The monsoon season is bringing beautiful rain these days. With the rain, come all sorts of bugs. I love bugs. As the sun goes down, I plug in my fairy lights in the great big old mesquite tree, and wait for all sorts of bugs to surround me and the lights. They land in my hair and on my shoulders.
Frogs gallivant around, stunning me time after time with their super long tongues. I dream of fireflies...
I search for them day after day, with no luck...
In a place where water in nature is more than sparce, droplets from the sky are beyond beloved. They collect in giant puddles, with just enough water to splash in...
The cacti are ever thankful...
The rain drops cool off the evenings, making bug loving quite comfortable under the light of the moon. The land becomes almost mystical and magical...
Bugs hide in trees and weeds, as the garden starts to need a haircut...
As the sun goes down on another rainy summer day, I prepare for my firefly search, yet again...
I make wishes in mirrored puddles...
Still, no fireflies. I sleep with the thought of butterflies and other winged insects flying around me. Last week, after a long night of dreams, I awoke to find someone sharing my bed.
Someone with delicate wee wings. Someone who had gone off to bug heaven, and made his last stop in my white fluffy bed...
I put his precious lifeless body in a little glass box. The tiny winged sharer of my dreams...
That night I sat on the front stoop with Franky the frog, Baby the dog and bugs, ever so many. I was wishing to be graced by the dance of the fireflies. Just then, a funny orange and brown beetle bug landed in the arch of my foot, between my foot and my sandal. It seemed to be glowing?
Could it be? I wasn't sure. I carried him around, then put him gently in a plant. I decided right there and then, I was going to have to take firefly magic into my own hands.
I went in the kitchen when it hit me! I quickly emptied a can of peaches for a snack, into a glass jar. Took my can, glued paper on it, and found some tools...
An ice pick and a hammer should work just fine I thought...
I waited for the paper and doily pieces I glued onto my can to be fully dry. I used white craft glue to glue on the papers. (my goal now is to rust a bunch of cans outside)
Then I drew a winged bug onto my can (avec swirly cue accents) with a sharpie, and followed my drawing to determine where to punch holes into my can by holding my ice-pick to the can's surface and hammering the top of the ice-pick handle. (I sandwiched my can between some books and an anvil to hold it in place.)
I made two holes in the upper sides, so I could run a wire through and make my can hangable. I put a few shells through my wire, and glued some old buttons to my new can-dle holder.
Firefly magic in your garden is right at your fingertips. And who knew, it's really a "green functional art project" too. Imagine lots of these hanging from trees, especially for a garden wedding?
You could even use coffee cans for bigger can-dle holders, and stamp in (with your ice pick) the initials of a bride and groom, or stamp in anything for any party or event. FUN!
From the moment I decided to make this, to the time I was finished was less than half an hour. Of course, you could get fancier with your can. I just kinda put it together really quickly. But the ideas are endless!
And there is a HUGE bonus. Beautiful firefly twinkly lights on your walls! I am going to hang a bunch of these in my bathroom, and light them for an evening bath...
Thanks to a few cans, we can now have firefly magic swirling around us any ole time.
Maybe one day I will be as lucky as this little gal...
For now, I must go to work. Being a full time artist is harder than I thought it would be. It takes huge (HUGE) amounts of discipline. I have oodles of treats I am working on, and must get in there and finish them once and for all... I think I need to play some Devo, and cr-ack that art whip...
♥,V
ps: Miss Kylee sent me the best wedding video the other day that is rapidly making oodles of people smile. If you have not seen it, it's fun!
