Upcycled beauty: How to make a butterfly mosaic from an orange coffee cup

I have amassed a lot of cups since I started mosaics. These are very pretty cups and mugs, however their round shape means they are not that easy to use in mosaics. I decided to set myself a challenge. Why not turn an orange coffee cup into a mosaic butterfly? How difficult could that be?!

For this project I was slightly ahead of the game. I already knew the item I would be creating the mosaic on. A square, white wooden picture frame (22cm or 8.6”” square). Inside was the capacity for a miniature picture (9am or 3 ½ “).

This should be easy?

Um, not quite.

Step 1. Designing the coffee cup to be a mosaic butterfly

In going through my cups, I found a geometric design with strong contrasting colours. Perfect for a white picture frame. I was looking for a strong colour to stand out.

Next was working out which design would work best. I had a limited amount of space to work with, so decided on a small butterfly. It meant I could experiment with other mediums as I brought the butterfly to life.

Step 2. Transferring the design

Looking for a butterfly design was not too difficult. Amongst my collection of “design cards and ideas”, were a couple with butterflies on the front. Butterflies which would easily transfer into being a mosaic design.

All I had left to do, was to choose a design. Simple.

I selected a butterfly which looked fairly easy to immerse the different colours and design on the cup.

Step 3. Working with the colours

The main colours on the cup were a bright orange and teal green.

Orange turned out to be perfect for the background as it was able to stand out beautifully against the white picture frame.

Working with the patterns of the coffee cup I created the upper and lower wings, the teal green slotted in nicely as their central band of colour. This included being able to use the rim of the cup for the edge of the top butterfly wings. 

Step 4. Using different mediums

Secretly, I was pleased to be using different materials creating the mosaic butterfly. Not something I usually do.

With the central butterfly “body”, I finally found a use for some unused gold colour garden stones. These had sat unused on the shelf for a long time.

The “head” was a lovely button, dating from around the 1920’s bought several weeks ago in a charming second hand store.

The antennas were two layers of plastic ties and from my collection of beads, usually reserved for animal eyes or small flowers.

Step 5. Grouting

Deciding on the grout colour was easy. I simply took my lead from the picture frame and used an almost white colour. I wanted the head and antennas to retain their strong presence in the picture. 

What I learnt turning a coffee cup into a mosaic butterfly

On the outset, one would think that working with a cup would be fairly easy. The only difficulty being the roundness and needing cut smaller pieces to have a reasonably flat tile. It is not until you cut a coffee cup, do you fully appreciate there are different ceramic thicknesses.

I tried to maintain an even surface and to be cutting the (easier) thinner part of the cup. However, with some of the design, I invariably reached a stage of needing to use different thicknesses. All the thin parts had all been used which resulted in a textured finish.

When I started this project, I wanted to complete it fairly quickly and had thought a picture this size fitted my quest perfectly. But it proved to be a lot more demanding!

Working with a cup meant I could only utilise what was there (this was part of my self-imposed brief). It also didn’t help I had decided to select a butterfly design!

I originally had visions of cutting bigger pieces to make the wings of the butterfly. However, accurately following the curves of the wings, meant cutting many small mosaic pieces. When it came time to glue these in, it was difficult to remember where each piece was meant to go!

I have to say, I am happy with the result. It was a good way to make use of a cup which may have not have been used. And yes, this is something I will definitely try again in the future, only with an easier design.