I recently learned about beetle wings from Thai jewel beetles malaengthap (แมลงทับ) being used for making jewelry, sculptures, and clothing. Does anyone know about how these are acquired? The couple things I’ve read say they’re ethically sourced by selling the wings for arts/crafting and consuming the actual beetles. But how is the beetle meat separated from the wings without damaging them? Specifically I was wondering if there is a particular utensil used, kind of like a melon baller?
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They don’t, like, just come off?
No idea. They also sell the carapaces so I suspect there’s a method to the madness.
At first I chuckled at the melon baller bit, but now I’m intrigued. Very carefully is all I can think of lol