fiber arts and handicrafts

[yovargas]

My husband looked at this, and after going "Wow!" he pointed out that given the time it took, you should not sell a comparable dragon for less than $3,000.

Arts and crafts don't really work like that but still - even at minimum wage, that things worth over a grand.

[Inanna]

But *I* can't afford it then! .

[Primula Baggins]

yov is right, of course. However, that dragon is still a valuable piece of art, and I bet the market would set a pretty high price for it.

[Maria]

I can't find anything comparable on Etsy, so I don't know know if there is even a market for a dragon like that one, not at the price I'd have to charge just to make it worth my time.

I bought a lot of books about drawing and sculpting dragons and other fantasy creatures the past couple of weeks, and quite a few of the principles are transferable to this media, so my next effort should be better. There are some basic design flaws with this one that I should be able to avoid next time. Bilateral symmetry is easier said than done!

[Dave_LF]

I'm curious; when you make things like this, do you look at pictures, or are you just able to see the shape in your head and produce it? I always wondered that about people who draw too.

[Maria]

I'm absolutely lousy at producing any kind of art out of my head.

For these, the ones based on real animals anyway, first I find a skeleton of that species on google images and print it out the size I want it to be. That way I have a direct pattern to follow while making the wire armature. Then if I can find a muscle diagram for that animal I follow that while filling out the body. Then I use yet another picture for the exterior fur or feathers.

With dragons, obviously, I can't do that. What I did for this one was to go through lots of google images until I found one I liked. I printed it out on 11 x17 paper ,as big as I can go at work, and made the wire armature from that. Then I started on the body. It took a LOT of fill for that big of a creature, and seemed to take forever. As I started on the exterior,though, I got nervous because the printout was quite pixelated. So, I did some research, found out who the original artist was, and ordered one of his books and a calendar. Now I had high resolution images to go on, but the painted dragon was white and my husband had requested bronze.

So, then I had to try to get a bronzish color out my decidedly non-bronze wool. I'm not entirely content with the coloration....but that really is about as good as I can do on the color. The color didn't turn out like I saw in my head, but then I'm not sure that was possible. I saw some lovely pictures of bronze statues with brown shadows, reddish midtones, and yellow highlights. That's what I was trying for. If I'd been painting I could have done it. With wool, not so much.

[Inanna]

Maria, I would be extremely interested in seeing photos of the pre-finished phases as well.

[Maria]

I already set up this blog thingy for progress pics. So, I have just uploaded them and here's the link:
http://woolimorph.blogspot.com/2017/01/ ... ragon.html

We missed a whole lot of interim pics while getting the brown skin on. Oh well.

[Inanna]

Saw those - incredible.

[Impenitent]

Maria, you are amazingly skilled and talented. It's hard to believe you've achieved this level of expertise in less than a year.

[Maria]

Thanks, but you should see the one I'm working on now.

I'm trying to go as tiny as possible, and it's looking like a child's scribble. It's like trying to draw fine detail with a blunt pencil that you can't sharpen. The head on the tiny dragon persists in looking like a triangle, no matter how much I jab at it!

It's kind of frustrating. There's just a level of smallness you cannot go beyond in this medium, even with magnifying glasses!

It'll be cute just because it's small, but nowhere near what I'd like it to be. It can stand with all four feet on a quarter coin. I may make a dragon fly bug to compare it with.

[Maria]

18 hours and the best I can do is this.
It's really not worth it. I might as well take the time and make big ones that I can put details on.

[yovargas]

Hmm, yes, cute lil' bugger but it doesn't really compare.

[Maria]

I solved the overly triangular head by cutting free the support wire and bending it down and making a lower jaw from it. I then tried to make a tongue, with teeth intended to follow, but the "tongue" persisted in looking like flame. So, I finally gave up, pulled it out, and put in "flame". As a bonus, no teeth required, then.

[Dave_LF]

For these, the ones based on real animals anyway, first I find a skeleton of that species on google images and print it out the size I want it to be. That way I have a direct pattern to follow while making the wire armature.

It is both a relief and a disappointment to know that magic isn't involved .

I suppose that's more or less what I'd do if I was going to try something like that, but I'm betting the results would still be pretty bad. So maybe there's some magic in there somewhere after all.

[Maria]

I've been pretty bad over the years at drawing things. For this new hobby I found lots of used books on Amazon concerning drawing and sculpting. I'd always thought drawing was kind of impossible for me. I just didn't put down on paper what was in my head.

One author, though, described a very precise grid system to use. It was fascinating! You get a person to model the pose you want to do, photograph them, superimpose a grid over the photo, and then draw a grid on your paper. Then you draw the basic shape square by square thus getting the proportions exactly right. I've never been able to do that freehand before.

I haven't tried it yet, but it seems so simple! I bet I could do it if I really wanted to draw something now. I'm kind of stuck on the wool thing, now, though. 3D is just a much .... better way to see things. I've tried carving before, but it's really hard to do and one slip and the piece is ruined. Fired clay things requires equipment I don't have.

I wish I could show you these creations of mine in person. Seeing them in 3 dimensions is so different from seeing them as a flat image. The tiny dragon, for instance, is about twice as cute when you can hold it in your hands and turn it around and see it from all angles. And see the itsy bitsy flame moving just a bit from air currents. My husband immediately wanted to wear it to work clinging to his shirt pocket. Fortunately, he forgot this morning.

[Inanna]

I love the baby dragon. .

[Maria]

He remembered when we went home for lunch.
I had to take this pic as we were driving, the sunlight showed her wing bones so well!

[Frelga]

That's such a gosh darned cute dragon. I want to hold it and cuddle it and keep it on my desk.

[Inanna]

It breathes fire, Frelga. . It could be a swamp dragon! Did it escape from the sanctuary?*