I didn’t have any one item or site that screamed at me this week to be a ‘Sunday Love’ post so I thought it’d be a good opportunity to share with you this bizarre thrift store find…
Weird right? But something about it drew me to it…called to me even. Pretty pretty butterfly wings, take me home!
It is a tad morbid, you know, dead wings that were probably plucked off some innocent butterflies 50 years ago, but I figured they’re already dead & that turquoise would look amazing in my den. Obviously my morals are easily swayed by pretty colors.
The really strange part is when I took it out of it’s crappy frame & went to reattach the fallen off wings…
It’s like paint-by-number for dead butterflies! AND it has a grocery store price tag on the back!
WEIRD.
Is this what kids used to do for fun before play-doh?
After a bit of glue, some gingerly placement of the wonky wings & a white Ikea Ribba frame with the matte painted black I think it’s pretty darn cool. Although now P says he doesn’t loathe it anymore, he just hates it. Whatever. When I take this thing to antique roadshow & make a million bucks I’m not sharing a penny.
Please tell me SOMEONE knows SOMETHING about this type of art? I’ve spent a good 30 minutes googling & can’t find a thing!
At first sight of the original, I NEVER would have purchased that! But after you re-framed, matted, and fixed it up, its actually kinda fantastic! Maybe I need to keep my eyes open wider when browsing second hand stores. 🙂
Hope you have luck finding information, I have a feeling you’re going to get a lot of questions about it!
I hope you get a good laugh out of my email adress Natasha! Ive had it since i was a teenager and I just didnt have the heart to delete my account! I did a little googleing too after i saw this post. The butterfly wing art is so interesting! so you probably alredy know this but most of the butterfly wing art is from Africa and it seems lyk most of the vintige are only going for about $150 tops! Sorry about your antique roadshow dreams!
hey, I paid $4 so I’d totally take $150, haha! (and yes, love the email addy!)
Not gonna lie, creepy and morbid…
You did a fantastic job fixing it, I really like it. I’m not sure I would have bought it either but it’ll really be a conversation piece for sure.
Eeeew! That is so weird and yucky — kind of like the Victorian art made of human hair that you see in museums. And the fact that there was a pattern behind it, that it wasn’t just one person’s strange idea, makes it even creepier. I would’ve brought it home, too!
I am from Cebu, Philippines and we had a scientist/artist named Prof. Julian Jumalon who studied butterflies and made artwork out of butterfly wings. There’s still a Jumalon butterfly sanctuary and art gallery in Cebu.
The artwork with butterfly wings are very delicate and precious. My parents have some, but I don’t have pictures. Here’s what I found on the web: http://www.fineartgallerycebu.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1844
http://www.fineartgallerycebu.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1847
http://www.fineartgallerycebu.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1850
P.S. I think this is the first time I’ve left a comment here, but I’ve been following your blog. I love it! 🙂
How fantastic, thank you Yen!!
p.s. I need to double check with my mom on how to care for these butterfly wings art. I think as with other art work (like paintings that need to be cleaned, etc.), I think these might need to be checked every so often, too. And, well, kept away from the sun.
I love it!
Oh my gosh this is beyond awesome!!! If you find out about it you have to update us! Seriously though… “here honey I bought this paint by dead butterfly picture, all you have to do is find 50 dead butterflies”??
Hahaha, that is so weird, and yet, I find myself a bit jealous that I do not have creepy butterfly wing art for my walls! This is all I could find:
http://www.butterflyutopia.com/butterfly_wing_art.html
http://www.weirdomatic.com/butterfly-wing-art.html
And in a strange way, it goes with your butterfly art you made that is behind the peacock in the picture. Win, win.
I don’t know anything about that type of art but seeing the picture reminded me of 4 framed pieces we had when I was a kid. I haven’t thought about them in 30 years but I do remember them, mostly because they were so pretty and the wings felt really cool. There were 4 butterflies, one in each frame and each butterfly was made out of individual butterfly wings. From a distance they looked nice but when you got up close to examine them they were fascinating.
We had a favorite Chinese food restaurant when I was growing up. Back then, it was one of the few in town. It had GIGANTIC framed butterfly wing art aaaaallllllll around the dining room. That made our visits there seem even more exciting and exotic. Maybe your print will make your living room feel exciting and exotic! 😉
My dad had bought 2 pieces at a garage sale – the pictures were of Ethiopian women with water jugs… they were beautiful until I realized they were made of butterfly wings. It just made me sad to think somebody plucking those wings off.
I LOVE IT.
Totally an Addams Family craft night! I love it and am terrified of it at the same time! Good buy!
I find this artwork strangely interesting and disturbing at the same time 🙂
So creepy that it has a “paint by numbers” style grid. People in the olden days were wierd!
Hi, I think it’s hard to find because your not putting Butterfly “wing” art. You actually have to add the word “wing” or google gets all stoopid on ya…;D