Have students use ratios to determine what size enlargement of illustrations or specimens is needed by measuring the length of the body in the picture compared with the paper mache body, and calculate the length of wings that will give the correct ratio for the size of wings in the picture or specimen. Use crepe paper or thin fabric for butterfly, moth or grasshopper wings. Finally, hot glue the inner wire portion of wings to the body. Regular glue will not hold them. With very heavy wings, you may have to cut a notch in the body wall for extra glueing surface area.
Long feathers make great moth antennae.
Color in wing patterns with markers, fabric paints or glue cutouts of tissue paper to wings. They also look better when there is a 'notch' between front and back wings. Dragonflies, damselflies, mayflies, and dobsonflies all have long, thin bodies and big, membranous wings. S. Bailey 1995 S. Bailey 1995 Use a long, thin balloon, but build up sections for the head and thorax a bit more than the abdomen, to make it more realistic. Use twine or rope, dipped in the paper mache to stiffen them.