Beetles
Making Beetles and
Bugs 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 nails should stick
straight out of the
side of the bug.
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.