"Fly" Cicada Earrings

With summer fast approaching I immerse myself in the wonder of nature that surrounds our house.  This year the bushes and trees exploded in a show of blossoms that rivaled any prior spring fancy.  The seeds that I have planted have produced serrated leaves.  The lettuce that I planted last year has reappeared in colors of burgundy and lime green, which fill the pot and seem to be begging to be part of our dinner salad.  In the background the cacophony of mating squirrels, gaggles of geese, the tall and formal stance of the white egrets and the litter of the red robin's blue egg shells tucked in the grass all bring back memories of the prior summer.  This sudden influx of beautiful nature warms and excites my creativity.  Here is a photo of a hungry robin I took from a nest outside of our home last summer.

Hungry robin nesting in front of our home

Another robin in back of our home

It is only natural that these thoughts of spring and summer should ignite my creative juices to pull out the cicada wings that I collected at the end of August last year.  Each year, at the end of summer, I step carefully around the cicadas that rest on our sidewalks.  I find the big bugs rather eerie.

This is a cicada I collected last summer.

It seems that I am drawn to things that elicit a goose-bumpy response to obtain a closer look or to study their foreboding morphology.  Cockroaches are one of those daunting things.  I don't think you will see me working with roaches, but never say never.  Anyway, when studying the cicadas I noticed their wings were coarsely veined.

Notice the deeply ridged and fibrous veins of the wings

Since I enjoy working with my rolling mill I thought I would see what would happen if I milled a wing against annealed copper.  The results were pretty fantastic, especially when highlighting the metal with liver of sulfur.  I want to disclaim that all the bugs that I use were found dead.  I'm very sensitive to life and nature.

After getting out my stash of wings I created a pair of earrings from copper and silver wire.  I like to use the copper, as it anneals softer and accepts the impression more deeply than the silver.  I also like the contrast of the copper with the silver.  On these I included a small pearl at the bottom.  

Now, that my wings are out and ready for use I think that I will create another piece of jewelry from them.  I so enjoy the freedom to create from the heart and working with metal and wire allows my inner child to emerge.

If anyone reading this has something unusual they like to work with, feel free to share this by posting your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Wishing you all a happy spring and a great entry into summer!!

~Susan
Wired Lotus