Beetles in Costa Rica

We saw lots of really cool bugs in Costa Rica last month, but I am dedicating this blog entry to beetles.  The most beautiful, by far, was this perfectly shiny gold one:

I'm holding this specimen because it was, sadly, dead.  You can see a crack on its head....maybe something tried to eat it.  I put it on the ground to photograph in a more lifelike pose:

The next day, we were lucky enough to find another of these guys, alive!  It was dark outside and very difficult to photograph, so there aren't any more pictures, but this thing was really awesome to see walking around.  It looks like some kind of Rutelid to me, but can anyone narrow it down any further?  We saw it in the Cloud Forest, near Monte Verde National Park.

Another cool beetle....again, possibly a Rutelid....was this guy, also in the Cloud Forest:

Near that guy, I spotted this surprisingly blue Tiger Beetle!  I was lucky to get a photo; he was quick!

At night, we saw this guy, possibly another Rutelid:

My husband was lucky enough to make a friend!  This guy reminded me of a big June beetle, but it is perhaps yet another Rutelid of some kind?

Besides that super-cool gold Rutelid, my other favorite beetle was this guy:

We made his acquaintance at a butterfly zoo.  The curator had seen it out on a walk, and recognized it as an endangered species.  He took it to the zoo and placed it in captivity for a short time for observation.  He took it out of the cage for us, and I put my hand next to it so you can see how HUGE he really was!  I could hardly believe this thing was real!  You see them on TV or read about how big they get or even see them dead in collections, but to see the actual living specimen was very special indeed.

During a night hike in the Cloud Forest, I came across another Tiger Beetle; this time, a royal purple one with an iridescent finish and tiny hairs covered in dew.  Beautiful!

I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos half as much as I enjoyed seeing them in person!  If anyone can offer any kind of identification advice, I would love to know what I saw!

Beetle Eye Candy

I just wanted to share with everyone the excitement of my latest shipment of bugs! I ordered lots of beetles to make jewelry with, and they are gorgeous! Have a look!

Here's what it looks like when I first opened the box. This particular shipment was sent from Thailand, although it contains beetles from all over Asia.

Taken out of the box, you can see how many there are!!

After softening and re-positioning all the parts for use in my jewelry, here is the ready-to-use result! Eye candy, indeed!

Visit www.aquakej.etsy.com to see what I've made with them so far!

Jewelry Prototypes: Comments Wanted!

I have been asked recently to design a line of jewelry incorporating my bugs. At first, I was reluctant to try this, since the bugs are so fragile. Bugs are used to make jewelry, but other "bug-jewelry" makers get around this by using resin to completely encase the bug, creating a sort of "bug in amber" look. In this way, bugs are entombed in everything from glow-in-the-dark keychains to plastic bracelets to earrings. This protects the insects very well, but I think it looks cheap, personally. It hasn't been done in a way that is respectful to the beauty of the insect, in my humble opinion.

So, if I were going to make any jewelry, it would have to be very different. I would have to like it. I laid awake for much of the night pondering how to get around having to encase bugs in resin. I'm not interested in making plastic jewelry.

Also, I would also need a clear purpose or theme for my pieces. A reason for the art, so to speak. My main theme thus far has been to show off the natural beauty and diversity of insects to educate the public and encourage them to appreciate and conserve "un-cuddly" species, like insects. I would like to continue this theme in another media with the jewelry. There is a family of beetles which I frequenly use called "Jewel Beetles". Why not take their common name to the exteme and use them as literal jewels, the same as diamonds or emeralds. Why not buy ring settings and other metal bases and mount insects onto them instead of gems? Nice settings...silver and gold pieces instead of plastic. Yes, this was an exciting idea! Imagine, a Tiffany ring setting with a shining beetle instead of a diamond! This stuff was going to be classy!

However, there was still the fragility issue. Could you just set a beetle onto a silver ring and expect it to last? I got to thinking about the centerpieces that were used at my wedding last August, just over a year ago. They were potted live orchids with real, dried beetles tucked in here and there. Just some of my extras and rejects....ones missing a leg or an antenna. Since they weren't worth anything, I just left them in the planters, on top of the potting bark. For the past year, I've been watering my orchids heavily, pouring water right over the beetles each time. The beetles look as good today, one year later, as they did on our wedding day. I have also seen other instances in the past couple of years where dried beetles were tougher than I expected. After all, they are made to live outdoors. They are pretty well waterproofed, and their shells (elytra) are quite scratch-resistant. Add to that the fact that Native Americans (South and Central American peoples) have historically used real beetles in their textiles and jewelry for thousands of years without encasing them in resin. Some of these textiles and jewelry survive today in museums, so it's apparent to me that these beetles are pretty tough.

So, I decided that I would skip the resin and try mounting the insects directly in various types of metal jewelry mounts that are made to hold stones. I'd run "field tests" on my pieces, by wearing them around and exposing them to all kinds of normal wear and tear, noting what worked and what didn't.

I got to scouring the internet, looking for pieces and parts the next day. The past couple of days, my materials have started arriving in the mail, and I've started to play around with putting some things together. Finding the correct beetles to use is the hardest part; they have to be the exact right size, and I want them to look as "jewel-like" as possible. I don't want my pieces to scream "I'm made with a real bug!". I want them to be beautiful because of their color and form, and they will reveal what they are made of when one looks closely. I want people to say "Wow, that's beautiful! What kind of stone is that?" and then be amazed when they find out that insects can be that beautiful and worthy of a nice jewelry setting. I don't want to scare people away from the jewelry; I want it to be sophisticated and not at all "creepy" because it is "made with a real bug". Rutelid ("Shining") Beetles are the obvious choice for me to use, but because of their shiny, jewel-like qualities, many of them command a hefty price. Way too much for my purposes, some of them costing $500 a piece. (!) I happened to have a few that I got as part of a mixed bag, so I'll use those for now and I'll work on finding a source for some more affordable species.

I have finished up a few prototypes this morning, and would like to post them here to get your opinions and ideas. Keep in mind that they are my very first "sketches", if you will, and that I intend to refine them with more ideal parts and insects as I come across better materials. There are two rings here, one broach (pin), and two necklace pendants.

I will let everyone know how the tests go, but I fully expect everything to wear very well, with the possible exception of the rings. Rings can get wet, but not excessively. You definitely wouldn't wear one of these while doing the dishes, but I think it would stand up okay to careful hand washing.

If anyone is interested in testing out any of this jewelry, please drop me a line and let me know. I will sell you the pieces at very minimal cost in return for your reviews over the course of a couple months.

I would love to hear your comments and ideas! Thanks for reading!

Katie