BeetlesBeetlesBeetlesBeetlesMaking Beetles and Making Beetles and

Bugs with ClayBugs with Clay

Beetles come in all shapes and sizes . . .

Look at the size of this giant beetle found in Venezuela compared to a Lady (Bug) Beetle

Beetles come in all kinds of colors too!

These are called Jewel Scarab Beetles

Some beetles have large pinchers and horns

Some beetles look like animals

What animals do these beetles look like to you?

But all beetles have special things in

common. What are some of the things that all beetles

have in common?

(Hint: count the legs)

You are right!All beetles have 6

legs.

What else do all beetles have in

common? (Hint: look at the picture)

All beetles have 3 body parts called: the head, thorax and abdomen.

The head has antenna and mandibles.

The mandibles are the white parts in front of this tiger beetle’s

mouth.

The thorax is where the legs connect to the body.

The abdomen is the part that the wings cover.

Many artists use bugs in their artwork because they are

symmetrical.

When you make your beetle,out of clay be sure that it has:*mandibles, and antenna, on the HEAD*legs and wings that attach to the THORAX*and wings that lay on top of the ABDOMEN.

Building your Beetle• You need to begin with 2 pieces of clay.

Use the larger piece to make the body and the smaller piece to make the wings, horns, pinchers, etc.

• To make the body, roll the clay between your hands to shape it into a long thick cylinder shape (about 4” long). Use your fingers to pinch the clay to show the shape of the head, thorax and abdomen.

• Use your fingers to pinch the front of the head to make the mandibles.

• Use another pieces of clay to make the wings. Roll them into a fat coil and cut it in half to make 2 wings.

This clay beetle has a rather long thorax. You can see the mandibles and some really big pinchers!

Building your Beetle• Pat the coil to flatten them. They look

really nice if you can press some texture onto the surface of the wing. (Plastic sheets of texture work well.)

• Attach the wings using slip and score. You may need to use water or vinegar to attach the clay --instead of slip. You can score the clay with a toothpick.

• Use the vinegar / slip and score technique to attach any time you put 2 pieces of clay together.

• Use nails for the legs and antennas. Gently push the nails into the clay – pointed end inserted into the clay.

You can see the antennas have already been put on this beetle.

Building your Beetle• Use long nails for the legs (about 2.5”–

3”) and shorter nails for the antennas (1.5”). Gently push the pointed end of the nail into the clay. Be sure to spread out the nails along the side of the bug so that the bug will stand later. The nails need to be in the side of the bug – not the bottom. They will be straight until fired.

• After the bug is fired, the nails will be black and easy to bend (for the teacher). Then you can animate the bug and bend his legs.

• Paint your bug with watercolors. We used glitter and metallic

watercolor and sealed it with glue and water (or gloss medium). The placement of the legs

on this bug is good. Once the bug is fired you can bend the legs down to make it balance and stand.

The nails should stick straight out of the side of the bug.