Dried, Papered, Unspread Real Butterflies

Dried, unspread (wings closed), unframed, unmounted, papered butterflies for sale. To hydrate the butterflies, wet 4 paper towels (Bounty works better than generic brands), squeeze the water out, then place the butterflies in a single layer above and below 2 paper towels and place in a tightly sealed tupperware. Small butterflies take a day or less to soften up, large butterflies can 2-3 days to soften. Once soft they can be spread open.

Spreading butterflies can be quite difficult to master and there are various different techniques available. A decent amount of equipment (pins, spreading board, etc) is needed as well. We do not offer any spreading instructions, there are butterfly spreading guides available on the internet though.

A very rough way to spread them would be to stick a pin through them from the underside of the abdomen, open the wings (push from as close to the body as you can get, along the thick upper vein), and then "squish" the wings against a piece of styrofoam, foamcore etc by pushing the pin into the foam and following with the butterfly. Something might be needed to hold the butterfly in place while it dries (24-72 hours). It won't be symmetrical, or flat, but it can get you a bit of a V-shape wing.

These specimens are also useful if you want to use their wings only (for artwork, fairy dolls, jewelry), to study them for science, show and tell etc. They do not come framed, they simply arrive in a paper triangle. We cannot 100% guarantee that all of the antenna and legs will arrive in perfect condition but they usually should be intact. Although we only purchase "A1" quality labeled butterflies, minor flaws will exist on the some specimens and there's always going to be variations in size, color, vibrancy etc. If you need a excellent quality specimen it's often advisable to buy a few of each. Because the wings are closed we can't inspect the quality of the upper wings.