Stained Glass Dragonflies

Stained Glass Dragonflies

Have you ever gotten the chance to look at a dragon flies wings up close? Well if you haven’t, they look like beautiful pains of delicate glass arranged in a particular angular way. In this craft, we will attempt to capture that beauty by making suncatchers inspired by one of Connecticut’s most common dragonflies, the common green darner!

Common green darner (Anax junius)

A common green darner photographed with its wings spread on a green leaf

Ansel Oommen, Bugwood.org

Stained Glass Dragonflies

You will need:

  • Clear plastic material (bubble wrap, cellophane, sandwich bag you can cut, etc.)
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Water
  • Paint brush
  • Tissue paper (cut into small pieces)
  • Any kind of paper thicker than tissue paper (cardstock, construction, printer, etc.)

Stained Glass Dragonflies

Step 1:

Mix equal parts of water and glue in a bowl

Four pieces of bubble wrap cut and arranged like dragonfly wings.

Step 2:

Cut your plastic material of choice (I am using bubble wrap because of the interesting texture) into four wing-like shapes

Step 3:

Tear up your pieces of tissue paper

I am using white and green paper to resemble the common green darner however you can use whatever colors you think would look interesting!

Step 4:

Brush a small area of your wing with glue

Up close photo of bubble wrap with glue-water mixture being brushed onto it with a paintbrush.

Step 5:

Add tissue paper where you put the glue and brush more over top

Close up photo of a piece of bubble wrap with pieces of white tissue paper glued down on it with a paint brush painting more glue over top of them.

Step 6:

Repeat steps 4 and 5, overlapping tissue paper until the entire wing is covered

Completed dragonfly wing made from bubble wrap mostly covered in white tissue paper but with green on the right side.

Step 7:

Repeat on all four wings and allow to dry fully

Step 8:

While drying, cut your paper of choice into the body of a dragon fly

Draw an oval, connected to a rounded rectangle, and then a long oval to make a stencil and feel free to color it it!

Drawing of dragonfly's body on a piece of white printer paper.

Step 9:

Adhere your dried wings to the body with staples or hot glue

Up close of dragon fly body with one wing stapled to the top right of the middle section of the body.

Step 10:

Hang your completed dragonfly in a window that gets plenty of sun and look at how it catches the light!

Completed stained glass dragonfly hanging in a window with a eucalyptus plant in the foreground.