How to add holes to your lovely beetle wings.

I have been using beetle wings for my jewelry since I was given a very lovely necklace made by a coworker's daughter about 8 years ago. At that time I had seen a few different type of bugs set in resin in a few different places but nothing that had just the wings.
I started buying jewelry with the wings and took it apart so I can use the wings for other things. That was not cheap but at it was all I could do, I could not find the wings by themselves. After about a year of doing that I found a place in Los Angles while picking up some supplies for the jewelry shop I worked for that had just the wings! I was so happy and it was loads cheaper than what I had been doing before.

The wings were not drilled like the ones I was using from the already made jewelry so I had to find out how to add holes to the wings.While trying to find a way to do it I maybe ruined only 2. Its overall pretty easy.

I started selling just the wings on my etsy supply shop and have been asked many times how drill the wings so here is a few ways of doing it.

You can use a drill press.
Use the a drill size that fits your craft need.
Flip the wings over so you are drilling on brown side of the wing and press down.

You can use an exacto knife.
This is my favorite way of doing it.
Flip the wing over and start to twist the knife slowly and firmly in a circle pressing down little by little as you twist so the hole gets bigger as you go. Stop when you have reached the size you are happy with.

You can use a needle.
This is the slowest way of doing it, I personally have not tried it this way but I have seen it done and the hold are nice and clean. 
You will need to boil your wings for a moment in water and then poke the wing with a needle. You can roll the needle to make the hold bigger.

 One of my first beetle creations :)

These gorgeous, iridescent wings are shed from jewel beetles.

 The beetles have a short life span of only 3-4 weeks, and the wings are only collected after then. 

 Wing sizes average around 1-1/4 inch long by 3/8 inch wide, some wings may be longer or shorter but not by much.They are slightly stronger then a finger nail.

 I love the wings as earrings, they look great with my red hair too!

You can click on the pictures to see more pictures or to buy.
You can also find links to my etsy supply store and my jewelry store at VeryEnchanting.com

Thanks for looking!