Butterflies and Birds

I've been working on segmented butterflies for awhile. I made my own patterns from 19th century sketches I found on Flickr Commons. Unfortunately real butterflies, and their sketches, are not symmetrical, which is fine, but doesn't work so well for wall hangings. I had to redo all my patterns to make them symmetrical, but in the meantime I had a bunch of butterflies that I had already cut, so I decided to use them to experiment.

Yesterday, I tried decoupaging. I think it turned out pretty good, although there is certainly room for improvement. I have never decoupaged before so I learned a lot and tried a few different techniques before I settled on the look I wanted. Next time I cut butterflies I will decide which segments will be decoupaged before I sand. Those segments won't be beveled like the others; I think that will make it easier.

 Today, I worked on my sandpiper project I started some time ago. I took a drawing I found on Flickr Commons, old enough to be public domain, and I traced it onto a sheet of paper to make a segmentation pattern. Then I decided to make the backing layer bigger than the bird so that it would look like the bird was on the beach. After I had that drawn out it occurred to me to make a cut-out to represent water. And then I decided to put another backer on that would be blue for the sky and the water. Over time I cut and sanded it; today I stained the bird and glued sand on the beach.

I like how it turned out but I think I could have done a better job on the sand. Next time! Because Easter is coming up, I also cut this:

I also cut a shark puzzle and a square four piece puzzle that is supposed to be tricky to put together but I forgot to read the directions. I was supposed to bevel the inside edges just a little and I didn't, so instead I made a puzzle a baby could put together. Another lesson learned!