Building Exhibits: Life Sciences Gallery: Building the Monarch Butterfly Exhibit

Many visitors are blown away by the sheer number of butterflies in our Monarch migration exhibit. In fact, there are exactly 6742 butterflies clinging to the tree. How were they made? Here are the steps that Exhibits staff and 12 volunteers used to make just one butterfly:

To make the bodies:

1. Make five molds from sculpted butterfly bodies.
2. Squirt hot glue into the molds and allow it to cool.
3. Paint each body by hand, complete with white dots.

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To make the antennae:

1. Spin a thin layer of monofilament fishing line onto a square rod. 2. Bake in oven to set into a permanently curled shape. 3. Apply masking tape over the monofilament on two opposing edges of the square rod. 4. Cut through the monofilament on the free edges of the rod. 5. Set the individual antennae into the head with the aid of a heating tool.

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To make the legs:

1. Weld together thin wires (one being a staple). 2. Attach to the underside of the body with staple .

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To make the wings:

1. Send high resolution slides of real Monarch wings to a printing company (we used one in Saskatoon) to print onto cardstock. 2. Instruct the printing company to punch out (die-cut) the wings. 3. Colour the edges with a felt tip marker. 4. Glue top and bottom wings together. 5. Attach the wings by melting the appropriate spot on the hot glue body and inserting. 6. Attach most of the wings so that they appear closed. 7. Make a handful of Monarchs with wings open.

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To fasten to the evergreen branch:

1. Dip feet into a shallow pan of hot glue and allow to set.
2. Use a special heat fan, shaped like a glass pencil, to reheat the drops of hot glue on the feet.
3. Hold the butterfly on the surface of the tree for 10-15 seconds until the glue has set.
4. Use a syringe to apply a liquid matte medium over the feet and tree surface to glue the butterfly down permanently.

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To fasten to the tree trunk:

1. Recut the four feet at a sharp angle.
2. With needle-nose pliers, drive the feet into the "bark".

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To dull the wings:

1. Glossy cardstock appears shiny under strong lights. Spray a liberal coating of dulling spray, a waxy substance that takes away glare.

This process was repeated 6741 more times.. No wonder it took approximately 4000 hours over an 8-month period to do the Monarch tree!

For further information contact the Exhibits Unit

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