Insect Pinning: Tarantulas

Celebrate your fascination with Arachnids by pinning your own specimen!

Join Domingo Papalotl of RIP Repurposed for this 2 hour class where you'll learn how to pin a Bird-Eating Tarantula! Gain a new appreciation for the beauty of these 8-legged critters as you carefully pose and pin them. Participants can choose to pin their specimens flat or in a more active position and will be able to take it home at the end of the workshop!

Join Domingo Papalotl of RIP Repurposed for this 2 hour class where you'll learn how to pin a Bird-Eating Tarantula! Gain a new appreciation for the beauty of these 8-legged critters as you carefully pose and pin them. Participants can choose to pin their specimens flat or in a more active position and will be able to take it home at the end of the workshop!

While not actually insects, (Tarantulas belong to the class Arachnida, which includes spiders and scorpions-- insects belong to a different class, Insecta, but both fall within the phylum Arthropoda) these wonderful critters still make an excellent addition to our series of workshops that fall under the heading "Insect Pinning"!

All specimens and pinning materials will be provided. Specimens are sustainably sourced from insect suppliers who engage in reciprocal practices with the land, supporting both the indigenous ecosystems and the local communities by providing jobs and security.

Meet the Instructor

Domingo Papalotl is a Chicanx artist and educator based in Chicago, IL. As the founder of RIP Repurposed & the lead insect pinning educator at The Insect Asylum, they cultivate a deep appreciation for life’s overlooked beauty and ephemeral nature. Through their artistic practice, Domingo transforms sustainably sourced insect specimens and bones into intricate "queer-acions"—artistic offerings that celebrate the cycles of life, death, and eternal transition. They share their insect pinning practice at The Insect Asylum and at pop-up pinning workshops with RIP Repurposed. With each delicate queeracion and insect pinning workshop, they seek to foster a deeper appreciation for the beauty of each insect and animal they are honoring through preservation. In this way, they believe they are honoring the resilience and continual metamorphosis inherent in both the natural world and marginalized communities.