Clockwork insects and mechanical spiders show up in Steampunk from time to time.  For instance, the “spy flies” in Philip Pullman’s Golden Compass (AKA Northern Lights). These intricate machines capture our imaginations and it’s fun to imagine the skilled craftsperson who made them. These depictions in literature and film have inspired people to create their own works out of metal and glass. Others have used the exoskeletons of real insect to make something cool and hybrid. A thing halfway between nature and machine.

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Check out a gallery of some of our favorite mechanical creepy crawlies.