DUCT TAPE BUG HOUSE: Recycle Crafting

In 2009 I put together a Go Green community art camp and this was one of the projects the little campers did.  The base is recycled from a plastic peanutbutter container, but the fun part is the little bugs that decorate the house.

When designing this project, I knew that I wanted to have some bumblebees and butterflies and grasshoppers to decorate the jar.  The problem was what to make them from.  This bug house is for children, so very likely it would get wet, knocked around, played with and the bugs had to be tough.  Duct tape was the answer.  These cute little bugs are made almost entirely with duct tape.

I need to add a thank you here to my father-in-law.  He is the one that supplied the 20 peanutbutter jars for the bug houses.  Eats it by the spoonful.  He goes through a jar a week, the big ones :)

SUPPLIES:

 Duct tape
 Leather punch
 Scissors
 Pearlized material
 Clear packing tape
 Rope
 Peanut Butter jar
 Piece of screen
 Drill & 1.5 drill bit and smaller drill bits
 1-inch fasteners
 craft wire
 needlenose pliers

To make the bug house, cut a 1.5 inch hole in the center of the jar lid.  Use duct tape to secure a piece of screen to the inside.  Two smaller holes are drilled for the rope handle.  Also, smaller holes are drilled in the body of the jar.  The size is just large enough that the 1-inch fasteners can fit through.

The bugs are made all in basically the same way.  First fold a piece of duct tape onto itself.  Then fold in half and cut out half a bug shape with the fold in the middle.  When you unfold the duct tape you will have a symmetrical bug.

To make the wings, sandwich a piece of pearlized fabric between two pieces of clear packing tape.  Cut wings out in the same fold in half method.

Add any kind of decoration you want by cutting up colored duct tape and sticking it on the bug.  Yellow stripes for a bumblebee or black dots for a ladybug.

FRUSTRATION SAVING TIP:  Duct tape is much easier to cut into small shapes if you add a piece of clear packing tape to the back side of the duct tape.  The sticky part of the duct tape to the slick side of the packing tape.  The sticky part of the packing tape is what you will use to stick the decorations on.

Eyes are made using this two tape method and then using the leather punch to cut them out.  A little dot from a Sharpie finishes the job.
 

When all the pieces of a particular bug are complete, you will need to punch a hole in the center of all parts.  Assemble the bug and punch.

Make the bug antenna by using a piece of craft wire.  Make a loop and twist and then curl the ends.

Stack the pieces of your bug onto the fastener.  The last piece is the antenna.  Then insert the fastener into the bug house and press the fastener flat.

We made butterflies, grasshoppers, bumblebees, ladybugs and dragonflies.

Here are some other projects that we have worked on, and in some cases still need some work. 
The duct tape sleep mask that you tape directly to your head to keep in place while you sleep.

More bugs, but I like that the butterfly is wearing sunglasses.

The flying rocket ship, also known as the shoot rocket ship.  Powered by lots and lots and lots of hot air.  There is a soda bottle under all that duct tape.  You put your mouth on the spout and blow as hard as you can, launching your rocket ship into space.