Orange tip {Embroidered Butterfly}

On May 12, 2023 By ArtyMissKIn Art, Needlework Bugs2 Comments

Hello my friends!

How ya doing?

I’ve got a new butterfly embroidery to share this week. I recently got the chance to be the adoptive parent of some Orange tip butterfly pupae – I did a post on them a couple of weeks ago (links at the bottom incase you fancy giving it a read!)

So this is #2 on my Embroidered Butterfly challenge. According to Butterfly Conservation there are 59 types of butterflies in the UK.

Unlike the Small tortoiseshell (that kicked off my project) you can easily distinguish between the two sexes of Orange tip butterflies. The males are unmistakable little white butterflies with bright orange wingtips and the females are white with black wingtips.

I thought it would be fun to create both a male and female and have decided to call them Gary and Gladys (I have no idea why) size wise this lovely little pair are both about 8cm across. The body of each one has a crocodile clip sewn on so that I can attach the butterflies to plants, my intention is to fill the house with them…

I’m also starting a hashtag for them so my butterflies will be tagged with #ArtymisskButterflies on here and my other socials.

Creating these butterflies always starts with sketching the basic butterfly shapes, I only focus on one upper and lower wing and then copy it in reverse, the Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Richard Lewington is full of these amazing sketches and facts about each type of butterfly. Once I’m happy with the design I then transfer my sketch onto calico and colour them in with the closest matching threads I have – actually picking a colour for the veins is tricky with a white wing so in the end I went for a pale grey.

Well that’s it for this week…what do you think? I’d love some feedback on this piece and I’m hoping that you’ll stay with me on my butterfly creating adventure. Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

Ps. My Orange tip butterfly post is HERE and if you want to have a look at butterfly #1 its HERE!

©️ ArtyMissK (2023)

Small tortoiseshell {Embroidered Butterfly}

On March 31, 2023May 12, 2023 By ArtyMissKIn Art, needlework, Needlework Bugs10 Comments

Hello friends!

I’ve got a new butterfly embroidery to share this week. I’m really happy with the Small tortoiseshell photograph (that I posted last week!) I particularly love this type of butterfly, they always seem so happy – don’t get me wrong all butterflies seem happy, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t like/was scared of them (not that there’s anything wrong in that of course).

So now I’ve created a few of these I have decided to give myself a bit of a challenge…I’m gonna have a go at creating all 59 types of British butterflies…in scale with each other!

Obviously not actual life-size scale – they’ll still be larger than normal, ones like the Chequered skipper or the Small blue are tiny and would be so fiddly to do, I’m going to use the Large white that I made last year as the starting point for the sizes I’m using because its one of the biggest butterflies we get here.

So, first up is one of my favourites – the Small tortoiseshell, they have a wingspan average of 4-ish cm and are one of the first butterflies to be seen in spring after hibernating over the winter in adult form, amazingly these butterflies can live for up to a year! They lay their eggs on Stinging nettles which grow into spiky green and black caterpillars.

Now, this little fella is only 8 centimetres across and I’ve tried to make the body seem as fluffy as the photograph (my plan is to make them twice their normal size!) Ain’t he cute?

Size wise my Large white is about 4 inches across – there are only a few bigger than this, one is the Swallowtail another is the Purple emperor. The body of the butterfly has a crocodile clip sewn on so that I can attach the butterflies to plants around the house or even wear them in my hair!

I start by sketching the basic butterfly shapes out on paper, I’ve gone and bought the Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Richard Lewington which is super helpful. Once I’m happy I then transfer my sketch onto calico and colour it in with the closest matching threads I have and when finished I attach the wings to the body and create a backing canvas with the butterflies name in an embroidery hoop with plain calico.

Each one takes roughly a week to do so I’m expecting this to be a long haul hobby!

©️ ArtyMissK (2023)

Embroidered Gatekeeper butterfly {Art}

On October 21, 2022March 17, 2023 By ArtyMissKIn Art, needlework, Needlework Bugs7 Comments

Hello my friends!!

This week I thought I’d post a new embroidery that I’ve been working on.

