La Danse Du Papillion

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Illustrations and natural studies all by E. A. Seguy.

For my senior project in college, all my designs incorporated embroidery inspired by E. A. Seguy. At the time I found the limit to one artist somewhat torturous, as school usually seems when your too young to appreciate it, but now i see how perfect the graphic illustrations work with cut fabric. So naturally, now that I'm back in school, I look to him for inspiration for my first jewelry design project (!!!), a brooch from layers of colored aluminum. While its certainly not the sexiest jewelry material, aluminum happens to be really cheap so its perfect for learning on. 

I love how the pochoir (stencil) technique makes his prints so bold, yet he still manages to capture the three dimensionality of the insects. I've never really been that into butterflies, (although papillion is by far my favorite French word to say) but the way he illustrates them so graphically, its all about the print on the wings and less about something pretty or girly or Mariah Carey-y. 

images from here, here, here, and here.