How to finish?

[rash_powder]

Not sure if this is the right forum, so I apologize if I am in error.  
 

I have several  of these cut out.  1/8” BB ply is the material.  
  

I don’t know how I should finish them.  Paint each butterfly, stain the whole thing the same, BLO the whole thing,  I don’t know.  I can tell you I would rather have dental work done than paint.

what do you all think?? 

 

[dgman]

Hey Mathew, it might look good painted, but I am not a painter, nor do I like staining BB. If this were mine, I might try a painted backer. I definitely would soak the the piece in a 50/50 mixture of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits. Then when dry, topcoat with Deft semi gloss spray lacquer.

Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

[barb.j.enders]

Personally I would use Tung Oil.  I also now have a spray can of quite sheer gold that I would use.  It give a nice "sparkle" to things without really changing the colour.  I used it on my layered dragonflies. Don't know if it shows up very well but here are the dragonflies I did.

[Rockytime]

That's impressive cutting Barb!
 

[OCtoolguy]

Would it be wrong to possibly color the butterflies in 3 different colors and paint the surrounding frame a light shade. Maybe an of-white? I think if done in the right colors it would be very pretty.

 

[new2woodwrk]

Very nice cutting. Thanks for sharing it.

My idea is (and it may be a real PITA):

Clear coat them first, then using different colored/clear paper, cut out small pieces for the butterfly wing cutouts and adhere them to the back then place a backing behind that.

I personally am not a big fan of painting wood myself mostly since I suck at it, but also I like the look of natural/stained wood with a clear poly finish

 

[Roberta Moreton]

I would mask the bodies and frame and spray or paint the butterfly a metallic color, gold or copper.  Paint the bodies black. Danish oil or BLO the frame and use a colored oval backer, just behind the oval part of the frame. Possibly swirled blues and white.