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Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

She/they
Friendly neighborhood moth lady
Manic pixie dream cryptid

Co-host ghost of My Boyfriend’s Record Collection (now streaming on Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music)

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Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

Bug adventures with my dog:

A large brown female Polyphemus moth rests on the wall of a mesh enclosure. A corgi named Ichabod watches her with curiosity from the opposite side of the mesh.

March 12, 2025 at 12:08 AM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

I never thought I’d love a little grub so much but here we are.

This is Henri the rainbow stag beetle! He’s an L2 larva and about halfway through his larval stage.

Henri was a birthday gift from my parents, and if all goes well he could live another two years or so🪲

A large rainbow beetle larvae (or grub) in a small, clear plastic cup. The larva is curled up and visible from the side of the container

A male and female rainbow stag beetle resting on a log. The female on the left is slightly smaller with a shell glittering with crimson, gold, green, and deep maroon and small “horns”. A larger male rests beside her, slightly rearing back with long “horns/pinchers” and shimmering wing plates with red, crimson, pink, green, and gold.

March 1, 2025 at 1:03 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

If you remember this quote you may be entitled to ̶f̶i̶n̶a̶n̶c̶i̶a̶l̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶e̶n̶s̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ an extra hour in the ball pit.

A gray furby with dramatic lighting, 3 shining eyes staring down at the viewer and mouth open. Text bubbles hovering in the top left read:
“Can you feel your heart burning?
Can you feel the struggle within?
The fear that is within me is beyond anything your soul can make.
You cannot kill me in a way that matters.”

This is a reference to an infamous tumblr post detailing a fictional conversation with a mushroom on the nature of fungal life.

This piece goes out to my 1999 Furby that I deeply wish I still had, Coco. My mom fought hella crowds at the mall to get it for me, and seven year old me really loved it.

Coco was banished to the basement after spending a month in my room🥲

They were glitched and had random volume increases and activated constantly without being touched (even when in the closet alone). We took the batteries out. That didn’t work. We dug the button cell that was wired in for the in store “try me” demo. That worked for..a day? It just made the speech slow and strange.

I think we eventually got rid of it after several months of strange mechanically slurred battery free speech wafting up from the basement at all hours🥲

I followed a tutorial from digital artist Poppypari on dramatic lighting in Procreate and I’m really pleased with the result!

February 25, 2025 at 5:46 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

Me: man why do I always hate Gale so much in act one of Baldur’s Gate 3?

Gale, the second Raphael the literal devil pops up, when NOBODY ASKED: “if I may be a Devil’s Advocate-“

Me:

Astarian, the silver haired vampire rogue from Baldur’s Gate 3, looks extremely frustrated with his hand raised and his fingers pinched in a “what the fuck” position. The reaction text pops up with his tiny diamond portrait just as it appears in the game and reads “Astarian is about to have a fucking aneurysm”

February 8, 2025 at 4:31 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

Anyone else having 2020 flashbacks? Specifically waking up every day to a fresh catastrophe in the news like:

The actor Patrick Stewart in his role as Picard from Star Trek, looking sternly into the camera. The text says “damage report,” a quote from the show that very accurately summarizes the shitshow that we are all living in

February 1, 2025 at 1:40 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

I got my first ever hóngbāo at physical therapy today from my workout buddy Charles!

Charles is notorious at the clinic for making the “what are ya in for?” joke when meeting new people in PT and for loudly calling out racism and xenophobia.

Today was his last session and I will miss him🥹

A red hóngbāo envelope (a traditional gift for Lunar New Year) is pictured. It has gold lettering and accents, with most of the characters in Chinese except for the phrase “everything goes well” in English near the bottom of the envelope

January 28, 2025 at 5:16 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

Some affirmations for chronic pain/illness pals on this Saturday evening 🐛

This little actias luna caterpillar I raised created a window in her cocoon, and it was fascinating to watch her spin her silk as she gradually sealed it up.

January 25, 2025 at 11:03 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

To quote The Great British Bake-off: “Started makin it. Had a breakdown. Bon appetite.”

..except that vibe lasted like. A year. I started this piece January 2024💀

Alt text for more🐛🐛🐛

#lunamoth #undertale #procreate #digitalart

A large green male North American luna moth perches on a twig in front of an ornate pewter mirror, his reflection showing a green caterpillar instead of a moth. The caption text within the image reads “despite everything it’s still you,” a quote from the video game Undertale that really struck me and stuck with me.

I’ve had the idea for this knocking around in my head for ages. Over multiple years of rearing actias luna caterpillars, I’ve noticed that the caterpillars that are constantly climbing onto my hands become the moths that want to sit with me for a half hour or so before flying away. It’s not that all the caterpillars/moths seek being handled, but it seems like a few individuals out of every clutch really like the interaction with humans. It’s so interesting to see them respond to the same stimulus (my hands) the same way across metamorphic stages.

January 13, 2025 at 8:59 AM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

You know what this dumb little doodle deserves its own post.

I drew after Roe v Wade was overturned. It felt right.

My friends liked it so much I made it a sticker 😂

Gloves in the photo are from @bibicosplays.bsky.social !

