Dragonflies tutorial

I love dragonflies and butterflies and a project making some while the snow gets ever deeper outside is just the fillip I need. Winter is not my favourite season as the short, dark days and long cold nights seem to disagree with me. I dream of spring and a new lightness that seems to manifest itself in the airy grace of these lovely insects.

These are the fruits of a morning's play .... I mean work :). The tutorial describes how to make the green one.

You will need the following

12" gold tiger tail cut into equal halves.
7 crystal bicones 4mm (I used 3 shades of green)
4 x dagger beads 12mm long
3 x gold crimp beads
1 x crystal bicone 6mm
2 x seed beads

 Lay the tiger tail pieces side by side and join together with a crimp bead. Use crimping pliers to close the bead or squash with flat nosed pliers.
Thread on the seven 4mm crystals in your desired pattern. I used 3 shades in the pattern ABCABCA.
Follow these with the 2 seed beads one on each strand of wire, then 2 dagger beads on each wire.




Next, thread each strand through opposite sides of a bicone and pull tight. Now thread one strand back through dagger beads, seed beads, the other pair of dagger beads and the bicone to make a full circle back to where it was. This will be hard work but helps stiffen up the dagger beads so they don't flop around.

Finally, thread a crimp bead on each strand. Thread the strand back through the crimp bead to form a small loop and squash the crimp. Trim the strand to half an inch and push through dagger beads to cover. Thread a chain through one of the loops to create a pendant.

You may notice if you follow the instructions that I have left out the black seed beads near the head. I thought the project would look better without them. The other 2 designs are made very slightly differently, but the fun is in making adjustments so the project becomes your own. I have already thought of a couple of tweaks to try for the next one I make.

What projects or activities cheer you up when you are under the weather? Do you like to curl up under a blanket with a good book or get active?