Still life with Bedebugs
by Suzie Jager
photos by Andy Rullestad
As the owner of Beddebug jewelry, Charles Hines creates jewelry using insects and acrylic resin.
Charlie Hines didn't create a bug graveyard to put insects to rest. Instead, he gathers hundreds of lady bugs, spiders, beetles and other creepy-crawlers to create what he calls Bedebug jewelry.
As a child, Hines was fascinated with bugs. He created a cartoon of chubby insects that he named Bedebug, pronounced BEE-dee-bug. The name for his cartoon seemed perfect for his creative line of jewelry.
r fines graduated from the University of Kansas in 1993 with a major in biology and a concentration in entomology. He has combined his love for insects and science to create a method of embedding insects in acrylic resin. The resin is sculpted into tear-shaped beads of all sizes and attached to necklaces, earrings and bracelets.
"I take the ordinary out-of-context and get people to notice the intricacv." Hines said.
The idea for Bedebug jewelry bloomed during Hines' final semester at KU as he worked with several types of resin in his organic chemistry lab. He wondered how well certain objects would settle in resin, and he began to experiment with dead bugs he found in his house.
Hines has refined his bug-hunting a
bit since then. Instead of picking dead bugs off the floor around his house, he usually seeks them out, looking for plants that are known to be home to the bug he wants. Hines also accepts bugs from his customers and friends who find bugs they would like to wear. He has embedded bugs from places as far away as Malaysia and Taiwan.
When collecting live bugs for his jewellry, Hines has to kill them before he can work with them, so he preserves their form by freezing them in his icebox or drowning them in alcohol.
Hines has made Bedebug a success by word-of-mouth advertising. In 1994, the New York Times Magazine caught on to the entrepreneur's merchandise and ran an article about the jewelry, bringing Hines $2,000 in orders within two days. Around Lawrence, you can find Hines' jewelry at the Love Garden, Arizona Trading Company and at the Natural History Museum gift shop on campus. Bedebug pieces can also be found at the Exploratorium in San Fransisco.
Hines has had the opportunity to market himself when he is one the road with his band, Panel Donor. On stage, he is the bassist; off the stage, he is a Bedebug representative. Among the bands who have bought Bedebug jewelry are the Flaming Lips, Urge Overkill and Red Red Meat.
Hines has expanded his artistic skills
even further. He made scientific embeddings for KU and Cornell University. The pieces are used in science classes to allow the students to study the insects closely. The insects, in this case, are embedded in resin and then surrounded with glass which slightly magnifies the characteristics of the insects. Hines is interested in embedding other objects as well. He has embedded bones and is currently working on a project with a Lawrence woman who wants to encase her son's first teeth.
KU and Hines sometimes uses insects Cornell from inside and around his home. University. The pieces are used in science classes to allow the students to study the insects closely. The insects, in this case, are embedded in resin and then surrounded with glass which slightly magnifies the characteristics of the insects. Hines is interested in embedding other objects as well. He has embedded bones and is currently working on a project with a Lawrence woman who wants to encase her son's first teeth.
Hines is not interested in making Bedebug the latest trend. He makes an effort to keep a low profile.
As for the future of Bedebug, Hines only expects to continue the business for three to five more years. Though he is interested in both science and art, he would prefer to pursue the artistic route in his future.
"Bedebug has allowed me to explore artistic drives through skills and knowledge I got from personal and academic experiences." Hines said.
And Hines has allowed his buyers to examine insects in a new way.
13 Entertainment
11
February, 1996 The Hill