How to create a 3D butterfly sculpture

Did you know that many butterfly and other pollinating insect populations are declining due to habitat loss, changes in climate, and pesticide/herbicide use? One thing that humans can do to change this decline is to plant a butterfly garden with nectar producing plants to help these lovely creatures feed and thrive. Our school has a gorgeous butterfly garden and my students recently created an outdoor art installation to beautify the space.

This blog post features step by step directions about how we created these 3d butterfly sculptures, materials list, video tutorial (coming soon!), and finished examples to inspire your art making process! Enjoy! 

Some of the key concepts explored in this project include: form, symmetrical balance, texture, beautification, armature, sculpture, art installation, activism art, butterfly conservation (a helpful video about butterfly conservation).

For this project, you will need:

• Recyclables, cardboard, foil, etc.
• Hot glue
• Tape
• Plaster gauze strips or paper mache
• Gesso/primer
• Acrylic paint & painting supplies
• Optional for hanging– small stainless steel screw eye rings, wire, zip ties
• Optional for outdoor use- waterproof sealant spray.

Step 1- Create the wings out of cardboard or styrofoam. Strive for symmetry.

Step 2- Build the body of the creature.

Step 3– Attach the pieces together with tape and/or hot glue.

Step 4- Cover in multiple layers of plaster strips. I love this Plast’r Craft Modeling Material from Amazon! **Papermache is another option!

Step 5- When bone dry, apply a layer of gesso or primer.

Step 6 -8– Using multiple layers of acrylic paint, paint the details of the creature. I recommend painting a base coat then adding darker details on top.

After our first layer of plaster strips was applied, we carefully placed some small eyelet screws into the butterfly. I recommend these from Amazon- AxeSickle 1 inch Screw Eyes Metal Eye Hooks Small Eyelet Screws, 100 Pcs (Sponsored). Then, we reinforced it with another layer of plaster strips.

To display, we fed zip-ties through the screw eyes. It was easy, secure and efficient.

Prior to displaying, I also sprayed the completed artworks with about 2-3 coats of Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X Ultra Cover Clear Semi-Gloss Spray. This provides a nice shiny coat to seal and protect from weathering. It’s important to spray this outdoors or in a very well ventilated area. It has an odor that resembles a nail salon. It really does the trick, and it dries quick. Hey, I rhymed!

Our school has this beautiful butterfly garden. After much deliberation of how and where to display all these 3d creations, we decided to make an art installation of the butterflies and moths scattered throughout the garden. Accompanying the installation was a fun scavenger hunt for the school to participate in. It’s been a huge hit and students really enjoy trying to find all the species!