Butterflies from skeletonized leaves by Nadezhda Rudenko

Autumn was in a hurry to visit us. She dropped her motley umbrella. Take your time, beauty, Let us have some fun! (The author of the lines is my colleague Tatyana Shadrina)

He will wash the roof of the hut, take Misha to the den, complete the peasant’s work, and then rustle the leaves. We will quietly ask her: “Who are you?” - And we will hear. (Autumn)

Having collected multi-colored leaves, we attach them in a circle to the umbrella using pins.

In Japan there is an autumn leaf festival. Nikko National Park sees an influx of tourists in autumn. And many Japanese take time off at this time of year to admire the park's maple trees, which turn different colors in autumn.

We propose to hold an autumn ball, a vegetable fair, an exhibition of autumn crafts, and competitions on this day. Competitions can be like this:

1. carry the apple on your head without dropping it

2. use a spoon to transfer potatoes from one basket to another

3. Blindfolded, feed each other carrots

Autumn crafts for children from various materials. Step-by-step ideas from cones, leaves, berries, fruits, vegetables, paper.

Also, other materials can be used in autumn-themed works, such as chestnuts, acorns, twigs, chenille wire, bushings, plastic and paper dishes.

The selection consists of short reviews with links to detailed master classes located on the website tratatuk.ru.

Butterflies from skeletonized leaves by Nadezhda Rudenko

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Skeleton leaf butterfly

Just recently I wrote an article about how you can skeletonize leaves, as well as how you can use these leaves besides using them in floral paintings. It would seem, what else? After all, I described all the possible ways. But no, nothing stands still. And human imagination is truly limitless! There will always be someone who will take something ordinary and use it in a completely unusual way. Create a miracle out of nothing...

So, it turns out that in Altai, in the city of Biysk, there is a master who makes amazing butterflies from skeletonized leaves and other natural materials!

Nadezhda Rudenko with a butterfly

Nadezhda Rudenko with a butterfly

Nadezhda Rudenko with a butterfly

So amazing that they are almost indistinguishable from the real thing! And at exhibitions, sometimes even seasoned entomologists at first glance cannot distinguish an artist’s masterpiece from a real butterfly!

Model of the butterfly Brazhnik Sinyaeva

Model copy of Nadezhda Rudenko's butterfly

Model copy of Nadezhda Rudenko's butterfly

Model copy of Nadezhda Rudenko's butterfly

Decorative panel with a butterfly

It all started with the fact that one day in childhood a little girl, Nadezhda Rudenko, was so amazed by the moths fluttering in the meadow that she wanted to know everything about these beautiful and fragile creatures. And so she began to study butterflies, read about them, observe their lives.

Nadezhda even graduated from the Biysk Forestry College and worked as a forester in

Decorative panel with a butterfly

Gorny Altai. And all in order to be closer to nature and to have the opportunity to engage in entomology directly in practice. While studying butterflies, Nadezhda thought about how short such beauty lives. After all, it’s true that butterflies live only a few weeks or even days! How to save them? How to save? But at the same time not to catch and dry butterflies? So Nadezhda came up with the idea to try to recreate the creations of nature with her own hands. And be sure to do this in such a way that they cannot be distinguished from the real ones!

Master Nadezhda Rudenko at work

A difficult task, incredibly difficult. After all, a butterfly wing consists of hundreds! scales and hairs. And how complex and diverse the pattern on the wings of butterflies is. To recreate such beauty, Nadezhda Rudenko, in addition to studying entomology - the science of insects, also had to study the properties of various paints, adhesives, and test materials. And come up with everything herself, because no one had tried to do anything like this before.

First, if possible, Nadezhda examines the butterfly under a microscope. After all, it is important to reproduce everything, even the smallest details - antennae, palps, proboscis. Paws with claws, the pattern of the wing, the arrangement of the veins on it, the fringe along the edges of the wing...

Model of a butterfly by N. Rudenko

Model of a butterfly by N. Rudenko

Nadezhda Rudenko with her butterflies

Then the frame of each part of the insect’s body is made: abdomen, thoracic region, legs, wings (contour and venation), antennae, flexible proboscis. The most difficult thing is to create four membranous wings covered with scales and hairs. The scales are convex and concave. They are reproduced by multi-layer painting. The number of dots on the copy exactly matches the number of flakes on the original. That is, Nadezhda always counts how many scales and hairs there are on one centimeter of a real butterfly, and makes the same number on a copy model! Can you imagine?!

Model of a butterfly by N. Rudenko

Model of a butterfly by N. Rudenko

Model of a butterfly by N. Rudenko

Model of a butterfly by N. Rudenko

A particular difficulty is the reproduction of hairs. Each hair is cut at an angle and glued with a cut to the plane of the wing or part of the body. The procedure requires extreme precision and patience. There are millions of hairs, like scales. The value of this technology is the ability to make life-size and to-scale models of very rare, endangered butterflies! It usually takes at least a month to make one butterfly. And sometimes even six months! All kinds of materials are used to reproduce the original: bird feathers, skeletonized and other leaves, lichens, fruits and roots of plants, cactus needles, fur, elements of the wings of other insects, as well as paper, fabric, wire, fishing line and much more.

Butterfly made of skeletonized leaves and feathers

Butterfly made of skeletonized leaves and feathers

Skeleton leaf butterfly

Butterfly made of skeletonized leaves and feathers

Over 20 years of work, Nadezhda has created thousands of butterflies! All of them are exact copies of existing species. Although sometimes fantasy butterflies, winged fairies and butterflies appear as an element of wedding decor.

Skeleton butterflies

Skeleton butterflies

Skeleton butterflies

Skeleton butterflies

Skeleton butterflies

Skeleton butterflies

Skeleton butterflies

Skeleton butterflies

Skeleton butterflies

Nadezhda called her art “nymphalism.” After all, butterflies are so similar to the beautiful nymphs from ancient myths... Many butterflies have already scattered all over the world and are now in the collections of British, New York and other museums. And in honor of Nadezhda Rudenko, they even named a new species of butterfly that was recently discovered. That's it!

Butterfly made of skeletonized leaves and feathers

Butterfly made of skeletonized leaves and feathers

Butterfly made of skeletonized leaves and feathers

Butterfly made of skeletonized leaves and feathers

Butterfly made of skeletonized leaves and feathers

Butterfly made of skeletonized leaves and feathers

Related topics:

1. Skeletonization of leaves. All ways! Part 1.

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