I don't like bugs. It's a learned phobia I've tried unsuccessfully, to break. To see my mother and I, take on a mosquito hawk was a farcical act, full of toxic, pluming clouds of Raid we pumped into the air, fingers firmly pressed on the trigger without release. As I've gotten older, I'm made a concerted effort to be more reasonable with the little creeps, even letting a spider live out its days in our shower window. That was a big one for me, I remember each shower until she died, sharing at her as I washed, ready to abort the task, soapy hair and all, should she get any wild ideas...like moving toward me. I'm still not ready to hold a live moth, but I have grown to appreciate how beautiful they are and I love having these as an alternative to the paper bats. I actually thought this up last year when I had to take down my bats after Halloween, and felt my walls looked so bare without them. All year, I've been dreaming up different butterfly and moth installations and after decorating my kitchen after the conservatory in Practical Magic, I just knew these would be the perfect finishing touch. I hope you love them as much as I do. Happy crafting!
Items you’ll need: •Vellum paper •Glue stick •Pipe cleaner •Hot glue gun •Scissors •Masking tape (or double sided tape to adhere them to the wall) The Process: •To create the moths, I used photoshop but any simple editing software will do. To utilize as much of the paper without wasting, I removed the background so my clipart was just the moth itself. Adjust to the size you’d like, then copy and paste as many moths as you can fit one one sheet. If you don't want to go through the trouble of searching, editing and formatting a moth, I'm attaching a pdf document to the bottom of this post so you can just download and print.
•Print two versions. One standard, and one mirrored, so that your images will line up when you place the two sheets together, printed sides out.
•Use a glue stick to glue the sheets, (wrong sides together) so that you have a perfect mirrored image of the moth on both sides.
•Cut your moths and add a fold down the middle for dimension.
•Now you can get creative with your textures. I added a bit of wired faux fur, cutting a small section (about 1/2 inch wide) for the head of the moth.
•Thick pipe cleaners really do make all the difference here. I originally had thin ones that I attempted to taper with scissors before I found these perfectly fluffy ones. They have 4 thick sections so you can just cut it right in the center, then fold each section where it tapers in and you’ll have two sets of antenna. Glue right under the head fluff and give each antenna a gentle bend outward.
•I use rolled up masking tape to place them anywhere a moth might land. These will look more lifelike the more you vary the placement so stick them on photos, lamps, shelves, etc. Since I have a very earthy green witch aesthetic in my kitchen, these are replacing the paper bats I traditionally put up.
•This project cost me less than $10, though I’m not accounting for a printer, ink, and supplies many crafters already have on hand. You can get individual sheets of vellum for under $1, or buy an entire pack when they are on sale for about $5. The pack of pipe cleaner was $2 at Joann Fabric!
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