ProjectArt

Apparently I lied when I stated that the tongue would be next, for we have decided instead to flesh out the head with the standard cloth mache. The other side and the top of the head are looking good as well, but are not as far along as this side. While placing the cloth down though, we got an idea and covered up part of the eye so that it would look like the dragon was angry.

Next we plan to work on the neck and finish off the head.

After a long wait, there comes another picture showcasing a draconic trait. Obviously the trait shown here is the dragon’s new glass teeth. They are actually mostly yellow, but when the picture was taken light must of reflected off them, tinting them a bloody hue.

A close up of the teeth, giving them a very Tyrannosaur like look; most impressive. Also note the curved teeth in the back, which are clay and make the dragon look adapted for eating fish and large prey.

The horns here have been finished for quite a while, but for some reason never photographed. The cloth mache method was used to give them texture, using dryer lint and they were given a brownish green ink wash. The finished dragon will have horns with a very bronze hue. We may of gone a little overboard with the number of horns though, with two sets of goat horns near the neck, the little side horns below the eyes, the big rhino horn on the nose, and some horn-like whiskers around the mouth. Also, note the addition of eyes.

A side shot of the eyes being worked on, we hope to be able to add eye-lids by the end of the week.

Next: Tongue of Dragon

I have been trying to figure out how to make eyes for the dragon; worrying about this has made it hard to keep working on the project. But last week I had a lucky find; blobs of glass that fall when glass blowers are making their vases and such and snip the ends off. I found two that more or less match and are the correct size.

This view shows the first coat of paint on the horns and a little of the texture that I am achieving with dryer lint. The old tie-dye T-shirt is poking through a bit. I found mixing a little pottery plaster into the watercolor paint made the paint completely opaque and is very hard when dry. Only problem is that it sets so quickly. Painting with wet plaster is one of the oldest art techniques around, so I am deriving some satisfaction from including this technique. Also cheap, and lying around the house. I am including as few purchased items as possible; so far only the jug of white glue (about $30.00)

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Today and yesterday I put on the outer shell of old T-shirts dipped in white glue. I also experimented with different paints; that is why we are seeing so many shades of blue. It is not so much the color but the hardness of the paint that I am after. House paint is too soft and flexible. White glue and powdered pigments work well so far. 

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This is a close up of the T-shirt with the pins holding it on until it dries.

I have finished the last of the dryer sheets on the legs and claws. Tomorrow I will move on to the body.

I have covered the legs with the spent dryer sheets. It works best to dip the dryer sheets in the flour and water paste, but I added a little white glue for more durability. The dryer sheets need to be quite wet in order to form them into ridges and scales.

The Model

The crafting of the dragon began with a Christmas present. This Christmas present was a voucher that could be traded in for one paper mache dragon. The artist-parent-mother-blogcrafter was likely expecting that I would ask for a dragon a few inches long. Obviously, she assumed wrongly. As soon as I received this voucher, I grabbed a tape measure and went to measure the length of my room, an idea forming rapidly in my mind. The room measured 12 feet long and 10 feet wide so I grabbed the Draconomicon and found the length of the dragon’s head, neck, torso, tail, and wings along with its height and width and scaled them to a 7.29 scale so it would fit in the room.

Once I knew the statistics of the base dragon, I had to think of a method for construction. This is where the mother-creature came in handy, as she happened to know a form of paper mache that would have a result of being much sturdier than normal paper mache. This method involved constructing a basic skeleton out of wire, taping down wadded up paper in the appropriate shape, then layering down paper soaked in flour over the top and finally placing a layer of cloth soaked in glue over that to look like scales. Once the cloth is laid down, the dragon is painted blue then has gloss applied to it. Our chief references; Make Something Ugly… for a Change, The Definitive Guide to Papier/Cloth Mache by Seattle author Dan Reeder and Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons by Andy Collins, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt.

Daniel the Dragoncrafter

Finished with the paper mache at last! Daniel is holding some “ears” that will have webbing between them. It took a while to get the tail tied into the right position so that it wouldn’t sag under the weight of the wet paper mache.

This is the underside of the dragon, with the paper mache skin finished at last. It may not seem like much, but it was fiddly and difficult.

Here is the latest picture of the dragon. I worked on both sides on Sunday. Left to do is the upper part of the neck where the ears will go. We are working on those separately and will attach them later, and also the tail which needs to correctly positioned.