The happy couple are finished.    I'm very happy with the result.   I hope that you like them too.   

First, the final steps. 

I constructed the faces.  I once again decided on blue eyes for both.   They really stand out.    Then I added horns to both, black for the male (like his claws) and off white for the female (like her claws).



I  blackwashed the faces.

I've added a short video to this entry to help you see the dragons.   There is something about video that just makes it easier to view a project like this even though it's fairly jerky.   Take some Dramamine and watch if you want.    Thanks for checking in !

Oh... P.S.  This project, along with 10 of my other dragons are currently on display in a storefront in Pioneer Square in Seattle (312 Occidental).   They will be there through November.   If you happen to be in the neighborhood...

        

Now that the two dragons are constructed, it's time to paint.   I wrestled with color schemes.   In the end, I stuck with colors that I love  for dragons, reds and yellows and oranges.   I'm very satisfied with how they blend together.    I also decided to paint the pair and put them back together before making the heads.   I know it seems funny to do this.   I call this "delayed gratification," something I've done precious little of over the course of my life.    Making the head is my favorite part of building a dragon.    I wanted to finish these two dragons before allowing myself the fun of finishing the faces.  I don't know why exactly.   I just did.

 

It is always easy at this stage it get enamored with the bright colors of the initial paint job.  Everything looks so clean and pretty.    But I'm reminded of what Bill Alexander used to say (he was the crazy but fun old coot that used to paint beautiful landscapes on TV with a house-painting brush).  He would say that you, "can't have light without dark."    To make these colors really stand out, and to enhance the details I've painstakingly added to these pieces, I needed to "blackwash" them.   This is another term I coined over the years.  I water down some black paint then paint a part of the project and wipe it off before it dries.    Photographs never really do this justice, so you'll have to trust me about how great this works.  Below is the female dragon after blackwashing.   She looks dirty and her colors are certainly more muted.   But she looks more like a dragon. 



I do add some of the color back in the form of highlights.   Again, these photos don't show the change as well as I would have liked.  But I think you can get the idea.   Below is a portion of the female's neck before highlights and then after.  Can you see the difference?  It's much more profound in person.

 

It is even more dramatic with the red on the male.   Look at the male body after blackwashing.    Now look at it with highlights added. 

 

I also highlighted the belly plates of both dragons.  The color here is really subtle.  

 

I brushed water over the painted claws just to soften the paint.  Then I scraped it off with a knife.   Latex paint (or acrylic or any combination, so long as it is water soluble) will not stick to Fimo.    In fact, as my fellow paper mache artist and friend Randloph correctly pointed out, the paint actually comes off easier if you have a lot of paint on the claws rather than just a little bit.   So don't worry when you are painting around claws or teeth if you get paint on them.   Rather, make sure you do get them covered in paint.  The thicker the better.    I really love seeing the claws and teeth emerge after being covered.     The effect is dramatic.

 

Finally it is time to see if the two dragons still fit together (Are they still in love?  Long distance relationships...in paper mache land that means a few feet apart...are very difficult to maintain.).    A lot of shifting can happen during the construction and painting.   I held my breath (not trying to be melodramatic here...Eddy just used his litter box in the next room) and twisted them back together.   I was thrilled to find that they still fit together perfectly.

        

As you know by now, I add a "skin" of cloth dipped in glue to my projects.  I first did this with my students back in 1972.   I noticed that our paper mache monsters were brittle and easily broken.   I also noticed that there was lots of Elmer's glue around the school.    So I had the kids bring in old sheets from home.  We tore them into strips and then cut them into various sized pieces of cloth.   We soaked them in the Elmer's glue and applied them to our projects.  The result was amazing.  Not only did it make the projects immensely durable, but we found that we were able to add much more detail with the cloth than with just paper.   (When you wrap a square piece of cloth around a round eye wrinkles naturally develop.)   I dubbed the process "cloth mache" for lack of a better term.  It has taken on a life of it's own since then.  I suppose adding the cloth makes my work more "mixed media" than "paper mache."  But it just never felt right to tell people that I'm a "mixed media" artist.    I still sculpt with paper mache.   The cloth just makes for a perfect skin.  

So first I added cloth to the feet and hands of each dragon.
 

Then I added the breast plates to both.  I really enjoy working on the dragon's bellies. 
 

I wanted a spine running down the back of each dragon.   I cut one out of cardboard first and hot glued it on.  Then I added cloth to it.  I must say, cloth macheing the spine is one of my least favorite activities.   Many hours of work.
 

I then added cloth to the rest of each dragon's body.   Note that, except for the jaws, I haven't constructed the heads yet.   I decided to finish both dragons and reattach them before finishing the heads.   This is an act of delayed gratification.  I love making the heads.   It's hard to stay away from them.

