If it's dried you want to put it in a tight container with a moist piece of paper towel or cotton swab. Let it sit for 24 hours and then you can either pin, or put the insect in a shadow box or other case for storage. Just note, the color will fade with time.

This is the way I was taught to do it in my entomology class, there may be other ways of preserving them that I don't know of yet. Hope this helps in some way at least.

Ah thanks for the info! That the color fades makes me sad tho..>:

I know how you feel. I had some gorgeous specimens in the collection I had for entomology. I was so so sad when they faded and changed colors :\

there are ways that you can keep their colors even after they died. You can try searching for that on how they do that on Wikipedia. I know the feeling when color fades away, I had a pretty butterfly and after a sudden amount of time it slowly loses its color, I know those colors are mostly powder sticking on their wings.

that is just beautiful <333

ack, bugs D:

How magical

Love that body colour!

Now that's a lucky find :3 Wings fully intact still.

I use to catch these as a kid. I always found the red ones the hardest to catch. For some reason that species whatever it was seemed more alert.

Yeah they are! They can see veryyy well :O

Net them from behind and below; that's where they have a blind spot. If you can get a net around them, flip it to catch them inside. The good thing about catching dragonflies is their wings are durable and you won't damage them like butterflies and moths. If you just hold back their wings for a few minutes most will settle down enough to be photographed.

Yeah, just be careful of the really really big ones. They got a good set of nippers on em. I always let mine go as a kid. It was the thrill of the hunt. Bug hunt!

I still hunt them from my kayak in a wetland area and another hidden location with a big BioQuip net (the kind with the red wingnut). I never kill them and only take pictures. Lots of odonates have tried to bite me but I've never gotten a bite that was noticeable. Hopefully the halloween pennants will be out soon. They're so beautiful and I haven't gotten a shot of one in a couple of years.

Awww so gorgeous. It's a male skimmer of some sort. I LOVE dragonflies. <3

I have no clue, however, how to preserve it. Hm... Taxidermy/preservation forums??

a couple days ago a huge dark green one flew into my apartment for a few seconds x3 it was really cool

Their wings are really amazing :3 I remember observing them as a kid. i tried to get as close as i could. It's weird how they can turn their heads.. and from very close.. their head looks like they would be.. smiling owo

Haha yeah as a kid I thought their smiley faces were scary :P

me too with their smiley faces, they brutally eat other insects °^°

hehe their face looks like they carried a helicopter helm-end or even think that the helicopter are made by those. XD Hehe well their shape is also like a Heli. ^.=.^ Now i know who build a Helicopter loved the dragonfly it most.

We have dragonflies here in Holland as well to. Not the color you have in hand, at least not seen it with my own life time. most we have are smaller version of those and big Golden green, yellow ones. Those dragonflies are almost twice the size of the one you had in your hand. because of the taller but thinner stomach.

Wait.... further inspection of the picture.... wow... you have a quite a rare one. it's the same race as the green ones but you found the blue one.

Haha I live in Holland as well and I see plenty of these! ^.^ I think you mean waterjuffers :)

http://www.bugcollectors.com/

Dragonflies actually aren't that fleshy - the specimen will be fine once properly dried; you probably didn't have to soak it in alcohol unless you wanted to relax the wings for pinning on display. :)

Oh I see :) Well then I'll let it dry now :P

Great find!!

Oh it's dead? Eww! It looks much better than this cockroach we killed today... yuck!