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Keeping A Dried Dead Butterfly

Am I the only one who thinks of Will Ferell’s Robert Goulet impression from SNL whenever I hear the word nature? Yes? Anyway, sometimes a little toddler discovery turns into a ten second project (free & fast = my jam) and it makes me smile enough to want to share the goods, so here they are. We’ll call this a tiny Friday update in the name of some “all-natural” fun. As many of you know, much like ceramic animals, outdoorsy things make my heart go pitter-patter (I’m a sucker for a framed sea fan or a collection of nature-ish vacation finds in labeled jars from each trip we’ve taken). So when Clara and I were playing outside and we found a butterfly just resting on the ground, it was nothing short of amazing (Clara said “the orange and blue part” was her favorite – that’s how close she looked).

Butterfly1

And then I realized that gal wasn’t among the living anymore. So sad!

But she was too beautiful to leave out there in the grass, so I carefully scooped her up and decided to bring her inside so we could hopefully enjoy her beauty every day. I thought about putting her in a shadow box but we already have a faux butterfly shadowbox…

Butterflies All Glued

… that we made from a butterfly flyer at an exhibit we went to (more on that here).

Butterflies After Close

So I decided to let her be just as nature intended, and “parked” her (or maybe it’s a him? aren’t the guys the colorful ones in nature?) on a piece of coral from a vacation a few years back.

Butterfly2

Yup, just like that he landed there and decided to hang out with us in the dining room.

Butterfly3

Is that weird? Clara loves looking at “her butterfly” (she knows we can wave, but there’s no petting allowed).

Butterfly5

I do wonder if we should do anything to “preserve” the butterfly from eventually turning into dust or something (or getting coated with dust – although I wonder if a quick hair-drying on cool would work from time to time?). Does anyone know what they do when they make shadowboxes with real ones? Are they sprayed with some sort of varnish? Or treated in some other way to keep them looking bright and life-like? I wonder if I could track something down and give ours a little protective (and dustable) shell? Ooh, or what about putting one of our glass domes over the whole shebang (as seen in this old Halloween post) to solve the dust problem?

And since it’s Friday, what are you guys doing this weekend? Any fun plans? We have a crazy overdue dining room update along with some basement stuff on the agenda (as well as a bathroom makeover we’re planning to tackle for John’s grandma in little while), so we’ll be back with a lot of those details next week. Happy Friday y’all!

Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winner, so click here to see if it’s you.

Comments

  2. tracey says

    “Is it weird?” Um, yes. I don’t understand the need to “park” a dead animal on your bookshelf or to do a blog post about it at all. As they say, slow news day, I guess?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We share it all around here – both big and teeny tiny. It’s just how we’ve always blogged and what we believe has gotten us here. If you check out our monthly roundup you can see that although it’s hardly a project-a-day, we definitely get a lot done each month. And here’s a post all about why we share what we do! Hope it helps :)

      xo
      s

  3. Erika Rocio says

    I spot a ceramic animal! Where is that octopus from? I’m in love.

    Also: just wanted to comment on how much I enjoy seeing the little details in your home. It’s so special that y’all share that with us.

    Keep up the good work!

    Reply

  5. Holli Coats says

    What a fun find! I love how it looks with the coral.
    My weekend plans? Heading to Richmond in T minus one hour hoping to beat the crazy traffic I always hit on 95 south from NoVa (and to try and mesh my toddler’s nap with the car ride). We’ve got family birthday celebrations there this weekend, but I’m hoping to fit in a run and a trip to Ufab for some curtain fabric.

    Reply

  8. Jamie says

    I’m not an expert on this (my husband is the biologist who does this kind of thing for fun), but what he did for our butterfly display was gently spread them out on a spreading board and pin them. I think he left them like that for a few days so that they would kind of freeze that way. Then, he gently transferred them to a butterfly mount. Our display has lasted through three moves and still looks as beautiful as the day he did it!

    Here’s a link for the process: http://www.ehow.com/how_2074105_mount-butterfly.html

    Reply

  9. Gina says

    Nature Goulet! “Staring contest go. You win you always do.” Sometimes your titles are the only things I need to read. :)

    Reply

  10. Anatale says

    My mother and I found one of the exact same kind of butterfly (Tiger Swallowtail, I think), dead in our driveway when I was little. She pressed it between two pieces of glass and it sat in a little stand on our mantle for the next two decades. And made me happy every time I saw it. Thanks for bringing back some good memories!

