Flat bed scan of a monarch butterfly in high resolution. The scales of the wings are visible.
The monarch butterfly is just like any other insect in the materials comprising its exoskeleton. The coloration and texture we see in butterflies is due to scale protrusions from their exoskeleton. The wings especially are famous for colored scales creating the entire image pattern found on the wing.
When creating a larger than life analog to this organism, several challenges arise in copying structures of this detail. However, there are abundant materials that an imaginative creator could use. What really aids the search is a careful examination of the organism in question, and note our observations. This image was a scan of a monarch butterfly at high pixel resolution. The image allows you to see the wings in very high detail. This image is also available on my Flickr, Monarch Scan.
The scales are very regular and each scale is a single color. Areas that show shading or color gradients are different ratios of two scale colors. The thorax is covered in a short hair fur that is black and white from head to ovipositor (this monarch is female). The legs have a hard surface.
Fabric found in San Francisco that seems inspired by monarch butterflies.
I keep a constant eye out for insect-like materials. I am especially fond of textiles that use repeated stitches to produce organic structures. This black and white fabric I found at a local San Francisco fabric store called Britex, It looks very close to the thorax of a monarch. In some cases I wonder if the designed material was inspired by insects, and now I discover it to use in an insect. It wasn’t super cheap, but I really enjoy it. I am also a fan of black and white velvet in various qualities. That structure is scale like and thin. In some cases fake fur also suffices.
3D printed prototype with velvet glued to the exterior.
After modeling and printing with several iterations, I have a functioning flapping mechanism in a thoracic box. I decided to quickly test a method for gluing velvet to the plastic pieces and observing the results. The black color hides a lot of detail, so the plastic structure underneath doesn’t need to be an exact mimic of the butterfly exoskeleton, but the effort does aid in the overall shape and scale. Printing in black plastic will be better than red. I still have a lot to experiment with finishing touches including the proboscis, eyes, and antennae.