Here’s a project that will appeal to adults and children alike. These beautiful wire-work dragonflies look gorgeous hanging from the ceiling, in the window, on the wall, wired to a houseplant or even attached to a gift. Children who love insects and all things creepy crawly can get info and inspiring photos of these fascinating creatures here.

Supplies:
- Medium weight garden wire, strong enough to hold a shape, yet easy enough to bend
- Needle nose pliers (with cutter)
- Long Pipe Cleaners
- Organza fabric (a quarter yard is more than enough or 23cm)
- Craft glue, paint brush & scissors
- Glitter & Sequins

NOTE: If making these with small children, do steps 1 - 3 for them.

(1) Cut two lengths of garden wire about 30”or 86cm long.

(2) Twist the lengths together to form two circles, then squeeze each circle in the center and twist to make two figure eights. Use your pliers to squeeze the ends of the wires together firmly so there are no sharp ends poking out.

(3) Shape the figure eights into two sets of wings, long in shape like dragonflies have.

(4) Take two pipe cleaners and twist them together three times about 3 inches from the top.

(5) Take one set of wire wings, place it behind the pipe cleaners, just under the twist with the long lengths of the pipe cleaners dangling. Then tightly wrap each of the two long lengths of pipe cleaner around the center of the wings twice each (do not twist them both at once).

(6) Place the second set of wings behind the pipe cleaners about 3/4” or 2cm beneath the first set of wings and tightly wrap the pipe cleaners around the center of the wings two times each as above - be sure to wrap tightly and as close to each other in the center as possible.

(7) Now twist the two long lengths of the pipe cleaners together all the way to the end to make the dragonfly tail.

(8) For the dragonfly eyes, twist the two shorter ends of the pipe cleaners together at the tips then bend them down toward the top set of wings and round them a bit to form eyes.

(9) To decorate gently separate the wings from each other being careful not to misshape them. Then trim four pieces of the organza to roughly 1/2” or 1cm larger than each wing so that they do not overlap each other.

(10) Brush a generous amount of craft glue on the wire of a wing and very gently lay a piece of organza on top of it. Repeat this with the remaining three wings. Leave until completely dry.

(11) When dry, trim off the excess organza cutting closely all the way around the wire outside of each wing. Then paint glue onto each wing and sprinkle glitter on in symmetrical patterns, following with a few sequins for extra sparkle.

(12) Look at that beauty!

About the project designer:

Joan Gorman was an art director and graphic designer in Northern California for several years before moving to England in 1997. Her move and parenthood prompted a simpler, less hurried lifestyle. She’s now a primary school art teacher, mother of two, freelance designer and regular contributor to children’s magazines. She displays her work and shares ideas on her site ninimakes.

To contribute your design, tutorial or story please read the contributor guidelines - this month we are taking submissions for easy and simple crafts.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 6:30 am and is filed under home+children+holidays. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.