Thank God it's the third day of March 2015 now, time flies so fast!
I am so grateful that I can write again today.
As I said in my previous blog, I am going to talk more about The Filigree Butterfly made few years ago. The Filigree Butterfly is a very dear and special project for me because it is the first time I have to create something for a wedding bouquet which is an important part and symbol of a happy wedding, and I really love butterfly!
Hopefully you can get something from the evolution making progress and my learning process that I'm going to share.
It all came from the brief given by a dear friend of mine who is a florist serving a bride wished to have a wedding bouquet with a butterfly similar to the one in this wonderful bouquet:
Butterfly Red Rose Bouquet by Lani Elizabeth
(image courtesy of www.lanielizabeth.com)
As a response from the brief, I made several designs for the butterfly and finally came out with these alternatives:
The client prefer full filigree butterfly but wanted the filigree even more delicate like the one in the example picture, so I made some changes using thinner wire (22g instead of the 20g previously used) for the inner part of the wings.
Arranging more delicate filigree
Marking the filigree positions with permanent marker
Coiling the filigree and placing them in position
One wing is almost finished
What I learned through the making progress:
1. 3 wires filigree is possible to create
Creating a wire filigree with 3 pcs of wire (meaning there is 1 stand-alone wire) turns out possible to do but requires combination of weaving and coiling technique (not just coiling) to help them stay in place, and is more challenging to keep the coiling/weaving look neat
2. Beadalon Tacky Bead Mat is very useful helping tool for filigree making
A little tool that I found was very useful to help me work with these delicate filigree parts is what you see in the picture as the blue background, that is Beadalon Tacky Mat.
The Beadalon Tacky Mat
(image courtesy of www.i-beads.co.uk)
Very useful to use when working with beads, as well as wire
(image courtesy of www.riogrande.com)
Place a mica plastic piece on top of the filigree to seal it
Filigree parts sealed and ready to go
Here is the (almost) finished butterfly, it looks delicate, light and airy:
Now for the finishing, I need to put glitter on top of the wire. At first I was pessimist whether it is possible to put glitter glue on top of wire and attach organza fabric at the bottom part of the wings, aside from my personal preference to have the butterfly simply wire so people can actually see the coiling / weaving and enjoy the handmade parts. However, because it was the request from the first place to create a glittery butterfly and we want the bride to be happy, I give it a go and test the glitter glue unto another test piece:
Test piece, it's working!
I simply used UHU glue to attach the organza fabric to wire, and then use this glitter glue on top of the wire for the glittery effect:
The glitter glue
(image courtesy of www.perfectparchmentcraft.com)
The finished butterfly half way glittered.
It works well especially on top of the coiled part
where the surface is wider and textured from the coiling
that helps retain the glitter to stick to the wire
The finished butterfly with red organza and glitter, so dramatic!
The final butterfly on the rose bouquet, it looks amazing!
So, that is the story of The Filigree Butterfly. I hope you enjoy it and can get a bit of inspiration for your fantastic projects. See you next time!
Keep smiling, keep shining, keep creating!
Gaby
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