Quilled Mosquito

You must have already noticed my weakness for insects :-) I started thinking of making a mosquito out of paper when I was working on my praying mantis. I was in search of a gift idea at that time, focusing on insects for inspiration. Unlike the mantis, which have made a lovely gift for my art teacher, the mosquito stays with me. I'm somewhat reluctant to give it away.

As always, I started with research and sketches, thoroughly studying mosquito anatomy, and only after that set to actual quilling. The head, the body (thorax) and the abdomen are all made ​​with three-dimensional quilling. The legs are made of wire wrapped in yellow paper; for the wings I used paper cutting. The mosquito's back is fluffy like the 3-D quilled Totoro I created before.

My mosquito is a very kind creature despite the scary face, he is not a bloodsucker :-) Why? Because it is a male mosquito, and as you might know only female mosquitoes bite.

The mosquito is about 3 cm (1.25 inches) tall, and his puffy back is about 1.7 cm (5/8 inch) in diameter, its wings are about 2.5 cm (1 inch) long each. I've chosen the color yellow because it's bright and sunny, and usually evokes positive emotions.