"The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you" - B.B. Everything I do here is self taught, I've never had special schooling or an apprenticeship but I've put many hours into studying the process of insect pinning and jewelry making to a point where I can be confident in my abilities and offer them to you. YES! Insect pinning is the process of re-hydrating an insect so all
its parts are moveable again, and then setting it in the position you want (with pins). After death they dry out and become very brittle, so you need to restore that moisture. This is most commonly done by placing your insect into a "hydration chamber", which, is really just a fancy way of saying "air-tight container with warm, damp paper towels". You're basically making a bug sauna. The time your little friend is in there will vary depending on its size, but somewhere between a day and three, usually. Some larger bugs will take even longer! Once our friend is nice and ready...
♪ You know what to do with that big fat buuug
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle ♪
I couldn't help myself. Okay, so now you want to make sure each appendage is nice and flexible. Once we've stretched (and wiggled), you're finally ready to pin him down. Woohoo! After you've got him the way you want him, let him hang out like that for a couple days - he needs some time to adjust. Once he's come to terms, you can remove all your carefully placed pins and he'll be exactly the way you want him forever. Just like a good boyfriend. Am I right, ladies? Am I right? And that's the basics of insect pinning. So I hope I made learning about my process and what I do to create a piece enjoyable. Sorry about all the bug puns and admittedly bad innuendos. Sure. You can pretend they were louse-y. You can even ants if you want to, weevil your friends behind....OK it's out of my system now. But thanks for reading, and hope you drop by again!
