Fluttering in to Chic POP Street Market 6 @ Jaya One

Hey guys!!!

It's been a really buzy week at the Cyren household because in collaboration with Ryno Limo and her online shop Yellow Cab Trappings, I've managed to land myself a small spot at the Chic POP Street Market 6 being held this Saturday at Jaya One. Of course, this is a rather exciting occasion for myself as it will be the first time my little self-made business Wings of Paradise makes its public appearance! For those of you who are not yet acquainted with my rather small business, Wings of Paradise is a little something I came up with after noticing the dead butterflies in my butterfly house. Although the bodies dissappear (scavenged by ants and other animals) I was amazed to find that butterfly wings (fragile as they are) are surprisingly resillient to the ravages of Death. I wondered, if I could somehow find a way to preserve and strengthen these wings, then might not their natural beauty continue to flutter and delight people long after they are gone. And this is how Wings of Paradise first started.

The Wings of Paradise mascot

Preparing for the Chic POP Street Market 6 there were many things I had to do. First of all was collecting and deciding which wings I was going to strengthen. I picked a few eventually, discarding most of the heavily damaged ones and although I do not have that large a number of wings, I suppose one should always take small baby steps when trying something new. To strengthen the wings, I first encase them in two sheets of clear and durable plastic.

Encased wings ready for cutting

The next step is then cutting! Cutting these wings out from their plastic casings can be quite tough. Not only is it tiring on the hands but the eyes as well. I prefer to give my wings what I call a close cut, which means I leave as little plastic as possible on the margins to effect a nicer, more natural look, and one wrong move of the fingers could result in torn wings and destroyed merchandise.



Some of the already cut wings, pierced and ringed as well.

The remaining process is more simple. I simply pierce a little leftover plastic on the tip of the butterfly wing and hook a silver ring into it so that they may be turned into necklaces or earrings at my customer's leisure. I normally do set butterfly wings into elaborate pendants or earrings but since this was a rather last minute tihng, I did not have the time to do so for the Chic POP Street Market 6. All that's left was to then arrange then nicely on my display board.


Wings of Paradise display board.

I also had a few leftover wings so with them I made these little "Fairy Charm Bottles" which are ornamental and will also be sold at the street market.

Fairy Charm Bottle

Last thing I did was to make the bags. This was probably the most time consuming of the entire process, not because it is particularly challenging to make but rather because there are SO MANY TO MAKE! Fortunately for me, my bag-making skills which I picked up from working at an art shop are now finally paying off! I like it that they're paper because we should always try to be as environmentally friendly as possible and I made them in different colours because its always good to have colourful things!

Hand-made Rainbow Paper Bags

Furthermore, I would like to remind you that no butterflies were killed or harmed for the making of these pendants. Eacj amd everu omsect was carefully and lovingly bred, raised and allowed to die a natural death before being turned into timless and natural pieces of art. And last, but not least, what is a debut without supporters! If you like what you see, or you like what I do, please drop by at the http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=172526752785852for further information, just click on the Chic POP links all around the post :)

Somewhere Over The Rainbow