fully compressed would crumple and fit into the frame.
In my research on how to preserve the corpse of a butterfly, I had always read that you had to use pins to stick its wings very tightly, but I didn't use this technique. I was a little afraid, but in the end it all worked out. However, I believe that pins are the ideal technique for those who want to preserve them as perfectly as possible.
Once everything was ready, I took some images of the frame with a lot of zoom, to try to capture the beauty of the colors of the wings, but I don't think any photo or video will do justice to the beauty of this in person. But I think you can see in the photos how the blue tone of the wings changed from the day I found it to the day I put it in the frame. The blue became darker and shinier.
And here's the picture today, after a few months of putting the butterfly on it, in the place it was put: my bathroom.
I hope you enjoyed it and see you next time. 🦋
