butterflies, feathers, pussywillow balls and robin's eggs

[SpyRI]

Well, I think these count as dioramas!  The small one is a glass dome thing I found at a yard sale for $1, and it had some kind of damaged dried flowers in it, so I took it apart and redid it. The other larger glass thing was also a yard sale find, for $3, that I snapped up even though I had no idea what to put in it! I work at a nursery, and a lot of butterflies fly into the greenhouses, and I find their breathtakingly beautiful little corpses. People think it's strange, but I take them home, and arrange them in glass boxes, domes, and so on.

This small one just has one yellow swallowtail that I glued to a twig, and some dried vines and mosses.


This one has a bird's nest I found, more swallowtails, a mourning cloak butterfly, some lovely moths, a big dragonfly, some robin's eggs I found (empty and under a tree- my garden is full of robins!), and some feathers- peacock, pheasant, and bluejay. Everything in there I found, and I would never catch or buy any kind of thing like that, but when I find them, they're too beautiful to leave behind! The pussy willow balls I made- I got that idea from Martha Stewart's Easter issue one year, she covered eggs in the pussy willow buds. I had some styrofoam balls, so I used those. They are so soft and satisfying to touch, but were kind of a mess to make- I used Elmer's but I bet there's a better glue to use to make them.I guess this is two entries in the challenge, if they even count as dioramas! I make beach ones too, and have found some beautiful things lately. I want to make another right now!

Just realized I forgot to put these in:
1. Project Title        butterflies, feathers, pussywillow balls and robin's eggs                                
2. What inspired you to come up with this project?     ? I guess old museum displays? And the pussywillow balls were from Martha Stewart.
3. Brief description of how it was made      Just rearranged the corpses until they looked nice!
4. How long did it take?      10 minutes? But I add to the big one when I find a new body!  

Sweet Enemy- Thanks! I think the corpses I find are whole because they die in the greenhouses- maybe from pigging out on nectar! Ones I find outside are usually half eaten, but I go through the greenhouses first thing looking for bodies, so I find some in great shape!

[Sweet_Enemy]

Those are really nicely done.  Whenever I've found butterflies or dragonflies, it's usually just three-quarters at most.  Perhaps I'll have to frankenstine mine. 

[Sati]

I don't think it's strange at all.  I love bringing nature into the house.  Dread leaves are dead and are beautiful so why not insects?

[miss_katonic]

These are pretty and professional looking!

[giggles1100]

My granny used to have a bunch of these back int eh 70's in fact I think she still ahs them, I am sure she bought them but they came i those glass boxes too, when I was young I asked her if when she died if she owuld leave them to me in her will and you know what, they are in her will to be given to me!  Nice to see those again.

[lady4feet]

when I was young I asked her if when she died if she owuld leave them to me in her will

I saw this and laughed, my Grandma had this big old chair and I asked her if I could have it when she died. Alas now I don't like the chair cause I grew up and now it's not so big.

[kd]

What a great idea! I've started saving butterfly's in jars, since they seem to get crushed. (and the only thing worse than a dead butterfly is butterfly dust)  Can't wait to find something to display them in like this!  Reminds me of the displays in the Field Museum.

[candycanechild]

That's really pretty! I love the fact that it's not cardboard.. it's a diorama I would actually keep in my house for more than a week!

[BelovedGoddess]

no it's not strange, at least you find corpses and don't collect live butterflies like many do for their insect collection. 

You did a great job on those.