    Reply

  12. Aunt Lesa says

    Hi Sherry, this is off topic but I hope you can help before I destroy more trees: I tried making a picture frame with a Kreg Jr. jig just like John demonstrated but I ended up with a disaster: Wood that won’t screw together and looks like it has been attacked by giant voracious termites! I think my measuring is off or something — can John help?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, I read your comment to him and he’s not sure he can diagnose the problem without being there to see what’s going wrong? Maye if you it seems like you’re off on your measurements just try to redo those and practice on scrap wood until you get it? Good luck!

      xo
      s

  13. Megan A. says

    Hahaha, thank you so much for putting the image of Will Ferrell as Robert Goulet in my head! It made my Friday so much better :-) My best friend is terrified of butterflies. I think I will send her a link to this post to mess with her.

    Reply

  15. Erin says

    I didn’t read the other comments, so I’m not sure if anyone has said this, but you’ll mostly need to protect it from other critters. When real insects are preserved in shadow boxes, they are generally just sealed, often with a moth-ball type insect repellant pouch inside. They aren’t coated with anything. And don’t hair-dryer him! I think that will ruin him, especially when he dries out and turns brittle.

    I love that you had a nature post today; my husband and I have a date tomorrow at the San Diego zoo, with “Backstage Passes” to meet animal keepers!!! (Yes, I’m 32 years old, and no, I don’t have children.) ;)

    Reply

  16. Sarah says

    I love this! Totally reminds me of my grandmothers house. She lived in the timber and bluffs around the Mississippi here in Iowa. There were all kinds of cool butterflies she would find the same way so she had a few shadow boxes and would set them around or pin them to a tapestry hanging on the wall. I don’t think she ever did anything to them to help them stay intact but maybe a spray-on clear coat?

    Reply

  17. Chelsea @ Riding Escalators says

    So cool! Clara is going to remember stuff like this when she grows up! I still remember all of the strange stuff that my dad brought home when I was a kid… though maybe because some of it was a bit more traumatic stuff – like a black widow spider and blue racer snakes. I still vividly remember him putting the blue racers in a box behind my seat in the van so we could transport them up to a biologist friend of his and listening to them slither over each other during the 3 hours car ride… And I literally almost ran through our sliding glass door when he produced the black widow spider. Nightmares.For.Life.

    But there were also cool butterflies, moths, baby birds (that went to a wildlife sanctuary!) and other various insects in that mix – so cool – and it really cements a kid’s link with nature. Just stick with the cool, pretty stuff. Clara will have great memories (and no nightmares!).

    Reply

  18. donna says

    A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I sat on the patio watching a pair of butterflies exactly like yours flutter around the a butterfly bush.

    We were discussing how lovely they were when there was a sudden black blur and snap. One of the pair fell prey to my cat.

    Mother nature at its best.

    Reply

  19. Mel says

    I LOVE IT! Our family is going to a nature center tomorrow to tag and release our monarch friends to their journey to Mexico. We’ve been learning about monarchs in our home school. I love that you’re teaching C to enjoy nature:).

    Reply

  20. Maureen says

    Sherry, did you ever go to South Street Seaport in NYC? They used to have this ENTIRE store of just butterfly art (made with dead butterflies, obviously). I was always so grossed out by it thinking “who would kill all these butterflies?” This post just made that store pop into my head! I haven’t thought about it in years! LOL At least you found her already dead and will display her tastefully. :)

    Reply

  21. Audrey says

    Just a tidbit, since it seems like others have already ID’d the type of butterfly and given preservation instructions:

    Did you guys know that Swallowtail is the VA state insect? (It’s also our state butterfly, but I feel like the broader category carries more distinction, haha). So you have some home-state pride going on in your dining room now!

    Reply

  23. Kevin J says

    Love the butterfly! We’re doing an amaaaazing house swap with our incredible friends. M. and I are staying at their place out in the country. On a lake. With a hot tub. And a pool!! And they are staying at our place in the ‘burbs. And they’re keeping our kiddos — including the furry one — so it’s a true getaway for us. And we’re having fun making our house all B&B ready for them.

