Black Sable , my paper mache dragon

Made by Jon Keller

I’ve seen a lot of paper mache dragons online , so I decided to make one for myself.

I started by making a simple cardboard dragon form. Then I built my dragon , little by little , onto this form. The teeth were made with acrylic polymer clay . They were attached to the jaw early in the project. The “wings” on the neck were made with wooden dowels and linen . For the horns I used wire that was covered with foil, and then covered with paper mache.. Two of the horns were actual bones from my spare rib dinner. The tongue is wire, covered with foil , and then covered with paper mache .The eyes are glass beads painted on the inside. For the scales I rolled out a thin sheet of paper mache onto wax paper. When it was dry enough to handle , but not fully dry , I peeled it off of the wax paper and let it dry fully on a wire mesh . Then I made a scale template and traced out all of my scales. I used scissors to cut them out . I glued the scales onto a piece of fabric and when the glue was dry I glued the fabric onto the dragon.

The paper mache was applied almost entirely with a butter spreader . You apply a little paper mache , wait a day or two until it is dry , and then apply some more. It’s a slow process ( as many of you already know ).

I painted it black and then buffed it with silver ….but I didn’t like the silver look….so I repainted it all black . A few coats of varnish were then applied ,and I mounted it to a plaque that I got at a thrift shop. From start to finish it took about 3 weeks.

NOTE from Jonni: If you like dragons, you might also like my new dragon wall sculpture pattern. I also have a new dragon mask pattern that you might like.

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