Here be dragons

Valentine Dragon, b. 8 February 2011

29th January 2012
I don't know much about the Chinese Calendar, but I do know that this is the Year of the Dragon, and it began on 23rd January! So here are a few Quernus dragons to welcome in the New Year.



The first dragon I ever made was this Valentine Dragon for, perhaps unsurprisingly, Valentine's Day! Loosely based on a Welsh dragon, this one is just a little bit more friendly. I tried a new technique for the wings, which I have used many times since - I discovered the joys of Dip It Fantasy Film!

This is amazing stuff, which I remember vaguely from when I was younger, making simple flower shapes out of wire and then dipping it in this magic stuff that hardened and formed a skin to make the petals. So I was delighted to find that you could still buy it (I buy mine from Fred Aldous in Manchester - they do postal orders too), and I have since gathered quite a collection of colours. (If you do buy some, remember to buy the thinner too - it makes it last a lot longer.)

Shaping the first wing was fairly easy. Shaping the second one to match was rather more challenging. Ideally I would have made a small jig to get the shape right, and this is on my to-do list (which seems to be growing longer by the day). In the end, I made up quite a few before I made one that matched.

Orange Dragon, b. 13 December 2011

When I was asked to make my second dragon (and a big thanks goes to Lynne Little of Druantia Designs for that commission), I refined the technique a bit so that the spines of the wings were a bit deeper and further apart.  By this time, I had been making fairy wings for the mice, moles and kittens for quite some time, so I had developed a technique of shaping wire using a combination of my fingers and pliers. However, I still had to give it several goes before I made a matching second wing :)

Sleeping Dragon with Tiger Plush Toy, b.17 January 2012

My most recent dragon was this rather cute curled up sleeping one, who will be heading off to the States in the next few days, accompanied by some Sherlock Holmes Mice (more on that story later). Because the fixed element for this year is water (I believe), I wanted to make this dragon reminiscent of water, and so I used tinted translucent clay for the body. This created quite a soft-focus effect, which brings the tiger plush into stark relief. I do love this piece! You'll also notice that because this is a baby dragon, he only has three spines to his wings, not four as the adult dragons have.

Rainbow Dragonfly, b. 23 September 2011

OK, so this fella isn't quite a dragon, but he wanted to tag along! He was commissioned by Marcia of Krafty Max Originals because she loves rainbows and she loves dragonflies! I came up with the idea of creating different millefiori canes for each of the body segments, and the whole piece has a wire armature, and is mounted on a wire plinth. I made all four wings from a single length of wire, and I used the crystal clear Dip It Film. I love Dip It Film!

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