    Reply

  24. krissy says

    I happen to have a few butterflies I’ve found along the years that are still hanging around. The wings will dry out and crumble if left in direct sunlight (what wouldn’t though?) and when mine get dusty I just blow off the dust with my mouth or lightly swipe them w/ a big, fluffy makeup brush, that does the job for me.

    Reply

  26. Holly says

    When I was in elementary school, a friend’s mom would make butterfly displays in Plexiglas boxes and they were all over their house. I still have one of a Monarch at my parent’s house. I know she put them in the freezer on tissues, and I don’t know if they were previously deceased or not.

    I think if you do freeze him, maybe try positioning the wings up a bit so it doesn’t dry droopy? They might be too brittle after being frozen.

    Reply

  27. CATHY says

    love it! my sister has various dead butteflies on a shelf in her sunroom amongst pretty potted plants. She hasn’t donr anything to them and they seem to be sticking it out quite well. definitely the no tiuching rule applies though, they are so fragile they’d break apart. Love how it looks and i personally don’t think it’s morbid. Its like keeping dried flowers.

    Reply

  28. Jessica @ The Desert Abode says

    Love that you added a butterfly to your collection!

    We just returned from a trip to a family cabin and my favorite memento there is a beautiful butterfly in a glass jar that hatched from its cocoon many years ago after a little girl put a caterpillar in a jar and forgot all about it. When they returned, they found an old cocoon and large butterfly!

    Reply

  30. Kate says

    I’m hoping to build (or start to build) a changing table from Ana White’s site for our coming (little girl, we found out!) baby. I just need to figure out exactly how big I want it and get up the courage to cut the leftover plywood we have with the circular saw (or convince my husband to do it).

    You have a table saw, don’t you? Have you ever tried to cut plywood with a circular saw? I’m worried our edge will turn out horrible.

    Reply

  32. lizaanne says

    CRAZY busy weekend!!!
    Saturday:
    Running errands in the morning (drop off husband’s shirts at the cleaners, pick up a repaired purse at the shoe repair, stop into the resale shop to sell some stuff, find a birthday gift). Tearing the entire house apart to prepare for carpet cleaners (oh how I long for hard wood floors, maybe one day). Corralling the kitties so they don’t get lost in the fray. Putting it all back together again as much as possible, then zooming across town (45min drive) to a birthday party.

    Sunday:
    Mass in the morning – then back home to put the final bits of the house together. Paint door and cupboard for our shiny new bathroom, finish sewing the curtain for in there, and then start moving in the pretties now that the construction activity is all done!

    WHEW!!!! Then – hopefully – an afternoon of rest with a pot of tea.
    But it’s all good!!!

    Reply

  33. Mary says

    I found a huge beautiful moth by my car tire at work a year ago, it didn’t occur to me to look up how to preserve it – I let it sit in the basement for a few weeks and then put it in a shadow box from Hobby Lobby (with cream burlap over the velvet background) – it’s only been a year but it still looks great, we’ll see what the future holds, I guess. I would be worried without the glass the wings will get tears over time.

    Reply

  34. Rachel says

    Thank you, thank you, thank you. I needed a laugh after sitting in a mechanic’s waiting room all morning watching Jerry Springer — and replaying that Robert Goulet skit in my head did the trick. :)

    Reply

  35. Jo McClure says

    Glad to know we aren’t the only ones who sing “Poppa, I like it when you call me Big Poppa …” in a Goulet via Ferrel voice! Love the spot for the butterfly- we froze some insects for my son’s school project a few years ago and they held up for quite awhile but eventually became dusto.

    Reply

  36. Courtney Madden says

    AHHHHHHH! First time I’ve squealed (not in a good way) after reading a blog post. I am irrationally petrified of butterflies and especially moths. YIKES!

    Reply

  38. Stephanie says

    The butterfly looks beautiful on that coral.

    I could personally never deal with a dead butterfly in my house though. But then again, I have a pretty bad bug phobia.

    I’m all itchy now. I will close my eyes and think of penny tile. And oreos. Fixes everything, yes?

