The small, highly social, Sapphire Beetle spent its days in the trees nibbling on leaves. The linear pattern on the elytra (shell) in combination with the unique venation of the wings is thought to serve as a type of barcode which other members of its group could use to identify each other at distance.

• This is one of my newest explorations into non-cast creatures.
• The beetle is adhered with various adhesives, fiberglass fabric, and epoxy sculpting clay.
• The white grid textured background behind the creature was made on my drillpress.
• The beetle dome module can be removed from the round frame.
• I designed the mechanical/organic frame in Adobe Illustrator, laser-cut the parts and have glued and pinned all layers together.
• The white dots on the frame are the pin-holes used to align the layers. I enjoyed that small detail when it was complete and choose not to color-match those spots to the frame.
• The outer edges of the frame are hand-painted white to complement the white mat and background around the insect.
• There are slight imperfections in round frames — enough to know they were all assembled, painted, and finished by hand.
• Comes with certificate of authenticity.

All images, concepts, artwork and content ©2020 Lex Talkington. All Rights Reserved.