Orange Dragonfly

[Graham 0]

Here's an orange dragonfly I had fun tying. The thorax proportions are off, but I had fun tying it and will probably do a bit more detail work on the legs as well as coloring.

 

Graham

 

 

 

Here's a pic of the real fly I used for reference...

 

[Craigmc 0]

WOW. That's amaazing. Nice tie.

[uffepuffe 0]

Great tie buddy! You really are the king of dragonflies!

 

Ulf

[johan-p 0]

WOW :bugeyes: :bugeyes:

awsome tie buddy

 

johan

[Joe Hard 0]

I had a feeling you were going to tie this one up as soon as I saw the pic. You did it so well!!

[nomad 0]

Very nice Graham, I really like the color.

[Graham 0]

Thanks for the kind remarks, I was hoping you might like it. For the abdomen I used fine stiff brass wire for the core, tyed on three pieces of 20 lb mono, wrapped the shape with white antron yarn, pulled all three pieces of mono to the front, one over top and one on each side, wrapped with thread. Then took one piece of clear swiss straw colored with orange flexible varnish, let it dry, then tyed it on at the rear of the abdomen, then segmented it forward. I used four pieces of treated swiss straw for the thorax, one betwwen the legs, one between the wings, and one on each side. It was actually pretty easy to tye. Organza was tyed in behind the eyes, and between the wings, to add a bit of hairyness.

 

I think tying an emerging orange dragonfly will be fun.

 

Cheers,

Graham

 

 

[bugcam 0]

Awe inspiring and amazing! Can't wait to show my boy this one. Wicked, crazy, cool. You are the "Anisoptera Rex" !!! I hope that translates into "Dragonfly King"! O.K. I'm done! I'm going back in to look at that one again! This one really had that predator feel to it!

[Graham 0]

Thank you for your kind remarks, and I truly appreciate your support. I had a lot of fun with this fly, but the more I look at it the more I think the eyes are too small, and the legs could be much better. But I do feel very proud of your comments, especially the dragonfly fly king title, honestly, I know of tyers capable of producing dragonflies much more realistic than mine. That said, since I'm not into competitive tying, I'll focus on enjoying the pleasure of tying while doing my next dragonfly instead of aspiring to a title of dragonfly king. Anyway, I think all of us here, like me, are interested in learning the realistic craft, realize it's impossible to identically replicate the real thing, but appreciate the friendships, assistance, techniques and flies which accumulate on the path forward. I hope I’m not rambling on while waiting for my first cup of morning coffee..lol…

 

I do feel pretty happy with the wings, here's a larger pic.

 

Cheers, Graham

 

[SullyTM 0]

Good to see that you're back at the vise Graham! The coloring is outstanding...not to mention the rest of the tie.

 

Later...Thom

[Ronn Lucas 0]

:bugeyes: :bugeyes: Magnificent!!!! :headbang: :headbang:

[Graham 0]

Thank you Ronn, thank you very much. I also wanted to mention that family medical issues on the home front have had me away from the forum as well as my vise lately, even making some of my messages sound grouchy, and I apologize.

 

I tyed this orange dragonfly in an attempt to capture a unique photograph, basically a follow up to some pics I posted further down this forum page linked to here

 

I actually took a couple of hundered cool photos of the real dragonfly attacking several of my tyed flies.

 

I plan on getting some cool photos this week of my orange dragon in the same shot as a real orange dragon, and I'm really very much hoping to have enough free time tomorrow to tye another orange dragon.

 

 

 

 

[Graham 0]

OK, one more pic....

 

 

 

 

[billb 0]

Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing it.

 

-- Bill

[bart 0]

Graham,

 

What an amazing effort! Congradulations. I just came back from Japan where I was able to photograph a dragon fly that might a next project for you.

 

Japanese Dragon Fly 1

 

 

Japanese Dragon Fly 2

 

Once again, GREAT JOB!

 

bart