Vegan taxidermy · Los Angeles
Crafted,
not caught.
Every butterfly here is built with care to be as close as possible to an actual species. Wings are cut from veneer, bodies are custom modeled and printed in biodegradable filament. Each butterfly is hand painted using iridescent non-toxic paint that shifts as you walk past it. Nothing was harmed. Nothing needs to be.
- Species
- Papilio lycidas Cramer
- Medium
- Natural wood veneer · PLA filament · iridescent non-toxic acrylic
- Wingspan
- 100 mm
- Edition
- no. 1 of 1
- Caught
- never — made by hand, Los Angeles
On the bench now
Three drawers
Lepidoptera
Mounted butterflies
Veneer wings, printed bodies, iridescent paint mixed by hand. Framed in a shadow box or set loose on a pin.
Engraved
Jewellery
Wing venation cut into maple, walnut and brass on the laser bed. Light enough to forget you are wearing it.
Bench
Woodwork
Trays, boxes and wall panels built from the offcuts the wings are cut out of. Nothing here starts as a new board.
Four Stages
Each stage requires specific techniques and an optimized process. Illustration is essential for the accuracy of the cutting, research and planning result in an accurate recreation of the species. This is what it takes to get one right.
Plate I
Slice
Each butterfly starts with an illustration over a photo of the actual species, done to scale with care taken to recreate the color blocking and veins as accurately as possible. Wings are cut from 0.6 mm veneer left over from cabinet shops across the county.
Plate II
Bodies are custom modeled in Rhino and printed in PLA, a filament that breaks down in soil and seawater rather than sitting in a landfill for four centuries. Layer lines are left visible.
Plate III
Paint
Two hours minimum are required to hand-paint each specimen using water-based iridescent acrylic, thinned until the grain still reads underneath. No solvents, no heavy metals, nothing you would not want on a nursery wall.
Plate IV
Set
Wings are spread on a setting board overnight, then assembled using a non-toxic glue and framed in a shadow box for best results and protection during shipping.
What it is made of
Real taxidermy asks you not to think about where the specimen came from. This asks the opposite. Every material is listed and sourced with care.
- Wings – wood veneer
- Body – Biodegradable PLA filament
- Antenna – solid wire
- Color – water-based, non-toxic, iridescent acrylic
- Adhesive – solvent free
- Pin – solid brass, no nickel plate
- Frame – Ash & India Ink, linseed finish
- Animal content – none, at any stage
Batches sell out in a day
Twelve to eighteen pieces come off the bench most months. One email the morning they go up, nothing else. Unsubscribe from the first one if it is not for you.
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