Light Green Dragonfly Ornament

My Swarm was a hit, and making dragonflies for it was a lot of fun. This green one is more naturally accurate than the other odonata in my collection.

I jigged a dragonfly from 26-gauge steel wire. Then I dipped light green tissue paper into encaustic medium (a beeswax and resin mixture) and adhered it to the shape. This dragonfly has a wingspan of 5 1/4 inches and measures 4 1/2 inches long. A 2 inch spiral allows it to float in the air, and additional critters can be attached through a loop on its head.

Encaustics should be cared for as you would for any fine art piece. Encaustic derives from the word ‘burn in’ and is a process of applying molten wax colors to a surface for the creation of images or decoration that began more than 2 millennia ago with Roman Egyptian wax portraits.