I decided to make scales this time by making polygons and fitting them roughly together.  The effect can be dramatic once it's painted.  
 

I know it's hard to tell the difference, but the dragon on the left is the female, and the dragon on the right is the male.
 
Next step, painting the bodies and reattaching the pair.    They are having trouble staying apart.  They really want to get together again.

See you soon.

        

It was traumatic but I had to separate the two dragons so that I could work on them.   I told them not to worry, that they would be back together soon.   Once I got them apart, the first thing I did was add the wings.   I draped the glue soaked sheets over the "fingers" of each dragon.

 

 
After the cloth dried I trimmed them.

 
I crumple small balls to use for details on the hands and feet and legs and arms.    You can see the knuckles and calves I added with these balls.



  
Here is her foot just before the cloth mache as well as his hands and feet.  Note that I decided to have her claws (and horns) to be white while his will be black.

More soon.  Stay tuned.

        

Hello again.    As you can see, I'm moving along on my dragon pair.    Since they will be entwined I must add the appendages while they are together.   Once I get a sense for how they fit I will separate them and build them apart.   After I finish each dragon I will reassemble them and hope that they still fit nicely together (things shift as I work on them).   

    
I add the legs...and  ...then arms.

  
On the side I put together the rough feet and hands.      You may have noticed that I quit posting how long it is taking me for each session.    At the beginning of this build I swore I would keep track.   But I can't hold an idea for that long, so I've since completely abandoned that idea.   But I've got something close to mark time spent on this pair.    I've picked up another bad habit recently.  I've rediscovered these caramel apple suckers, you know the ones with caramel on the outside and apple sucker on the inside.  Amazing.   One of the fun things about these suckers is the surprise when you first unwrap them, seeing the ratio between the caramel and the apple sucker.     Note the first row of the photo.  That sucker is a severe disappointment.   Front and back have little caramel.  Contrast that to the bottom row.  Look at the caramel on the front and the back!!  Now that is hitting the sucker jackpot.   When I get a sucker like that I just stop working, sit back, and just suck.      So what does this have to do with time?  Well, I ate three bags of these suckers (25 per bag) while assembling this dragon pair. 

Here is the pair just before I separate them.   I know what you're thinking...what a mass of body parts!   Trust me, it will be more clear  when it's finished.


                                            Entwined dragons

        

Thank you all for being so patient.    I'm back to working on my dragon pair.    Last time we talked I'd just finished the main paper mache of all the body parts.   I had also finished cloth macheing the jaws.    Since then I've painted the jaws and done some assembling.    I like to paint my jaws first.   It's much easier than doing it after the project is assembled.    Here are a few photos of the assembly in progress.    The challenge with this project will be making the pair so that everything fits well together.   I started with the tails and then added bodies.  You'd think it should be the other way around.   But in this case that's where the entwining begins. 

  

I added the necks, and then the jaws.

 

On the side, I used Fimo to make horns for the faces.   Now I may not use them.    I still haven't decided how the faces will look.   I also made the tongues.   They won't be entwined, but parallel in nature.  I will take these out, cloth and paint them, and then add them at the end.

At this point I want to let everyone know that these two dragons will not be mating (as I may have implied earlier).  No, even dragons need privacy for that.     But they are definitely going to be bonded in a way that befits passionate creatures.    So it's okay for your kids to watch this build.  

 

More coming soon.    I know, I always say that and then I don't post for a while.  But this time I can promise to add another post soon since I'm actually a lot further along on this project than this looks.   I just haven't processed the photos.   So come back soon.

        

Hi again,
Well, I just finished my "Paper Mache Albino Dragon."    I'm pretty happy with it.   I wanted it to have cat characteristics and I think I captured some of that.  Here are a couple photos.   If you want to see the time-lapse video of the build,  click here .    Now I'm ready to get back to the dragon pair I started ever so long ago.   More regular entries on that project to follow.   Thanks for your patience.

Paper Mache Albino Dragon 

        

        

Remember when I was too busy to work on this project for a while?   That's because I was preparing for my "Ignite Seattle" talk.   Ignite talks were given in 70 cities around the world that evening.   Mine was in my home town, Seattle.   The format for Ignite presentations are simple.  You get 5 minutes and 20 Powerpoint slides (so you can have fade ins and outs, some animation etc).    The slides are autoadvanced every 15 seconds.    Of course my talk was about my paper mache.   It was great fun.   The talk has shown up on Youtube.   If you are interested, click HERE .  

        

So it's taken me a while to get these jaws made.    I want you to know that I haven't been sitting still.   I've just completed a project for a new blog.   It's the "political action" arm of my paper mache empire.   Check it out at Paper Mache Pigs .