“Four Moths, One Butterfly and their Caterpillars” is what I’m calling my newest project using the moth, butterfly and caterpillar images I’ve had in mind for a Little Book of Metamorphosis. This new piece might be considered an artist book, since it can fold up into a flat square. Really, it’s more of a wall hanging of images without framing or glass.
Here are the steps involved:
First, I made color prints of four moths and a butterfly, then mounted them on 9.5×11 mat board squares. The moth/butterfly images have three colors of handmade torn paper around them: marigold, paprika, and natural. These torn papers are all glued on top of one another to create an interesting series of borders to the images.
Next, I glued three long pieces of translucent, natural colored ribbon down the backs of the boards. There’s about 1 inch of ribbon showing between each board, so that they will hang vertically, separated by one inch.
Pale grey paper was then glued on the back of the boards, on top of the ribbons.
Lacy, natural colored handmade paper was glued onto the grey paper.
Color prints of five caterpillars, along with the common and scientific names, were glued onto the lacy paper.
I tore very thin (1/4″) strips of the marigold paper and glued it around each caterpillar image to create a single color border. The lacy natural paper behind becomes the wide border. No paprika used on this side.
Finally, the ends of the 3 ribbons were sewed into loops at the top and bottom of the entire group, then trimmed off. This allows me to put a stick through for both hanging the piece and giving it a top and bottom “frame”.
The front side is meant to be the moths & butterfly, while their caterpillars and identification are on the back of the hanging. It can be hung with either side showing, however.
Oddly enough, this project took MUCH longer than just framing the originals!