Though the idea didn't originate with me, I thought I could improve on the art glass dragonflies I've seen. I thought forks were an obvious choice for the body because the tines could be bent into legs. So I did some experimenting and the first attempt was a little awkward and bulky. The second attempt was more pleasing and here is the process for creating a dragonfly.
First select and cut the glass. I have glass gems of various colors that I'm using for the head.
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Each piece is wrapped with copper foil - this foil is pre-tinned (read about more about "tinning") Pre-tinned foil saves me the time of having to tin copper foil later.
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Before soldering all the pieces together, it's important to tack each piece in place so they don't move around. Because this is a small piece I'm not using pins, or bars to anchor it in place.
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Once the pieces are anchored in place, I solder each line, and turn it over and solder the back.
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The solder lines don't provide much support for the glass so it's necessary to reinforce the entire piece with wire. First I attach wire at the bottom.
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Then I work all the way around the edge - first tacking it at the corners and then filling in the gap along the edges with solder. Once I've attached wire all the way around, I turn it over and smooth any solder that has melted through and fill any remaining gaps.
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Time to prepare the fork. Most of them are pretty tarnished. Some require more elbow grease than others to make them shiny.
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Some forks don't bend as easily as others. Apply a little heat to the tine and the metal will soften enough to bend. If you don't know your own strength, they can break...
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I make my own hanging loops by wrapping tinned wire around the handle of a paint brush
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The first loop also anchors the fork handle to the back end of the dragonfly. Attaching the fork to the glass is awkward, I won't lie. This the part of the process where burns happen.
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The second wire anchors the "feet" in place under the head of the dragonfly.
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Finally the second loop goes on top behind the head. Now it's time to clean the flux off the solder and glass. Dry it thoroughly and polish it up with a little glass wax.
![](/sites/default/files/dragon12.jpg)
The last step is to attach the wire to the loops.
![](/sites/default/files/dragon13.jpg)
The dragonfly is ready to hang in a window or outside in the sunshine.
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