Buying Art, Butterflies and Other Metal Sculptures

I will add to this page as more details become clear. You can register interest at this email art@valleycreations.me

Like all my art and craft work, I make no money from selling these and I normally get people to pay direct to charity (so they can Gift Aid it) and provide me with a receipt in exchange for the sculpture or painting. In fact it costs me money to make the objects but I do it for the pleasure of making and knowing somebody else is enjoying the work. If you want one then put in a request by email and I’ll tell you the price that you should donate to charity. I prefer Crisis, but any charity to with poverty, homelessness or end of life care will do. Something that brings some respect and dignity to people struggling against the odds.

The birds and butterflies have turned out to be very popular and they feel like something I have been trying to create all my life. Below is a sculpture I made for Stirley Community Farm.

I don’t have the facilities to make metal sculptures at home, so hire time at the Sculpture Lounge, often on a weekend course that they are running, so I need to plan ahead if requests come in.

The butterflies I have made so far have been based on the Ringlet and the Comma and the Small Skipper.

None of the creatures are meant to copy the glorious colour of the real thing, just to capture them and their patterns in metal. For instance, I have chosen butterflies that can be found locally and which aren’t as dependent on colour for their identity. I have started adding a small amount of very thin oil paint to some of them or even part of them. This slows the oxidisation down and alters the colouring slightly. The sculptures are meant to oxidise (rust), so they change gradually until they reach a steady point which should last for many years. They look completely different, hour by hour and in different lights too.

Depending on the butterfly’s pattern and shape they can look more or less appealing (to taste!) with different wing positions. The Ringlet was the first I made and was intended to have the wings closed. The comma was intended to have the wings open but their wing shape has evolved to look like dead leaves when closed and that makes a distinctive profile too. With care, I can adjust the wing positions after they have been made.

I use a stand for the butterfly for display but haven’t used these in garden settings. All the most recent ones have come with a single support rod that you simply push into the ground. That seems to works well with shorter rods but with longer rods and in areas with high winds the rod might flex and the butterfly may turn round slightly. If you are worried about the wind let me know. The rod and butterfly height can be around 1.5 metres (designed to be pushed .5 metres into the ground through a low shrub) or 2 to 2.5 metres total (thus making a 1.5-2.0 metre profile against a background). Remember the need to transport it.

The other matter that you need to take into account is soil depth. Ours varies from around 10cm down to solid rock to areas where the soil is essentially on a pile of rubble and scree. I have made one where there was already a steel obelisk in the garden so I was able to weld the curved butterfly structure to the top.

I have used some variety in leaf shape but, unless specifically requested, I’ll use the simple shape on the ringlet, shown in the picture at the top of the page.