Brave New World Concept

The basis of my concept is playing on the fact of how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly... Basically, in this Brave New World, as a girl begins to grow up and reaches adulthood, she will begin to develop traits from a butterfly. So as a child, there will be nothing that really relates to a butterfly that is visible, but as time goes on and she ventures into her teens; this is when she will start to transform and become a hybrid. 

In this Brave New World, there are a number of reasons for this:

• Family relations/long lost relatives will be distinguishable because the pattern that emerges on them will be extremely similar - there are billions of different designs
• It will allow males to see what kind of age the females are, e.g. if they are of child-bearing age
• It allows woman to feel extremely in touch with nature, and thus creates more harmony between nature and humans, since there is not necessarily any distinctive boundaries anymore
• This can be quite a tough process for females, in terms of painful physical changes that happen to the face/body, and psychological changes that make girls realise that they are now becoming women

Caterpillar to Butterfly process:

The First Stage:The Egg

Butterfly Eggs on a Leaf 

A butterfly starts life as a very small, round, oval or cylindrical egg.  The coolest thing about butterfly eggs, especially monarch butterfly eggs, is that if you look close enough you can actually see the tiny caterpillar growing inside of it. Some butterfly eggs may be round, some oval and some may be ribbed while others may have other features. The egg shape depends on the type of butterfly that laid the egg. 

Butterfly eggs are usually laid on the leaves of plants, so if you are actively searching for these very tiny eggs, you will have to take some time and examine quite a few leaves in order to find some. 

The Second Stage: The Larva (Caterpillar) 

Butterfly Caterpillar

When the egg finally hatches, most of you would expect for a butterfly to emerge, right?  Well, not exactly.  In the butterfly’s life cycle, there are four stages and this is only the second stage.  Butterfly larvae are actually what we call caterpillars. Caterpillars do not stay in this stage for very long and mostly, in this stage all they do is eat.   

When the egg hatches, the caterpillar will start his work and eat the leaf they were born onto. This is really important because the mother butterfly needs to lay her eggs on the type of leaf the caterpillar will eat – each caterpillar type likes only certain types of leaves. Since they are tiny and can not travel to a new plant, the caterpillar needs to hatch on the kind of leaf it wants to eat.   

Caterpillars need to eat and eat so they can grow quickly. When a caterpillar is born, they are extremely small. When they start eating, they instantly start growing and expanding.  Their exoskeleton (skin) does not stretch or grow, so they grow by “moulting” (sheding the outgrown skin) several times while it grows. 

The Third Stage: Pupa (Chrysalis)

Caterpillar Becoming a Chrysalis

The pupa stage is one of the coolest stages of a butterfly’s life.  As soon as a caterpillar is done growing and they have reached their full length/weight, they form themselves into a pupa, also known as a chrysalis.  From the outside of the pupa, it looks as if the caterpillar may just be resting, but the inside is where all of the action is.  Inside of the pupa, the caterpillar is rapidly changing. 

Now, as most people know, caterpillars are short, stubby and have no wings at all.  Within the chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable transformation, called ‘metamorphosis,’ to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge. Tissue, limbs and organs of a caterpillar have all been changed by the time the pupa is finished, and is now ready for the final stage of a butterfly’s life cycle. 

The Fourth Stage: Adult Butterfly

Butterfly Emerging from a Chrysalis

Finally, when the caterpillar has done all of its forming and changing inside the pupa, if you are lucky, you will get to see an adult butterfly emerge.  When the butterfly first emerges from the chrysalis, both of the wings are going to be soft and folded against its body. This is because the butterfly had to fit all its new parts inside of the pupa. 

As soon as the butterfly has rested after coming out of the chrysalis, it will pump blood into the wings in order to get them working and flapping – then they get to fly.  Usually within a three or four-hour period, the butterfly will master flying and will search for a mate in order to reproduce.  

When in the fourth and final stage of their lives, adult butterflies are constantly on the look out to reproduce and when a female lays their eggs on some leaves, the butterfly life cycle will start all over. 

