'Ere Be Dragons

'Ere be dragons . . . . Or at least 'ere be one dragon.  As promised last week, the Dragon Wizard has summoned up another companion in the form of a serpentine oriental style dragon.  I call him Claude, not very oriental I know, but take a look at that face and tell me he doesn't look like a Claude?

 Claude started out as a wire skeleton over which some kitchen alfoil was wrapped to create his "muscles".  He was topped off with a skin of polymer clay.  A small tear shaped cutter was held at an angle so that only the rounded bottom pressed into the clay to create his scales.

Claude's eyes are dark blue gemstone beads that were inserted in his head durring sculpting.  This is the first time I've tried using solid eyes in polymer clay creations and had them turn out well.

Claude was wrapped around an unturned ceramic mixing bowl and held in place with balsa wood scaffolding to create his shape before being baked in the oven.   He's a little top heavy so you may notice a discreet stand holding his neck up in some photos.

Claude was supposed to have his head turned around to look more directly at the Wizard, but this just proved to hard to position for baking.

 Aside perhaps from a few touches here and there, the Lair is now finished.  I used DHE's "Garden Pavillion" kit to create the Lair, or rather I used the Pavillion part of the kit.  I would like to use the "Garden" section to add an oriental garden infront of the Lair, but this would make the Lair twice as deep and I can't think where I could put it.  I don't know where it's going to fit in now as it is.  Nor do I know how I'd keep some (1:1) cats out of the garden if I made it.  So for now, I'm going to start on a few of the other projects I'm bursting to do and I'll come back to the possible garden at a later time.