For an outdoor presentation, you really don't shouldn't desire a wing that works. With that in mind, I made a set of wings using an ABS black plastic frame to which I sewed plastic screen door netting. I colored the screen netting by soaking it in glue and then liberally coating it with a variety of micro-glitter. You can purchase screen at your local hardware store or, if you're lucky, purchase colored plastic screen at your local cloth store. The result is a very translucent wing, more like a dragonfly look. The great thing about these wings is the wind blows right through them with no appreciable drag. If I was to remake these wings, I would probably substitute strong basket spline for the ABS plastic to lessen the weight.
For the second set of wings, I used gatorboard for a light fixed wing and decoupaged the wings with tiny pieces of torn colored tissue paper dipped in glue and applied piece by piece to the base wing. This technique yields surprisingly subtle color gradations. The final wings mimic the texture and look of a butterfly wing quite closely. I've been playing around with modifying the look for a moth wing by spraying the final wing with a satin finish and while wet applying a finely sifted flour to the wings. I'm close but not quite there to the point of use. These wings are strictly for the indoors as they do make for marvelous wind blocks.
The harness for my wings is a small aluminum frame attached pack style to my back.
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