Ryan McFarland

Years ago Helena (my girlfriend at the time) bought me a few butterflies to go along with the one i bought for myself when i was in Brazil.

As you can see, one is in an ugly faux bamboo frame and the other is framed nicely but i didn’t have a matching frame for the bright blue butterfly. On the far right is one of the frames i bought during the after-Christmas sales at Target. I bought four of them initially thinking of just framing some bright colored sheets and mounting the four frames on the wall in a grid. They came with a half inch thick styrofoam piece for behind the mat which is perfect for framing butterflies because their bodies need a recession to sit in. So i carved out a groove for the bodies of the butterflies. I knew i wanted red backgrounds on the prints to go with the red furniture that i still have not showed you - but i didn’t have red paper around. Besides - i’d have to cut a spot for the insect’s body to not wrinkle the paper. What could i use instead? A t-shirt! Lord knows i have a ton of them around. So i went through my red t-shirts and picked out the “2002 Dixieland Softball Clinic” shirt that i still had never worn (also purchased in the after-Christmas shopping sprees - but at a thrift store). And the end result is pretty stunning in my opinion. Total cost of the project? Hmmm. I don’t remember the cost of the frames. Maybe $3 a piece. Plus the $2 t-shirt i ruined. Time invested was no more than 30 minutes.

I think you’ll agree that the end result is far better. Especially once they are in a room with bright red furnishings with stainless steel tops!