Metamorphosis of a
Wrought Iron Dragonfly

b y :     e n r i q u e

"Dragonflies aren't born with wings. They go through Metamorphosis in their later life for the sole purpose of mating.

Watch a Metamorphosis take place from raw steel to this forged wrought iron dragonfly!"

completed dragonfly

sinking brass into swage block for eyes

eyes attached with screwed connection

Have you ever looked closely at the variety of eyes which various species of dragonflies have? Well, I never really paid attention to them until I started researching what dragonflies were all about. I was amazed to find out that there are several thousand species of dragonflies and they all look different!

From size of wing span and coloring, to the way the eyes are shaped and how they see. Some eyes are totally separate as those of my dragonfly, but some will actually converge to the center of the head and even join to each other. Color of eyes also are different and my dragonfly will have a Verde patina applied over solid brass to give a bright iridescent green color to the eyes.

The first thing I did to make the eyes was to sink an 18 gauge solid brass sheet into one of the circular forms in my swage block. After cutting the circular sphere from the brass sheet, I silver soldered nuts to the inside of both eyes so that I could create a mechanical joint which would not affect the application of patina.

A 1/4" hole was drilled through the center of the dragonfly's head so that I could use a stainless steel screw to join the two eyes. The head of the screw was hacksawed off to allow both eyes to be secured flush to the main body of the dragonfly.

The main body of the dragonfly was forged from one piece of 2 1/2" solid round steel bar using Zelda. The legs were forged from 1/2" solid round bar steel using my 25 lb. Little Giant trip hammer. Each set of legs was proportionately larger than the previous set giving a total of six legs curled up.

forged dragonfly parts prior to welding

stick welding of legs to main body

There are various methods which can be used to join metals and before making any decisions on how forged parts are going to be joined, the artisan must decide on the overall effect that the joint will have on the piece being made. Because the design of the dragonfly railings uses allot of texture, and some of this texture is a result of transferring weld bead texture to the forged components, I decided to use E-7018 stick welding for not only joining the parts, but also as a textured effect. Besides, if you were to look at how the legs join to the body of a real dragonfly, you would find that there is a similar textured effect.

After tack welding the legs into position, I weld all the way around each of the legs and simply chip the slag off and wire brush. No grinding is necessary because of the natural textured effect left by the weld bead.

Now that the main body is completed, it is time to create the dragonfly wings. All the forming to be done on the wings is accomplished with cold forming techniques using 3/8" and 1/4" round steel bar. Measurements are pulled off of the original template and each segment is cut and cold formed using bending forks. Since each wing is identical to the opposite, everything is formed in sets of two.

wings are cold formed in sets of two

Oxyacetylene dates back to the early 1900's and is one of the greatest gifts given to the blacksmith. Before oxyacetylene, ironwork designs were limited to either forge welding or mechanical joints such as riveting, collaring, or bolted connections. This prevented metalsmiths from exploring other forms of design.

The thing that is so wonderful about oxyacetylene is that you not only have the ability to weld and solder metals, but also cut steel with high pressure oxygen. Components for an oxyacetylene rig include oxygen and acetylene gas regulators for pressure control, separate oxygen and acetylene tanks, goggles, and a torch which has various tips for soldering, welding, and cutting.

Pictured to the right is me with one of the dragonfly wings secured on a post vice. I am using a 3/32" steel filler rod to add weld metal to the various joints on the dragonfly wing. You will also notice pictured below that I use this same technique to fill in the Nodus - pockets in the wing which hold blood for circulation throughout the dragonfly wings.

I could have used tig, mig, or even stick welding to make these dragonfly wings, but I decided to use oxyacetylene because it gave me better control and added natural texture to the wings.

enrique oxyacetylene welding wings

main body detail shows welding textures

completed dragonfly wing section view

• Digital Design - Introduction
• 1st Floor Railing - cattail newel post
• 2nd Floor Railing - perspective
  • Scaled Elevation view
• Dragonfly Split Level Railing
  • Tracing perspective
  • Creating Scaled Elevation
  • Skewing for perspective
• Outputting Scaled Drawings
  • Image Transfer

• Forged Texture Reflections
  • 25 lb. Little Giant Demo
• Silver soldering cattails
• Applying Verde patina for color
• Metamorphosis of an Iron Dragonfly
• Yin and Yang of twisting wrought iron
• Forge welding for natural form
• Basis for a distinctive newel post

• Installed railings

"So, maybe the Metamorphosis of a steel dragonfly is not as spectacular to watch as that of a real dragonfly crawling out of its old earth bound body, but Metamorphosis is exactly what is happening when you take a raw piece of iron and transform it to something that is meaningful."

Contact:

E. Vega Studios

p h o n e : 9 1 9 - 3 6 7 - 7 2 3 3

apex, north carolina

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last refreshed Mon, Sep 14, 1998
© copyright 1998 E. Vega Studios