    Reply

  39. Carly says

    I confess to being the creepy kid who had a bug collection consisting of found dead bugs – which included a specimen of the exact same butterfly you found! I still have them tucked away (nearly 20 years later I’m shocked to admit – ack I’m old!) and the butterfly looks like it did the day I found it. No special preservatives, just have it in a padded box. Though I’m thinking I might have to unpack it and follow your lead – great idea, as always!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s amazing!! Clara’s totally going to be that kid too. She’s completely fascinated by bugs. We saw a praying mantis outside yesterday and it made her week.

      xo,
      s

  41. Mary says

    Hey Folks,
    I’m a naturalist by trade. Pretty dead critters come across my desk every day. For an insect that size and body structure you should be fine to keep it on site, and if the legs are hitched onto the coral a light blow dry from time to time won’t make it take flight. Just make sure to keep the air direct. Once butterflies metamorphose from caterpillar to butterfly adult they have significantly less on the interior than say a large grasshopper. With plenty of ventilation it will likely dry out on its own minus any real smell. I have a large box of collected monarch wings I use to teach children about flight (collected form already dead ones I promise) as well as lots of naturally dried and preserved specimen. The only enemy to preservation that you might experience is some fading over time due to all the lovely sunlight. Hope it helps. Love that it’s the state butterfly of my home state. Good find.

    Reply

  42. domestiCate says

    OMG, for a solid two years my husband and his brother could not see each other without reciting that entire SNL skit in full (multiple times). “Staring contest. You and me. You win, you always do!” Gotta love Will Farrell. Have a great weekend! p.s. The orange and blue part is my fave, too.

    Reply

  43. Carrie says

    When I hear “Nature” – I just think of Jimmy Fallon as Wild Nature Survivor Guy on an episode of Sesame Street… “Nature, here and there… Nature, everywhere!” I’ve got a 3 year old, so I’m typically singing Sesame Street or Fresh Beat Band songs! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ2ATb0rEw

    My mom is just like Sarah S.’s mom – she collects them too! She had this dragonfly for years, the wings were so beautiful to look at! But the aforementioned 3 year old decided to pet it and unfortunately the wings crumbled away. My daughter replaced it with a new dragonfly made out of a clothespin and popsicle sticks. :)

    Reply

  45. Liz says

    I’m no expert on preservation, but I am a microbial ecologist, and freezing it will only help while it’s frozen …. once it’s out in your room and thawed out again, it’s going to rot, just like a piece of fruit would that you left out. Microbes do their job quite well, and a glass dome is not going to protect the poor butterfly from it’s fate! I think you’ll need some real preservatives for this one. Or just accept that beauty is ephemeral and enjoy it while it lasts. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Liz! We’ve hear from some entomologists who have said as long as it’s in a glass box or dome and out of sunlight it can last for decades without any chemicals or freezing- here’s hoping!

      xo
      s

  46. Wrenaria says

    I found a dead butterfly much like this one in a parking lot once about 10 years ago. I took it home and popped it into a fancy little glass top jewelry box I had in my room without doing anything to it and it stayed lovely up until my most recent move about a year ago, when one of the wings unfortunately came off. Probably too much jostling in the trip. Made me very sad. Looking into proper preservation for this guy is probably a good idea. I didn’t think about it at all at the time.

    They are lovely little things, aren’t they?

    Reply

  47. Crystal @ 29 Rue House says

    Every time I see your faux butterfly display I want to make one! Maybe soon…especially since I finished my paint chip art a couple weeks ago (I can’t remember if I showed you, hopefully it makes you proud lol – http://29ruehouse.blogspot.com/2012/08/paint-chip-art.html ).

    We don’t have a super busy weekend planned but I will hopefully get that meter painted this weekend! (Admittedly glad that you didn’t post about it this week because then I would have been bummed I didn’t get it done in time! – Don’t tell me if you did it already! lol.) Have a great weekend!

    Reply

  49. Carrie says

    I have a butterfly phobia and could barely read this post! But I made it through because I love you guys!

    Happy Friday!

    Reply

  50. susan says

    Pretty butterfly. You can get a kit to raise your own-my twins LOVED that back in the day…

    http://www.thebutterflysite.com/rearing.shtml

    Tonight we are going to the first Friday Art Walk in Bend-Beer Bingo, live music, tons of art on the sidewalks-bliss.

    The rest of the weekend we are building a pond. Our property used to have a real live working well-so we are taking advantage of the big rectangular already-built shape, and building it up a foot with stone/cap stone and a liner. Yea for Craigslist pond liners!

    Reply

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