Web reference: http://www.thebutterflysite.com/life-cycle.shtml#sthash.adxu5J0P.dpuf

Creating My Moulds (take two!)

As I did not have a glue gun to seal the cup around the outside of the pieces, I decided to build a clay barrier, ensuring that it was taller than all of the pieces it was surrounding. 

I then carried out the mould-making process (following the previous instructions)  making sure I remembered to stir the mixture! I then left the moulds to set, and they were within under a hour, so I knew that I had done it properly this time - thank god!

I was now happy with my moulds and ready to move onto casting the pieces.

Creating My Moulds (take one!)

First of all, I sculpted my pieces out of clay - the butterfly body to go down the nose, the pieces for the cheekbones, and for the forehead. I only created one of each because this means I can cast 2 cheek/forehead pieces using the same mould.

I then went on to create the moulds (step-by-step instructions are in a previous post).

However, as I watched my moulds begin to set, I knew that something wasn't right... 

The top looked quite bumpy, and gloopy, and I knew this was not supposed to happen. At first I thought this may have been due to transporting it between uni and school, and it may have moved out of place slightly. Then as time went on, it had been over 2 hours and it was no where near set - this confirmed my initial thought that something had gone wrong. I left my moulds for about 2 days, and they were still not set, therefore I decided to take them out. They were still quite sticky and gloopy, and they had not hold the shape of my sculptures very well. I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong!

After days and days of deliberation I realised that I made one of the stupidest mistakes possible, but a vital one! I did not mix the 2 silicones together when pouring them into the cup - I was in such a rush to pour them on the sculptures because I didn't want them to set (and because I had to keep adding more of each to be enough to cover the whole piece) that I just totally forgot to mix them together. Therefore, the 2 silicones were not able to combine and thus set and create the mould.

I couldn't believe what a silly mistake I had made, but everything is a learning curve, and it has taught me a lesson - I know that I will NEVER forget to mix them together again!

Feedback From Kat

When discussing my idea with Kat, we decided to take away the antenna prosthetic pieces from the head because we thought it would be too much, especially as the 2 pieces on the sides of the forehead were already quite big. 

Furthermore, when talking about the actual butterfly design Kat said to consider perhaps toning down the butterfly patterns slightly, as there were already quite a lot of butterfly elements incorporated into the design, and we want the outcome to be realistic and organic. 

Therefore, I am going to do a trial of the make-up to see how it actually appears on the face (without the prosthetic pieces), and then go from there. If I feel the butterfly pattern is too much on the cheeks, forehead and down the neck slightly (as there must be a mid shot, thus cannot forget about the rest of the body), then I will think about just incorporating the butterfly pattern in much smaller areas, for example, to replace the eyeshadow or lipstick. 

Final Face/Hair Chart

This is my final face and hair chart. 

• Prosthetic pieces will be attached on the cheeks, forehead, and nose - this will make the face into a structure that is similar to a butterfly
• It will then have a purple butterfly design/pattern on top of the prosthetic pieces and fade out into the middle 
• The nose will have a 'body' of a butterfly, and this will be dark purple, as well as the antennas that will be attached to the forehead
• There will be a purple smokey eye, with black eyeliner and mascara
• There will be purple to lilac ombre lips
• The hair will be quite voluminous, wavy and pulled back off of the face

Example of hair design

I have chosen the hair to be like this because I want it to be quite voluminous and 'fly away', to keep the feel of freedom and butterfly-like. I am going to have it pulled back off of the face so that it allows you to see the whole design on the face and does not get in the way, or distract too much attention away from the face. 

Purple Emperor Butterfly

The Purple Emperor is a magnificent and elusive insect that is actively sought out by the many subjects of "His Majesty", as the male butterfly is affectionately known. This butterfly spends most of its time in the woodland canopy where it feeds on aphid honeydew, with the occasional close encounter when it comes down to feed on sap runs or, in the case of the male, animal droppings, carrion or moist ground that provide much-needed salts and minerals. Those that make pilgrimages to see this spectacular creature will often try and lure the males down from the canopy using all manner of temptations - including banana skins and shrimp paste.

