Twisted Bats

Paul Villinski makes these wonderful butterflies out of beer cans and arranges them in amazing configurations. Check out his web site here.

This is Halloween. Can we make an homage to Mr. Villinski with bats? Of course.

Materials

shadow box frame

foam core board

old book

stiff black paper

straight pins

white glue

black permanent marker

Tools

metal ruler

old credit card

bamboo skewer

bat paper punch

Cut the foam core board to fit the shadow box frame.

I thought it would be fun to make a background out of old book pages; conjuring up thoughts of Edgar Allen Poe. (I know it was a raven, not a bat ...but hey, it was black and flew!) The book I found was called "The Martyrdom of an Empress" which seemed ghoulish enough for a Halloween craft.

Remove the margins of the pages by tearing them against the edge of a metal ruler. The torn edges will blend better with each other than cut edges in the final project.

Glue the pages onto the foam core.  I spread the glue on the background with one side of an old credit card, place the pages over the glue and smooth them out with the dry edge of the card. (I won't haunt you if you use a glue stick) Weight the foam core while it dries so it won't warp.

Punch the bats out of stiff black paper (poster board come to mind). My punch is a Halloween one from Martha, but those of you with die cut machines will be able to turn these out by the bushel.

Fold, then unfold, the wings to give dimension. Pierce the bodies with dressmakers straight pins.

With a skewer, dab a tiny dot of glue onto the pin at the underside of the bat, then dip the point of the pin into glue and punch it into the foam core.

 The pattern is a tight spiral that spins out of control, flinging the bats thither and yon (Halloween speak).

Camouflage the silver heads of the pins with a permanent black marker.

Frame. Hang.

I love those vinyl wall decals of birds on a wire so I found a smaller rectangular frame and with the same techniques, made "Bats on a Wire". (no pins) I drew the power lines with a black marker, folded some of the bats into thirds and glued them upside down. One cheeky fellow is right-side-up getting ready to take off for a night of trick or treating.