Coconut Shell Butterflies

In the town of Moca, is a factory that produces these lovely coconut shell butterflies. The factory is named Centro Artesanal Coco. The owner and also one of the artisans is Lucrecio Peralta. He and his wife run the day to day business and employ up to nine other artisans. Bags of empty shells fill the small work area where they are stripped of their outer hair. Once free of the hair the coconut shell is cut in half and another artisan begins the process of smoothing the surface and carving out the shapes of the body by first etching out a form on the coconuts. After the body parts are carved out they go to the next artisan that assembles the parts and engraves lines through the wings. After this step the next artisan take to painting the bodies, using various different colors. He uses both hand and air brushes. The final step entails placing the antennae to complete the final look of the butterfly.