flashlight firefly tutorial

this one’s for you, georgia!

today, i’ll show you how to make a blinking firefly from a flashlight. it is my favorite style of crafting–make-it-up-as-you-go-along–so feel free to adjust my instructions according to whatever materials you have at hand.

materials i used:

led flashlight — “pen light” style (here’s a photo in case that helps)

pipe cleaner

clear plastic (like dust jackets for books–i pulled this one out of the trash at work.)

yellow tissue paper

sticky-backed felt

red foil

brown floral tape

tape and glue  (scotch and tacky)

instructions:

1.  take flashlight out of packaging and put battery in.  make sure it works.

2.  tape a wad of plastic to the light end.  this will make the bug’s butt glow better than if you just put the tissue paper directly against the pen light, and will make it more sturdy than if you just left space inside the tissue paper.  this is why it’s important to get an led light–no heat!

3.  tear two squares of yellow tissue paper (about 2.5 – 3″ square) and cut a piece of clear plastic the same size.  layer the squares–tissue+tissue+plastic and fold it over the end of the pen, plastic on the outside (to make it more sturdy), secure with tape.

4.  trim the excess.  this will give your floral tape more surface area of the pen light to grab onto.

5.  begin to wrap the flashlight in brown floral tape.  you could probably also use brown masking tape if you had that.

6.  shape some legs from the pipe cleaners and use scotch tape to tape them onto the body of the firefly, then wrap the rest of the pen light with the floral tape, criss-crossing around the legs so that they are securely attached.  you can also, at this point, add some antennae with more pipe cleaner.  don’t wrap the clip of the pen in the tape–you might want to be able to change the battery in the future.

7.  cut wings out of sticky-backed felt, but don’t peel the paper back (exposing the sticky part)!  lay the pen on the wings and figure out where the wings will contact the flashlight.  cut the paper back only on that small strip, so that you’ll have a sticky surface to attach the wings onto the body of the firefly.  the clip from the pen will also help to hold the wings in place.

8.  if desired, decorate your bug’s wings with strips of red foil.

and now you’ve got a flashlight firefly!  if you make one, i’d be thrilled to see it–send me a link!