was chatting to a friend who had an idea for her kids birthday party coming up but was a little stumped by the resources that she required being unavailable. she wanted to have a birthday party in the bush and give the kids the opportunity to to find and catch bugs, putting the bugs into a breathable easily open-and-close-able container that can breath. she had a sample of what she wanted but could not find it anywhere. i had a look at it, did some costing built a basic prototype with some scrap and we had a deal.
i cut up some 9mm plywood for the main construction and glued and nailed it together using some brad nails after drilling a "half hole" in the one end with a hole-saw to create an opening, an "entrance to demise". poor bugs...
after a quick coat of clear lacquer the body was covered with some fly net, the kind you use to keep the bugs from coming in the window. i added two little eyelets to accept a handle. the handle was made using some brightly colored shoelaces that i slipped through the eyelets and knotted together.
the party was great fun. it was held in a wooded park and the kids were taken on a walk. some chocolate eggs where hidden in the bushes encouraging the kids to keep their eyes open. loads of ants, 2 huge millipedes, some spiders and other bugs where examined very closely. worked better than i thought...
