Bug Coffins

My Newest Art Work inspired by a class I took at Art Unraveled by the name of Metamorphosis – Soldered Bug Coffins taught by Katherine England. Are you surprised? Are you shocked? I didn’t think so. Do you think I’m weird? Did you ever think I wasn’t weird…
When I was looking into the classes I wanted to take at AU this year I wanted to make sure I learned how to solder and cut glass. There were several interesting classes that fit the bill. The bug coffins class was at the same time as another one that I wanted to take so I spent hours debating with myself as to which other soldering one I should take. One day as I was walking around my art room, looking at all my trinkets, including my collection of cicada wings, dried lizards, a couple cicada specimens, a brand new beetle I’d just found that day and of course my dead hissing cockroaches (thank you Vicki), I thought… Really Emily, are you going to pass up this opportunity to spend 6 hours with other artists who are also attracted to dead bugs? A chance to freely embrace your inner um… my inner what I don’t know, I’ll figure that out later. But a chance to fit in, am I right?

Here’s the one I made in class: Annie

She is a smaller cicada I found in our yard I believe. These guys come out early in the summer. I don’t know if they grow into the larger ones, but here she is any way. Notice the glitter? Of course, bugs and glitter go great together! The background I used is from my Acrylic Paint and Stencils technique I experimented with in June, a ‘mistake’ nonetheless.

Here’s Bill, I finished him yesterday.

He’s one of those guys that flies around real slow and haphazardly, you think he’s going to run into you. They love fruit, will bury themselves into a fig, so be careful if you pick one off a tree, cut it open first! I put a little bit of glitter (#79 Black, Ultrafine Art Glitter), on his mask and the background is from a glittered acrylic paint example I made a couple of years ago. Actually Lori found him for me right outside our door at Art Glitter.

Here are the backsides.

You can see my glittered paper better on the backs.

So thank you Katherine England for giving me a real reason for keeping these bugs and oh yea, thank you for teaching me soldering and glass cutting! And the name of that other class I wanted to take…can’t remember.

These are my first ever soldered pieces, just my moo cards under glass. The long one is my Momo who just passed away, the lower cat is Coachy, she used to pose for me long before Momo came along. And then what do I see in the photo above? Yes, it’s cicada wings…