My local bead store has had a little box of iridescent green beetle wings sitting on the counter for as long as I’ve been shopping there, and they always catch my eye but somehow I’ve never bought any. 

Until this week. 

It turns out that beetle wings are fragile, so I’ve filled them on the back with a thin layer of jeweler’s epoxy, which will give it a bit more strength and support. This one, however, got a tiny bit dinged up before I figured that out, so we’re going to call it a prototype/bargain bin piece. These will probably be $35ish once I’m satisfied with their structural integrity; this one, with a wee scuff on the left side where it lost an argument with some wire... eh, let’s say $25 and a report on how it holds up to reasonable gentle handling out in real world after a couple of weeks?

(See? Now you can legitimately say you need to order jewelry made from beetle wings FOR SCIENCE and nobody can refute that. FOR SCIENCE!)