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This is the first progress picture that I took of my project, at this point a had just roughly connected the walls and made sure they were al tapped down, level and used slip to seal the edges and corners.

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This is my background after I used a small damp sponge to smooth out all the walls make sure the background looked nice. I also used my finger and a little bit of water to slightly round out all of the edges so that they wouldn’t  easily chip off after the structure dried.

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I made two different stencils and wing sizes so u could choose which size i thought fit better on my background and this is the stage where i decided to use the smaller stencil to make wing details and create a high relief pattern lifted from the wing

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I planned out the design i wanted using my butterfly outline pattern and a software on my ipad to try out the different looks and shapes and sizes. Once I chose the one that I liked, I printed it then traced the lines and stamped it to my clay slab and began the delicate process of cutting out the tiny pieces of clay to make the intricate details. After doing this to one side. I repeated this step to make even wings for both sides.

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This day went by really fast and when clean up came I very gently laid each of the delicate pieces on top of the main wings and got a second board to keep my wings safe in storage.

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This is the day that I connected the detailed wing pieces to the main wings and blended the pieces together as best I could for the time being and then began trimming the sides and adjusting them to the way that I liked.

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This was by far the longest process because I wanted to make 17 roses. Through my piece there’s certain numbers that have different representations, one of which is the roses. This was the first of 17 roses that I made

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As I completed more roses, I learned different techniques and ways that I preferred to make them and I spent a lot of extra time in the classroom making the roses so that I wouldn’t fall behind from others because if the intricate roses.

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These are the completed roses. I varied the amount of petals, center size and shape and styles of petals throughout the roses to create variation amount them and ensure that they didn’t all look the exact same. Finishing the roses led me to the most important next steps which were connecting the pieces

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I then flipped my background which was kind of a scary process because I wasn’t sure what the top surface would look like and I was hoping that it was secure and stable enough to support itself. I also had previously made supports for the corners that I put in place to make sure that it was able to dry with straight corners and so they would let droop down.

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I made wedge supports that would go under the wings to give the 3-D effect of the wings rising off the background like I wanted. I measured the length of the wedges and made the heights according to the angles that I wanted. I even made some height that others to change the angle that the wings would kay once they settled onto the supports. I slipped and scored each of the bottoms on to the base after measuring where I wanted them.

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I connected one side of the wings at a time and again slipped and scored each of the pieces together to ensure that they would be placed onto the correct spots.

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This is what it looked like after connecting both sides of of the wings

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I placed the roses onto the background and adjusted them to fit into the places that I liked. After i planned it out, I used slip to connect the roses onto the background and make sure that they wouldn’t move. I also stratford the body that I made onto the wings but ended up changing this later.

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I ended up replacing the body with one that had a tapered edge and details that sectioned out parts of the body and also hollowed out two holes in the top of the body where I can add wired antenas after firing. I smoothed out more parts of the wings and cleaned up edges and small details to finalize my piece.

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“The butterfly grows and transforms with power and beauty. It represents endurance, change, hope, and joy. it is a representation of you or what you can be”

To me, a butterfly represents strength and is a reminder that even those who are lost, are never really gone. When I see a butterfly, I think of Anna and I am reminded of someone who has a special place in my heart and means so much to me. My piece has several hidden meanings throughout that most people wouldn’t see. The 17 roses surrounding the butterfly represent her birthday, July 17th, and the roses are the flowers that filled the centerpieces at her celebration of life that I still keep in my room. The 13 small circles along the edges of each wing and the large tear drop shapes both represent her age. The butterfly as a whole represents her strength, free spirit, and beauty and is why a butterfly has such significance in my life.