I have to say, I kind of can't believe how cool my cicada stick pin turned out. š„¹ To be fair, though, it was a journey. The wings alone took several tries, and I was pretty discouraged at first. For the initial go-round, I went with my original design, which involved riveting the underwings to the body, right below the top wings. Ā Which is, more or less, anatomically correct. Ā Nature is perfect and beyond genius, though, so when I tried doing that, the wings just got caught up on each other too much and it was too awkward. So I tried jettisoning the underwings altogether. Ā Nope. Not special enough. But the next day, I tried something else: riveting the underwings directly to the underside of the top wings... et voilĆ !

Added bonus, this stickpin now has a secret; the second set of wings is hidden away & only the wearer knows it's even there 𤫠 Watch my video below to see it in action!
Ā
This little lady (and it's definitely female ā I even carved an ovipositor on her abdomen!) is now available in the shop. Ā I know she's a little pricier than most of my other pieces, but she has FIVE separately cast components and a good bit of silver in her PLUS she's got A LOT of assembly required to keep me busy, but I wanted to create something really special and I feel like I nailed it! š„¹
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, fellow bug jewelry lover! Ā I'll try to keep these coming...
Take care & š well!
ā š Johanna