I don’t know what it is with me, or why in the world I don’t notice things BEFORE I buy them. I’d seen a perfect Solar Butterfly several weeks prior to buying this one at Home Goods and was drawn to it, but being the cheap skate that I am, I WAS NOT going to pay $20.00 for it! Alas, I saw it marked down for $15.00 and crazily I jumped on it. How I did not notice that three beads were missing off the body, AND the antennas, I’ll never know. I should have known when the tag said “AS IS” to look it over more carefully, but NOOOOOO!
I got it home and when I noticed it I was tempted to take it back, but as with many things marked “As Is,” they often won’t take them back. I’d been suckered! The thought popped into my head to to head over to Michaels and grab some beads the same size plus one tiny one, some wire for the antennas and some matching paint and rebuild the poor little fellow so he’d be happy. He could then light up at night with at least a little bit of pride back for his poor self.
Found the large beads, the tiny one for the antennas and the wire. (I just grabbed a couple little wooden embellishments for .75 cents and cut the wire off of those for the antennas). I painted the beads black followed by Metallic Copper. After they dried, I took a sanding block to sand off some of the paint to match the bottom two. Surprisingly I was able to match them pretty well.
I glued them on with hot glue. I then took the wire, cut it to the size I wanted it and wound one end around a pencil for the curly-q and positioned them inside the top bead with hot glue. I used a Krylon clear glaze to give the beads a little shine and Voila! My Solar Butterfly was restored and singing a happy tune!
I’d love to hear about something you bought and restored! There’s a personal satisfaction and pride that arises when we’re able to fix something that some people would just throw away. It’s especially satisfying when not a single soul notices!
Please share pictures of something you fixed below and tell me how you felt after the project was finished?!
