Polymer Clay Butterfly Wing

I did this for my Color Concept class. I had to make something that was 2D look 3D and something 3D look 2D. This is the 2D one, which is actually an edited digital picture of my 3D piece. But the sculpture/crafts category still applies.

The 3D one was made out of colored Sculpy polymer clay. I did the millefiori caning technique of arranging long snakes and sheets of clay and stacking them in ways to make interesting patterns, then cutting slices. So there's not a drop of paint on this thing, it's all colored clay!

With the actual 3D version, I did the opposite of the recommended approach of using simple designs and low-contrast colors. Instead, through making CONSISTENT high-contrast and complexity it made them camoflage with an added bonus of being so hard to look at that nobody can see the depth. Underneath the raised parts, I have white clay to reflect the light down and help eliminate pesky shadows. Also, the individual components of the pattern on elevated areas are slightly smaller to provide the illusion that they're recessing in space.

I was assigned "butterfly wing" as my subject. You probably weren't able to tell but it's an abstracted closeup of a common butterfly wing pattern. All the mini-patterns sorta represent the scales.