Word Bugs

What we have here is a rare, one of a kind image of the "Bull" bug. 

Or it could be just one our most recent 4-H Club's art projects.  We are focusing on bugs this year in our club but since its the below zero temps of January the bugs are all hiding someplace waiting on warm weather. 
To keep with our bug theme we had to get "creative" in our bug projects.  What's more creative then a Personalized Art Project using your name to make a bug.
Do you see our name in there?  Bull?  I think it looks sort of moth like or a leaf eater kind of bug.  What do you think it looks like?  Either way it was really fun to make and twice as easy.

Want to give it a try yourself?  Here are some step by step instructions for you.  First you will need to be able to read backwards, write with you opposite hand and look at an image upside down.  Just kidding, this easy project took most of my club members less then 15 minutes to make.  It uses the basic Kindergarten skills of tracing with markers, coloring with crayons and cutting lines with scissors.  Of course you will need to be able to write a word, hence the name "Word" Art but the end result is really quite astonishing considering the effort that is required.

Here are the supplies you will need:

Word art supplies

• Water Color Paper (regular white printer paper will work if you in a jam)
• Water Color Paints
• Crayons
• Permanent Markers (we like Sharpie the best)
• Scissors or paper cutter 
• Picture frame

Step 1

Cut your paper to the size of the frame you are using.  I used my paper cutter to get nice straight edges but you could easily drawn the edges and cut them with scissors (some members did this).  I recommend this step first as we waited till we were already done on a few of them and then some images had to be altered to fit the frames.

Step 2

Fold your paper in half and write the word you would like to turn into a bug on the fold.  Since we were personalizing our bugs we used our names.  Keep in mind when writing your name the beginning and end of the word you choose should touch the fold. 
Cursive writing is the best method for keeping a solid line flowing from start to finish but its not necessary.  We have a few younger members in our club and cursive is not something they have learned yet so they wrote their names and just connected each letter with a loop at the bottom (sort of like cursive). 
This simple word will be half of your bugs body.

Step 3

Fold you paper in half again so the ink side is on the outside of the paper.  Put the ink side of your paper against the window.  Using the light shining through the window trace you word on the other half of the paper.  It will appear as you are writing your word backwards at this point.   When you open the paper flat it will be the other half of your bugs body.
*note* this is best done on a sunny day for better image transfer to the other side of the paper.  We were working late into the evening so it was getting hard to read.

         

Step 4

Examine your bugs body.  It should touch at the beginning and end of the word.  If not this is an easy fix.  You will notice the last "L" did not come together at the end so we fixed it with a little connecting "V" shape.  This is not a necessary shape you can put what every you would like to there but something will need to be added to close the body shape.  Other wise you will not be able to color the full body shape if it does not connect as at least 2 points.

Step 5

Draw eyes on your bug and color it with crayons.  You can put eyes anywhere you would like and as many as you think your bug will need.  For your bugs colors, you can use any colors you want as well.  After all its your personal bug make it the way you want it to look.

Step 6 

Your almost done all that is left to do is finish and frame your art.  At this point your word should look like a bug and you could be done with your project if you wished.  However if you want to add a background to it now would be the time to do that.  Using watercolor paint simply paint around  your bug.  Watercolor paint works the best as it doesn't paint over the crayon.  You can mix colors like I did or use just one color or not paint it at all.  I was trying to camouflage my bug on a leaf so I chose brown and green but you can use any colors you want.
If you painted your back ground I recommend you wait for it to dry but then place your picture in the frame you have chosen and presto you are done.

The finished product is pretty awesome if you ask me.  Its a great creative way to work learning about bugs into any project.  I'm sure it could be used many other ways as well not just to make bugs.
After looking at it for a little while now my picture appears to have a bit of a face property to it as well.  Couldn't you just see this being a head attached to a strange body from.....Maybe that is another project in itself.