The male butterfly is one of the most beautiful of all of the butterflies found in the British Isles. From certain angles it appears to have black wings intersected with white bands. However, when the wings are at a certain angle to the sun, the most beautiful purple sheen is displayed, a result of light being refracted from the structures of the wing scales. The female, on the other hand, is a deep brown and does not possess the purple sheen found in the male.

This species is best seen in early morning and again in late afternoon, when the males will come down to the ground to feed on moisture from damp earth and animal droppings. The males are sometimes so engrossed in feeding that they will spend over an hour feeding in the same place, each displaying its characteristic yellow proboscis. The males are also notorious for feeding on mud and other debris that has gathered on surfaces of cars parked within the woodland. They are also partial to sweat and readily land on observers. However, both male and female spend the majority of their time resting high in the tree canopy and out of sight.


In late morning, the males will fly off and ultimately congregate at so-called "master trees" that provide a vantage point for intercepting passing females. These trees are typically at a high point in the wood, such as trees growing on the summit of a hill, and the same trees are used year after year. Locating a master tree is one of the best ways to catch a glimpse of this elusive insect. Seeing the males battle it out for the best vantage points, with flashes of purple as the light hits their wings, is an amazing spectacle.


When a virgin female is encountered, the pair fly off and settle in the canopy where mating takes place. If the female has already mated, then she has the curious habit of descending straight to the ground, where the male ultimately loses interest and returns to his perch.

This is the design I am going to base my butterfly hybrid around. I have chosen this one because it is one that lives in the UK and thus is quite close to home. Also, I think it is one of the most beautiful, and that is, in a way, what I want my hybrid to be - I feel that whenever anyone thinks about butterflies they just think about how pretty they are. This is the image I am going to be working from when applying my design; I have chosen a simple one because I feel it will be the easiest to work from as I can see the clear lines and patterns, and then I can adapt it accordingly on the face:

Web reference: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?vernacular_name=Purple%20Emperor

Initial Facecharts Of My Ideas

This is my first idea:

• The whole outline of the butterfly will be prosthetics, thus will be raised 
• The design/pattern of the butterfly would all be done with make-up, e.g. eyeshadow/supracolor
• This is the design I am least keen on - I feel it is too obvious and not necessarily a hybrid as such, because the butterfly is just placed in the centre of the face

My second idea:

• There will be no outline of the butterfly in this design
• The pattern of the butterfly will be made out of prosthetics, and so will be raised from the face
• It will have antennas on the forehead made from prosthetics 
• I think if done well, this could look quite effective
• However, it would be extremely intricate, delicate, and time consuming, thus I may not be able to complete the full look in time, which would impact the overall outcome
• I would need to decide whether to create 2 big prosthetic pieces, each with the patterns already carved out (meaning I would need to leave holes for the eyes)
• Or I would mould each line individually and then attach separately onto the face, which would be quite complicated, and take a lot of time

 My final design:

• This design only shows the prosthetic pieces - it would include more of a butterfly design with the use of make-up
• There would be 7 prosthetic pieces - 2 on the forehead, 1 on each cheek, 1 down the nose, and 2 antennas 
• The prosthetics would raise and sharpen the areas, to shape/mould the face to make it into a sort of butterfly shape
• I really like this idea, and think that it could be very effective if carried out how I am picturing it
• With the make-up applied on top, it will incorporate more of a butterfly design to give more of a butterfly feel

After evaluating all of these designs, I have decided to go with my final design because I feel that it is the most creative and most original - there is nothing like it out there. I feel that it will be achievable, and it also gives me quite a lot of freedom with my make-up to add to the butterfly effect. 

Therefore, my next step is to create a final face chart with the make-up added to show the full effect, and to ensure it looks how I want it to.