Susan Reynolds sells earrings and necklaces made from the wings of dead cicadas.Susan Reynolds

 

Cicadas as fashion:

Wing Art 

Susan Reynolds sells earrings and necklaces made from the wings of dead cicadas. 

Susan Reynolds picked it up a dead cicada, took it home, and became fascinated by the shape and intricate veining of its wings.

Almost two decades later, she’s still making cicada-wing earrings.

This year, as her customers celebrate Brood X — the cicada cohort that emerges every 17 years — she incorporated flowers, leaves and birds cut from vintage postcards. The results look like tiny panels of stained glass.

“I want to make jewelry that looks like a fairy flew into an elderly woman’s room and started snatching things off her dressing table,” Reynolds said.



 

The New York Times <nytdirect@nytimes.com>