I'm a Boring California Native who makes things out of California Wildlife

My journey to creating jewelry out of insects started when I found a black widow on my porch one night, freaked out, and killed her. I felt really bad about it (I actually had nightmares that her spider ghost came back to haunt me) and looked into preserving her in resin as a sort of apology. I realized how pretty she was when I took the time to actually look at her, so I started finding more dead insects to preserve. Now I only preserve insects that I, or one of my many "suppliers", aka family or friends, find dead. I think of them as a sort of living jewel, and I've gained a lot of respect through identifying and reading about the different insects that we have here in California. I was brought up taught to kill things like black widows and rattlesnakes, but I've learned more about how important they are for our ecosystem, and how unlikely their bites are. I'm so annoying now, I actually save and release houseflies. Houseflies!

When you start looking around on the ground outside, you sure find a lot of neat things! I've also found a new appreciation for our small and adorable wildflowers, as well as rocks, minerals and even trash.

I went to undergrad for marine biology, but never paid too much attention to terrestrial plants and animals. I'm also a musician by night and a pre-dental student/dental assistant by day.

I take custom orders! Nothing is too weird for me. I've put teeth, pet hair, ashes and a lot of other interesting things into resin. Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions about something you're interested in having preserved.

I also sometimes list other pieces of art that I've done in the past or vintage items that I find.

And in case you were wondering about my shop name, Boring is my last name! It's another weird thing that I've learned to embrace recently. And there are dozens of us...DOZENS!

Noelle Boring