I'm looking forward to reading the replies to your question. I haven't made a bottle bug but found three bottles and a tiny blue vase today.

I am a bit lazy, well a lot....like to do stuff fast. I left a tail on my wire, wrapped the wire around my hand 8 times and left another tail. Used one tail to bind off the wings. I moved the wire apart after I places on the bottle, using the 'tails to wrap around the bug bottle.

Kids could wrap the wire around cardboard or light plastic and then bend it to remove...use tail to secure. Maybe they could use wired ribbon and glue it on the body. I know mama will keep that bug in the house. You know they could use an egg shape foam ball for the body also. Pipe cleaners also work for wings or legs.

Wnen I made dragonflies, I made the circuls and then twisted in the middle to make the wings. Then those tails were wrapped around the middle of the wings.

I pretty much did the same. Just folded the wire, kind of like making a ribbon. Then I wrapped the wire around to keep the wings together. I used a seperate piece to wrap around the bottle then attached the wings. I used a drop of GEII to keep the wings in place. Can't wait to see pictures of yours.

Do you folks hang these or attach them to something? I guess they would need a loop for hanging or wire to attach it to a pole of some sort. Sometimes I'm so dense!
Thanks for your help.

The first big one I made, I added wire later. The small one, I used one of the tails to wrap it on and the second tail was used to twist a loop in and then wrapped the rest of the wire around also.

Ok, I like the idea of letting the kids wrap the wire around a piece of cardboard and I think that will work best for the wings. I want them to participate as much as possible so these bugs are truly "theirs". I think I will have them attach the half marble eyes with glue dots so that the placement is theirs and then come back with ge silicone II to make them permanent.
I made a sample one last night to try it out and it turned out cute. I just wish I had found colored bottles, but I only found clear. But I had to postpone the school class so maybe I can keep looking at the TS of course if I want to I can always resort to that stained glass paint for mine.
Thanks for your help!

I was at a craft show last year and a lady was making bugs of all kinds. She used a very thin wire for wings and then wrapped them in tiny strip of colored saran wrap. Once you have wraped the wings with the tiny strips take a hair dryer to it on high...it kind of melts the saran wrap and you have a wing. If I remember correctly she had red, green,blue and yellow. Dont know if this would help you or not. You might want to try it with any saran wrap you already have and see if you can get it to work for the size you need. Good luck.

Donna