Looking back at the Gatekeeper butterfly photographs (that I posted last week!) I decided to embroider one similar to my other needlework butterflies – I’m developing quite a collection of needlework bugs/insects.

As always I started by roughly drawing four wing and body shapes onto calico and then filled them in with the closest coloured threads I had. I like to block colour first using two stands of embroidery floss and then blend using a single strand (on the smallest needle imaginable – its like a hair!)

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Embroidered ladybird beetles {Art}

On September 16, 2022March 17, 2023 By ArtyMissKIn Art, needlework, Needlework BugsLeave a comment

Hello friends!

This week I thought I’d post about some new needlework pieces that I’ve been creating on. Last year I fell so in love with bumble bees that I embroidered one (in fact I posted a new bumble bee embroidery only a few weeks ago!) and thought that as I’ve been captivated by the ladybird beetles why not sew one and add it to my ever expanding collection of insect needlework (in the end I created two!)

Usually I start all my needlework pieces the same way – by roughly drawing onto the calico and then its all sewn free hand using a single strand of coloured floss at a time onto a hoop and then sewn in teeny tiny little stitches. I’ve tried to sew them to look as round as possible.

I’m really pleased with these little ladybirds each piece is about an inch across so they’re very small, due to their size each one only took about 30 minutes to create from start to finish and its quite nice to have a quick and easy craft on hand for when the nights begin to get longer.

Up close the beetles are tiny – needlework is so soothing and I find its a really good stress/anxiety reliever.

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Another Embroidered bumble bee {Art}

On September 2, 2022March 17, 2023 By ArtyMissKIn Art, needlework, Needlework BugsLeave a comment

Hello my friends!!

I hope the week treated you well!

This week I thought I’d post a new embroidery that I’ve been working on. Looking back at the bumble bee photographs (that I posted last week!) I decided to embroider one similar to my the needlework bee (that I posted last year).

A short but delicate art post this week…I’ve embroidered a new bumblebee! Very much like the one I created last year but the wings are in a different position.

As always I started by drawing the shapes onto calico and then filled them in with the closest coloured threads I had. For the bee I like to start in the centre of the body and work out in layers, using one stand of embroidery floss (on the smallest needle imaginable – its like a hair!).

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Embroidered Large white butterfly {Art}

On August 5, 2022March 17, 2023 By ArtyMissKIn Art, needlework, Needlework BugsLeave a comment

Hello friends! I hope you had a good week!

I’ve got a new butterfly embroidery to share this week. I’m really happy with the Large White photograph (that I posted last week!) I particularly love this type of butterfly – they’re so beautiful but because the caterpillars eat cabbages humans consider them a pest.

So I decided to embroider one similar to my Holly Blue.

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Embroidered Holly Blue butterfly {Art}

On July 15, 2022March 17, 2023 By ArtyMissKIn Art, needlework, Needlework Bugs2 Comments

Hello my friends!

This week I thought post something new that I’ve been working on…as you know I love needlework and I embroidered bees before and wanted to experiment to see if I could create a 3-d butterfly.

When I saw the Holly Blue butterfly and was able to take some photographs of it (that I posted last week!) I knew that I wanted to create a piece of art about this insect.

So I decided to embroider one similar to the bee I did last year, but instead of being a flat piece I want to try and make it a little more three dimensional.

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Embroidered bumblebee {Art}

On September 19, 2021December 11, 2022 By ArtyMissKIn Art, needlework, Needlework BugsLeave a comment

Hello friends, I hope the week treated you well!

To relax, get my brain into the right space and bee a little bit more zen I’ve sat quietly and embroidered myself a little bumble bee. Its all sewn free hand using a single strand of coloured floss at a time onto a natural (and excitingly eco friendly, recycled calico!) It’s been so lovely to study the photos of bees from the garden…as we have at least five types of bee I might sew one for each.

The hoop its in is six inches across and sewn in tiny stitches, I love the fact that the wings look realistic by sewing the threads in different directions.

I absolutely love embroidery, its so soothing and you really feel that you’ve achieved something when a project is finally finished.

Thank you for visiting have a great week.