Dragonflies of Wisconsin took a lot longer due to the intricate detail of the wings. Each dragonfly has a unique pattern to the cells on the wings which I have to admit took a lot longer than I had planned - like a year longer TBH. I feel like this project really put the Glowforge to the test, along with Adobe Illustrator.
The cells of the wings are filled with clear MirrorCoat epoxy, while the larger cells of each body are filled with colored epoxy. And each species of dragonfly has a unique color pattern on the head and thorax that I tried my best to get as close to nature as possible. I’m especially happy with the body detail of the Eastern Amberwing (which reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright’s nature-inspired designs) and with the overall color scheme of the Blue Dasher. But the Autumn Meadowhawk and the Hines Emerald also turned out pretty well too.
I have always loved the intricacy of the wing pattern but had not thought about the ability to specify a species or relationship between species by that wing pattern, and now I am wondering just how much individual variation and local groups could be detailed in that pattern, say with 5 individuals of the same species from 2 different lakes a couple hundred miles from each other. Having museums with collections might even show small changes through time as the finest details have little effect on survival?
Wow these are gorgeous! The Hines Emerald is my favourite, I love dragonflies so much, I live by a stream and we have lots, they eat all the biting insects!
Towards the outside they’re definitely thinner than 1mm, but not as fragile as you’d think. Once filled with epoxy they’re solid. One of the challenges was getting the tiny cutout pieces out of the finished product. And getting the masking tape off, but duct tape actually works great for that.
