TMF

The Magic Factory A place for my stuffA place for my stuff

I was doing some research on stink bugs for a children's fantasy story I'm writing and got to wondering if ALL stink bugs are supposed to be stinky. We had plenty of them zipping around our house in northern Arizona and they weren't. In fact to me they smelled like apples. I really liked those little guys. In fact I liked them so much - (I could like them because there weren't too many of them - can't imagine how awful it would be if there was an infestation!) (Infestation - good name for a movie) I liked them so much that when the little critters finally popped their teensy clogs and dried up in the corners and under trees, I fetched them, glued a toothpick up their **** and painted each one as a holiday character.

Stink bug Santa by Leigh

Santa Stink bug even has real white whiskers.

I also made - Adam & Eve, General Schwarzkopf (I did this during Desert Storm 1990), George Bush Sr., and many more.
I know what you're saying - why?
Iduknow.

I never knew what happened to any of them. I thought I must have thrown them away. Nooooooo!!!!!!!! And then one day, not long ago, I was visiting my sister in California and found she had salvaged the stink bugs you see here. They are still perfectly peserved and intact. She has them displayed on the shelf with her other beautiful art sculptures. Yeah for that! I can't express how thrilled I am to see they survived and are well looked after.

 

I've been an artist since 1975. I've sold my 'normal' work to stores and galleries worldwide. These I did as a silly little thing for myself. My sister said of all the items I've ever made these are her favorite. Is that a good thing? Well, I'd say yes, because I would take to these little rascals if I saw them somewhere. But I do have a rather odd sense of humor and an odd family too.

 

Back to the subject of whether all stink bugs are stinky. Well, as I said, ours weren't and when I looked it up the first page I came to was a blog spot written by Bob Nixon in 2010. Once I got past the 'soaping' and the 'experiment' Bob did with his stink bugs (ewww) I found out that many people have discovered the smelly-good kind of stink bug. And that variety is called brown marmorated stink bugs. Those are surely the ones we had.

 

So my question is answered - thanks Bob and the others, but I'm wondering whatever happened to Adam & Eve and General Schwarzkopf. They can't have just flown away. Can they?

leigh
 
 
 
 

Stink Bug Art by Leigh

Stink Bug Art by Leigh