Working with Insects

This spring, while everyone was stuck at home, everything was canceled, and most things were closed due to the pandemic, I found myself learning all sorts of new things. Trying out new mediums & hobbies gave me something to look forward to when there wasn’t much else going on. I learned to make gourmet popsicles, got into ice dying on my back porch, and my favorite new thing: insect art.

I had been needle felting insects for years and launched several handmade bug collections in the spring and summer, and I suppose all that research, finding images of beautiful bugs to inspire my felted ones, led me to work with real specimens for the first time.

There’s a lot more to insect art than I expected. First off, you’d think you can just walk around outside and find specimens easily enough, but that wasn’t the case for me. I did find many (already dead) specimens on hikes and walks, but they were rarely in good condition. I did get lucky a few times and was able to find and preserve a found beetle, bee, or butterfly, but I quickly realized I would need to find another source for insects if I wanted to create the large display piece I had in my head.

I was pleasantly surprised to find several reputable bug websites online and the colors, shapes and sizes of insects available was far more interesting than what I would be able to get by happenstance. The bugs can be ordered mounted or unmounted, and so I opted for the unmounted version and learned to do the rehydration and positioning of the specimen myself. It’s definitely an art! I broke off my fair share of legs and antenna on some of my earlier attempts, but I eventually got the hang of things.

This short video shows the process of working with real insect specimens. Although I read my fair share of how-to articles on preserving and mounting insects and there are so many different tips and tricks out there if you’re interested in working with bugs. BIcsBugs.com is a great resource for buying specimens and InsectArt on Etsy is as well.

Punching a Pillow

For the first time in a long time, I have room in my schedule for a personal project. Believe me, I’d much rather be out in the world doing craft shows, teaching workshops, and finding inspiration at a residency, but this pandemic had other plans for the spring season. But I’m certainly making the most of this time!

I took a week-long rug hooking course at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the fall, but punch needle is something totally different (even though they’re both referred to as “rug hooking” in many circles). The traditional rug hooking I learned at the Folk School involved pulling up little strips of cut wool fabric (with a hooked tool) through primitive linen backgrounds, working from the back to the front. Punch needle, on the other hand, uses a large needle that’s threaded with yarn (or other material) and you push the needle through your fabric from the backside, creating loops on the frontside.

As a beginner to both of these crafts, I have found punch needle techniques to be far more forgiving, and I think that has to do with using thick yarn. It fills out your piece more neatly, and you don’t have to constantly worry that your strips of fabric are getting twisted or if your loops are slightly different heights. Punching is also significantly faster so you see way more progress in the same amount of time compared to traditional rug hooking.

I received Rose Pearlman’s “Modern Rug Hooking” book for Christmas and after reading through it, I was able to get right to work. I had tried to teach myself and make some pieces on my own before that, but was having trouble getting things to work. It was simple things I had wrong - I hadn’t purchased the right background fabric, the yarn I wanted to use was way too thin (or thick) for the punch needle I had, etc. However, after reading through the book, I could move on from all of those rookie mistakes.

I’ve been dabbling in some mixed media fiber art pieces, combining traditional rug hooking with punching and even needle felting, so this was my first large scale project that’s created from 100% punch needle techniques. This accent pillow took about 10 hours of work and nearly $100 worth of yarn and other materials, so it’s not for sale (I don’t think anyone would pay that much for a pillow), but I really enjoyed making something just for myself, for my own enjoyment. I know once the pandemic is over and we get back into our busy lives, I would never have the time to invest in something like this, so I’m glad I was able to do this now during this slower season.