It is really weird how often I seem to find people making bug or bug related jewelry. Most recently I reported of funky roach jewelry. Before that was the clay jewelry maker who makes polymer clay into cute bug jewelry, especially pins. And then, of course, there were the bugs incased in resin.

So, the whole make bugs into jewelry thing is nothing that new, but this jewelry designer, whose work is now on exhibit at Sternberg Museum of Natural History until mid August has a different twist on the bug jewelry thing. At least she isn't using real bugs in the finished product.

From Sternberg Museum shows a new take on jewelry:

Some people can make anything look beautiful, but biologist Kathy Stout, Wheeling, W. Va., has a niche for the unusual. Stout and her creative partners, small insects called caddisflies, work together to create to create unique pieces of jewelry, which are on display now at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History.

Caddisflies are moth-like insects whose larvae live under water. In nature, they build protective cases out of sand grains and other debris found on streambeds and then live in these cases, sheltered from fish and other predators. Stout has created an artificial streambed for them in her home. She lines the Habitat with carefully selected gems and semiprecious stones. The caddisflies substitute these materials for their normal sand and pebbles to construct their shelters. As they become adults they leave their shelters and fly away, leaving behind beautiful pieces of art for Stout to collect and craft into her unique jewelry.

The exhibit, "Jewelled Cases: A Collaboration of Art & Nature," opened April 7 and will run through August 12.

Admission to the museum is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and youth ages four to 12 and $3 for Fort Hays State University students with their Tiger cards. Children under age three receive free admission. The museum hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday and closed on Monday.