The Butterfly Project

These are my newest creations, little butterflies created for a Holocaust Museum Houston project  (via a Swap-Bot group project). The Museum is collecting 1.5 million butterflies, to symbolize the children who perished in the holocaust, for a planned exhibition in the spring of 2014. Wouldn't this be amazing to see?

Butterflies made of wire, headpins, tulle & sparkly nylon

Yellow butterfly made of sparkly nylon

orange butterfly of tulle

taking flight...

The Butterfly

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
against a white stone....
Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ’way up high.
It went away I’m sure
because it wished
to kiss the world good-bye.
For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.

~ Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942
Born in Prague on January 7, 1921.
Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942.
Died in Auschwitz on September 29, 1944.

These are pretty simple to make (instructions provided here for personal use only, not for commercial use): Using sewing thread, gather the fabric into wing shapes, wrap with wire around the center & create head & body shapes. I've wrapped the head & body shapes, you can do this, if you wish or leave them open. You could even weave thread in these areas, for a different look. Push the head pins into the head area & through the fabric. If desired, bend the pins to create more stability & push the ends of the wire & pins in so the do not poke out. Bend the antennae or leave straight, as desired. I love the delicacy of the fabric contrasted with the wire. These are perfect for the project., but of course I can think of of a number of great uses for these :)

For the project you can create any type of butterfly you like, simple or more complex, as long as it follows the Museum rules:

• Butterflies should be no larger than 8 inches by 10 inches (20 cm x 25 cm)
• Butterflies may be of any medium the artist chooses, but two-dimensional submissions are preferred
• Glitter and all glitter-related products should NOT be used (I think this is facilitate photographing the display)
• Food products (cereal, macaroni, candy, marshmallows or other perishables) also should NOT be used

Submit as an individual or as a group, send one or many...
Further info on the project & information on where to send your butterflies is available here:
Museum Butterfly project website

These, I'll be sending through the Swap-Bot group. I'll be making more, to send more directly to the museum & for other uses, too...