Giant Moth With Flapping Wings

The giant moth with flapping wings was made as a Christmas present for my daughter. She loves bugs and one of her favourites is the rosy maple moth.

Have you seen that adorable video of the golden retriever wearing her butterfly wings? That was my inspiration.

I didn't realize how loud they are when they flap though. Your choices are loud mechanical flapping or a really high pitched princess song. Maybe higher quality wings are better. I'm not sure. I purchased mine on Temu. If you try this and use different wings, please let me know what the sound is like.

I want to make some fluffy spiders and a weevil next, but for now, I'm quite happy with my giant moth with flapping wings.

Butterfly Wings, scissors, iron, Heat and Bond, white satin fabric

Air dry clay, acrylic paint in black, yellow and pink

Hot glue, wire, duct tape, foam, 2 Christmas bulbs, wax paper, black Sharpie

Faux fur, dye made for synthetic fabric in pink and yellow, a crock pot (that is used ONLY for fabric)

The first step is to cut and dye the faux fur. You want to do this before any painting as the intensity of the dye will determine the paints you use for the wings.

To cut the faux fur, hold it fur side down. Place one part of the scissors under the bottom (as shown) and use the lines in the mesh type bottom as your guide.

When you have two even squares, soak them in warm water for about 20 minutes.

Fill the crock pot up two thirds full and poor desired amount of synthetic fabric dye. Synthetic fabric needs special dye and heat to dye properly. I find the most effective and easiest way is to use an old crockpot (that will no longer be used for food).

Set the pot to high, place the fabric into the water making sure it is fully submerged and put the lid on the crockpot.

Stir the fabric often, keeping track of the dye saturation and to make sure there are no spots left undyed.

When you are happy with colour, turn off the crockpot and let the water cool.

When the water has cooled, remove the fabric and rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear.

Lay on a flat surface to dry and repeat the process with your next colour.

Magic Butterfly Wings come in parts. The body, the top wings, the bottom wings and some straps. The straps are not needed for this project.

Take a look at the wings on the box. They have "nubs" on each wing that may work for a fairy, but are the wrong shape for a moth.

For the wings, take the left and right top sections and cut out the center supports with a pair of scissors.

Next, take the left and right bottom sections and trim off the plastic parts that go past the smooth curve on the bottom.

The shape of the bottom section is perfect with its trim, but the top still needs a wing shape on its ends. Place the wing plastic on a piece of wax paper and trace the desired shape with a Sharpie.

Fit the top and bottom together. If it has the desired shape for the wings, you will use this as your pattern in the next step.

Using your scissors, cut out two large pieces of Heat and Bond. Large enough to cover one side of the top and bottom portion of the wings. Cut out the same shape and size of satin X 2.

Place the adhesive on the satin fabric, paper side up and using an iron on medium heat (no steam), slowly iron the paper in circular motions to glue the adhesive to the fabric.

Remove the paper and place the plastic wing shapes over the adhesive then cover with the remaining satin.

Using the same technique as above, iron the satin, securing the plastic wing shape in the middle of the two pieces of satin (and one piece of Heat and Bond).

Cut out the wing shape using the scissors.

Using yellow and pink acrylic paint, paint the desired pattern on the wings.

I started with yellow, then did the pink, then back to yellow, waiting for each to dry before moving on to the next so it didn't blend and create orange.

Though the flapping does sound very mechanical, the music sounds worse.

To remove the music, open the body of the butterfly. There is a disc with a small copper disk in the center.

Remove this copper disc and the music will no longer play when the flapping button is pushed.

Using scraps of foam from another project, cut out a small, rectangular, piece and duct tape it to the back of the body.

Cut out another piece of foam in a rough circle shape and hot glue it to the front the act as the head.

Using the wire, cut out three strips long enough to cross from the left to the right side of the body to make the legs. Secure them in the center with a strip of duct tape.

Duct tape strips of the foam to each leg to bulk it up a bit.

Cut the fur into strips and attach in the desired spots using hot glue. For a Rosy Maple moth, the bottom, the head and the legs are pink. The back and the butt are yellow.

Glue a strip of the pink fur to the bottom of the body, but cut two lines up either side of the battery pack. This allows you to change the batteries later if needed.

When attaching the yellow fur to the back, cut two lines in the fabric for the wings to fit through.

Cut six long strips of pink fur to wrap around the legs and secure with hot glue.

To make the eyes, cover half of a Christmas bulb in air dry clay and let dry.

Remove the dry, clay eyes from the bulbs if they haven't come off already, and paint them with black acrylic paint.

Using hot glue, attach the eyes to the face. You will need to press them into place and hold them until the glue dries completely. Otherwise the eyes will glue only to the tips of the fur and not be secure.

With the shape complete and no wings or antennae attached, this is the perfect time to trim the fur. Using scissors trim off the fur that seems too long and wild, spinning the moth slowly in your hands to get a good view from all angles while you trim.

Cut two pieces of wire the length of the antennae and lay them on a scrap cut of the satin/Heat and Bond from the wings.

Place a piece of satin over top and iron the connect both sides, with the wire in the center.

Using the scissors, cut out a feather shape and paint them both with the yellow acrylic paint.

When dry, cut slices all the way up on both sides of the feather antennae.

Cut the excess painted satin off the bottom of each wing to reveal the area the clip together. Attach the top and bottom of each wing.

Press the attached wings into each designated slot on the back of the moth.

Cut a thin strip of pink fur the cover the slots. If the moth is still, you can't really see the plastic slots, but as this one moves, the slots become visible.

Attach the antennae by folding the very bottom of each and applying a dollop of hot glue. Press each into the fur and hold firmly until the glue is completely dry.

*Average sized adult female for scale*