Today I hope to finish installing my first beetle specimen drawer. It has taken me quite some time to get to the installation stage for this project, but that is not too unusual. The original concept was fine, but my first attempts to actually create were not fine! My first simple arrangement of beetles in the two drawers were just plain boring. But with further thought, some help from my friends, and a good bit more work, I think my Beetles finally sing!

It was very helpful to get some feedback when I shared the photos of these first, disappointing, arrangements. I was able to make use of two comments from artist friends, in working up my final plan. So I have spent the past few days installing my first Beetle Specimen drawer, at the lower left below. The beetles are not lined up in the drawer, but installed into their own environments, surrounded by their favorite things…

I expect to complete a second beetle specimen drawer, and have the photo of my current mock-up here. However it does need further consideration. I think I will include some colorful backgrounds, but will probably swap out some of these shown here. It just looks way too busy at the moment, and that purple is awfully loud! The final version may include dividers as used in the first drawer.