#kingofthehill #koth #handsoffmyuterus

An illustration of a uterus with the face of Bobby Hill from King of the Hill shouts “THAT’S MY UTERUS I DON’T KNOW YOU” atop a background of black speed lines radiating from the center of a white circle. The quote is a reference to the line “THAT’S MY UTERUS I DON’T KNOW YOU” from season 6 episode 1 “Bobby Goes Nuts.”

A photo of a hand (wearing a compression glove from Bibipins) holding a pack of stickers of the previous illustration:

The sticker image is of a uterus with the face of Bobby Hill from King of the Hill shouts “THAT’S MY UTERUS I DON’T KNOW YOU” atop a background of black speed lines radiating from the center of a white circle. The quote is a reference to the line “THAT’S MY UTERUS I DON’T KNOW YOU” from season 6 episode 1 “Bobby Goes Nuts.”

December 31, 2024 at 10:50 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

It’s apparently the last day of #invertefest so here’s some my favorite moths/caterpillars I’ve raised in 2024🐛🐛🐛

A chubby 4th instar Polyphemus caterpillar rearing back on his prolegs, the tips of his true legs pressed to his mandibles. He reminds me of Mr Burns from The Simpsons.

A 5th instar Polyphemus caterpillar next to an adult Polyphemus moth who just eclosed (hatched/emerged) from her cocoon

A cute Luna moth resting on a metal bracket outside

A fourth instar Luna moth caterpillar curls around my finger in a buggy hug

December 31, 2024 at 2:36 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

About me:

I’m a hairdresser, an artist, a mothkeeper, and an insect taxidermist. Life as a disabled artist is hard, but I have a lot of joy through my work and my hobbies.

Currently I raise Actias Luna and Polyphemus moths, but I’m hoping to expand into rearing other species🐛

A portrait of femme presenting Amanda wearing white ram horns decorated with purple flowers and Venus flytraps at the base. Their blue hair flows over their shoulder and a large male brown and orange Polyphemus moth rests on their shoulder.

A large brown and gray female Polyphemus moth rests on the wall of her mesh enclosure as Ichabod (a corgi) gazes at her with a smile

A third instar (three week old ) Luna moth caterpillar rears back on their prolegs, curling into a “coiled snake” position that is sometimes used to dissuade predators

A procreate illustration of Bobby Hill from King of the Hill as a uterus with ovaries yelling “THATS MY UTERUS I DONT KNOW YOU” with speed lines and a circular background

December 31, 2024 at 1:03 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

It is a sharp mind that feels sympathy for one who suffers unnecessarily, not a soft heart.

- Minthara Baenre, Baldur’s Gate 3

A portrait of Minthara Baenre, a drow from the video game Baldur’s Gate 3. She has deep lilac skin, red eyes, and silver hair swept into a bun. She wears her signature default armor, which is made of thick leather in gold and silver swirls with a carved, raised spider web on the sternum as a tribute to the spider goddess Lolth.

December 8, 2024 at 1:36 PM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

I call this pair “Duality of Dog”

I drew these for a friend whose beloved chihuahua Kuma passed last year.

Left is how Kuma saw himself, and right is how he really was.

He was much beloved by many people, to his great dismay.

A tiny beige chihuahua with big watery eyes curls up on a delicate pink carpet with a soft blue background. He seems like he may be about to offer his belly for rubs, but he is not. Despite his adorable face with massive eyes and soft ears he burns with the rage of the illustration on the left.

Kuma was tiny and adorable, and he was absolutely aware of it and hated it😂

December 6, 2024 at 7:33 AM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

Ron Perlman is a treasure, truly. I love Guillermo del Toro and his Hellboy movies, they’ll always have a special place in my heart.

Also this quote from Ron to Bob Iger during the SAG+WGA strike is the coldest thing I’ve ever heard🥶

Hellboy as portrayed by Ron Perlman from Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy” (2004) holding a lit torch in one hand that illuminates his face, shoulders, and hand. A text bubble above his head reads “there’s a lot of ways to lose your house”, a quote from the actor posted to Twitter during the 2023 WGA+SAG strike. The video was in response to a quote from Disney CEO Bob Iger on the strike: “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses"

November 28, 2024 at 2:37 AM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

Gonna start posting digital art here. I use procreate✨

This is Jack and Dahli, a portrait on my two oldest cats.

I found Jack in a dumpster behind a Jack in the Box 15 years ago. As a tiny kitten Dahli moved into my crawlspace in 2013, my dog fell in love with her, and she’s been here ever since.

A colorful digital illustration of two cats taking a nap. Jack is a larger, fluffy and blue cat, Dahli is a smaller pink tabby with stripes, white paws, and speckled toes. They’re both resting on a purple bat print blanket as their toes and foreheads almost touch, creating a soft heart shaped silhouette.

November 27, 2024 at 8:56 AM

Amanda

@mothraluna.bsky.social

I’m back with some bug art!

Most of the actias luna moths I raise are released, but some of them stay with me and become art pieces after they pass.

I also use found dead insects, as well as dead stock bartered from another local moth breeder.

It’s a weird hobby but it makes me really happy💜