For those of you who really like doing odd things, I present to you, the Dyed, Baked, Bacon Butterfly! I took lots of care and time into dyeing, shaping, coating, baking, re-baking and letting my cutie insect rest so that it came out the way that I wanted it to. When you play with bacon, it totally goes through a metamorphosis when it cooks. Just like the process in which a butterfly goes through life changes before it can fly away. Same goes for my bacon butterfly. And now it's dead. Because we tore it's wings off and put them into burritos.

Either way you look at it...crazy, bright, gross, yummy, insane...I hope you enjoy my instructable! Please rate and vote! <3
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Step 1: What You Need!

* Four slices of Bacon
* Toothpicks
* Neon or non-neon food dye
* Ziploc bags or tiny Tupperware
* 2 pie tins
* 1 oven-safe weight
* paper towels
* brush for egg yolk
* 2 or 3 egg yolks
* patience
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Preheat oven to 375 ! :)

Step 2: Prepare the Bacon!

I had no idea what I was doing...nor what this is called. But I separated the 3 types of meat in the bacon and put them in their own container to color. You can do this, or just dye the entire strip. But each type of meat in the bacon, or...flesh, will hold color differently. I would leave the fat for your most vibrantly desired color because it absorbs really well.

I divided the bacon with a knife and put the types into their own tiny container. I then put some dye in there with it, added a little bit of water to get the color to move around and shook it a little. If you use ziploc baggies, this may be easier and you won't stain your fingers as much. ;)

After the dye has taken to the bacon, you can refrigerate to let it soak more, or just go straight into blotting. Using a toothpick, one per color, you can take the bacon out of the container and plop it onto some paper towels and get the loose color off. Make sure to do this to all colors and keep them separate, still. If they touch, the darker color will mess up your lighter colors.

Step 3: Composition!

You are the meat artist and the flesh is your medium. The pie tin or whatever you're using is your canvas. Work away. You can try anything you'd like. Just remember my tips!

Prepare your meat glue - just mix the egg yolks into a yellow liquid to brush onto your art.

You don't want to have any folds in your pieces. If you smash it together, just make sure that you overlap pieces and have no folds. If there are folds, they will pucker up in the oven and mess up your piece.

Overlapping is a good thing. Just make sure to brush some egg yolk between your layers, and lightly.

One technique that I like to do, when creating meat butterflies, is to roll the bacon in my hands, like clay. It will make a cool meat-roll and you can lay that into your design nicely.

Try not to have any gaps!

Once completed, just brush over your design with the egg yolk. It will act as a sealant, kinda. It will also add color to your piece and sink to the bottom, making it joined and flat. Just don't add too much, we want to make sure to cook the bacon, not the egg layer.

Step 4: Bakin' the Bacon!

By now, your oven should have been preheated to 375, and your art is ready for the oven.

Put it in the oven, keep a close eye on it. If you forget or miss a beat, your bacon may already have morphed into a crumpled mess.

I have a 5 minute rule with bacon art. Check after 5 minutes. If it's shrinking and starting to shrivel, take it out. If not, leave it for a few more minutes.

Once it's out, put another tin on top of your design and something to weight it down. This will press the bacon while it's resting, and it will help hold your design.

After 5/10 minutes you can put it back into the oven, with the weight on top, still. I chose an oven-safe glass-bowl thing. You can leave this in the oven for another 5-10 minutes but you will want to check on it. As long as you see shrinkage and it's still holding the design, you can cook it to your desired texture. (Shrinkage means that it's cooking.)

Step 5: Metamorphosis Complete!

Alright, you've cooked it to your desired texture, you've kept your shape and you're satisfied! Awesome! Now it's time to enjoy the meats of your labor. You should photograph it because you may never want to do this again, for the amount of 4 slices of bacon.

THEN! You can place it on top of a hot bowl of soup, or tear the poor thing apart and eat it alive. Whatever you'd like. My husband and I tore it in half and but it inside a potato/cheese/dumpling soup/leftover burrito. (Long story.) But yes, I miss my butterfly because I won't be able to show it to everyone I know. Only photos remain!

Thanks for checking out my instructable! <3