anyone make butterflies that are not implosions?

[phab]

...so someone i know wants a butterfly. ive been looking at pics of them from google but a tutorial is always nice.
if you make sculpted butterflies, not implosions or pendants and youre willing to post a tutorial on your method it would be much appreciated.

im thinking 4 wings and a body but would still appreciate advise.
tia

[Just Nancy]

Interesting. I think I tried one once. I think I did a barrel for the body and wings kind of like I do my flower pedals. On the other hand, I can't find a picture or the bead so maybe it is a dream.

I'll be watching for other suggestions to see if someone has something they know worked.

[Glassgoodies]

1. Make a small tube.
2. Put 2 big dots at one end on opposite sides of the mandrel and turn the mandrel upside down (vertical) so that they droop a little, like a heart.
3. Repeat step 2 at the other end with smaller dots.
4. Heat the whole thing until it's soft, but not droopy, then smash flat.
5. Add a small dot for the head and leave it raised (or leave it off).


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[meadowesky]

29573
I made this way back in early summer last year but here is how I did it


I made my body of the butterfly and shaped it into a rounded top cone. Then I pressed the back of the body flat. (you probably dont have to do this, I am sure that the wings will keep it from rolling around.)

I built up large layers of dots in varying colors for the wings. (going from light pink to rubino) When I had those 4 dots built up pretty big (be careful that you dont melt them together) I flattened with parallel mashers.

Next you want to spot heat the wings and use a pair of pointed end tweezers to press your indentations in. You can kindof pull up or down as you need to to shape the wings. Do the same to the bottom wings but be careful to keep the whole thing warm (this one is about 2 1/2" tall)

I made the head separetly and just used a spacer style and flattened the back.

You then just wirewrap it together on a long headpin with a bit of sterling.

Hope that helps :)

[ShepherdCreations]

ooh that's purty meadowesky!! Mine don't look that good yet, kudos ladies!:waving:

[meadowesky]

thanks hon!
:)

[Just Nancy]

Much better than mine Meadowesky.! But, that's about what I meant for the wings. (Except as I said, mine didn't look as good. :lol:)

[glassdog]

I use a simple butterfly to accent my dogs at times. This may work for you too.
1. I start with a rod the size I want the body of the butterfly to be. Let the end droop to form the head and apply eyes or antenna.
2. Using my fold technique, create the wings. My fold can be seen at
http://www.marshglass.com/tutorials/foldtut.html
3 Attach to the bottom of the wings and draw them out to create the bottom of the wings.
4. Punty the nose and burn off the back of the body. And ta daaaa, you have a butterfly.
5. The chow looking at the butterfly is what I do with them.

Hope this has helped.
Mike

[phab]

...wow thanks everybody. Glassgoodies,meadowesky and mike those are all of great help. i tried one today and i seemed to follow meadoweskys method, but im working in boro.

i learned a lot making the first one. butterflys are pretty cool.

thanks everybody !

[Kati]

Dear Tia and hello everybody (this is my first posting)! :-)

I make chubby little butterflies by starting with a barrel. Basically, I add two big dots on each side which I heat and squeeze to turn them into wings. It is a simple shape and the picture is almost self-explaining, I think. ;)

http://katis-atelier.de/img/Perlen/Ketten/Zwei_kleine_Brueder.jpg

All the best,

Kati

[Venbead]

Whenever i see butterflies or purple hearts I think of this organization www.beadsofcourage.net For those of you who make so many butterflies you don't know what to do with them think about donating a few to the families who have lost a child to cancer. sorry to hijack back to your tutorials beautiful butterflies by the way!

[Beadfairy]

Hi Tia,

I made these two days ago for a bead show

58551

Make a little barrel and add dots to the sides - form it - that's it ;-)

Have a nice day!
Karin

[bubblebabeuk]

sculpted butterflies, not implosions

I gotta ask! :-\"
How do you do implosion butterflies???
Sounds pretty cool! :wink:

BTW Stunning Butterfly's all round WOW! =D>

[rachelle]

I just started making these a few days ago!
small base bead, squashed.
add blobs of glass for the top wings, shash with tweezers or something.
add the 2 lower wings, again shape.
I then angle the wings so that the butterfly is "flying"!
Rachelle.

[phab]

I gotta ask! :-\"
How do you do implosion butterflies???
Sounds pretty cool! :wink:

BTW Stunning Butterfly's all round WOW! =D>

...heres a thread on dragonflies and butterflys

http://www.thegldg.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8897&highlight=butterfly+implosions.

[bubblebabeuk]

Fab thread, Thanks for the link!

[Lara]

Karin, I really like your butterflies. I'm thinking my butterfly was a joke, but now I think I need to treat it like a 2 sided fish, with lots of fins and no face. HMMMMM ideas!

[mixednut]

I love the different pics and ideas here it is fun to see other peoples mind sets! Here is my offering. And I did a barrel and dots in layers two per a side of course and then smashed them out with needle nose.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-7/1201739/PDR_0715.JPG

[SHGlass]

Here are some dragonflies that I did awhile ago but the same would apply for butterflies. I start with a barrel then used stringers to place dots on top of each other to get different colors on the wings and then flattened with small paddle pliers but you could use full rods instead. Make sure they are far enough apart that they don't touch each other unless you want them to and then I spun the mandrel a bit to lengthen them out before flattening. *WARNING - don't spin too fast or towards yourself :)

For a butterfly you wouldn't spin much at all and then you could punty onto each corner and pull each one out to make a butterfly wing.

Dangit, now I'm going to have to go and make some butterflies. In the picture these wing spans are all less than one inch because I knew they'd be on ladies ears. The bottom right one is a pendant and is about two inches wide.

I hope this helps.

60436

[Rose Leslie]

Thanks Glassdog and every one else. They are really great. I will have to try one or two of them.

[Tancaro]

Everyone has great techniques! On www.beadsofcourage.net Sharon Peters has a tutorial too. Very similar to what has already been mentioned. I think someone mentioned the website before but not sure if you knew there was a tut link there.
-C

[sandree]

Thanks for the tut! I need to make a butterfly for a customer and this is just what I needed!

Sandy