Hi again. Well, here is the assembly of the fifth and last head of my Tiamat Dragon commission. I have to mention that I made some changes to a couple of heads after getting some information from Amy. She sent me a document with some more photos of the dragons. It turns out that the Blue dragon has some very distinctive, large ears. So I replaced the horns on the Blue dragon and added those ears. I also made some small changes to the Red and White dragons. I’ll show you those changes in a later post. I’ll focus this post on the Green dragon head.
As usual, I put the jaws and tongue together first. Then I used paper mache shells to build the forehead…
… and a rudimentary nose.
Speaking of noses… I liked the crinkled look on the wallpaper on the left, but I also liked the more smooth version on the right.
So I tried both. In the end I preferred the smoother version. But who knows, I may change my mind. Everything is tentative until I crate these up for shipping.
One of the main features of the Green dragon is a big, beautiful spine. Right down my alley! That’s what I added. I also sculpted some little indentations around the eyes and temples that I saw in the wallpapers. I like these brown eyes. They will look good with the green color I think.
Time to add the all important horns. I wanted each dragon to have a distinctive horn shape. I decided to give these horns a twist, kind of a spiral shape. I’m happy with them.
I added these horns along the brow, the chin (you can see those below), and the jowls.
Time to add the cloth mache skin. The wallpapers showed a different kind of breast plate for the Green dragon. They look more like scales to me. I made some hexagonal plates for the breast.
Then I added cloth mache lips and eyelids.
I also like the kind of scale on this wallpaper.
This is my interpretation of that pattern. Again, I just used paper mache shells for these. That gave them a bumpy kind of texture. I covered them with cloth mache.
So here is the assembled Green dragon.
And here is the Green dragon with the rest of the heads.
Next, painting! Thanks for stopping by!
Gourmet Paper Mache Blog 
Amazing! I do love your works! I love dragons!
Thanks Laverseau! I love dragons too. It’s hard making non-dragon projects.
Fabulous!! Your client is going to be thrilled with this. Can’t wait to see the paint job.
Lori
Thanks Lori. You always say the nicest things. I hope they like the piece. But really, as we both know, it’s more that I have to like the piece. Then, if they don’t like it, I’ll decide to keep it and all will be fine.
This is real ART I love it every piece I see is perfect CONGRATULATIONS LOVE.
You are sweet Eva. Thank you!
he looks great! love the hex shaped breast plate scales and the handsome head frill. cant wait to see the changes to the others. so glad i could help but kinda feel bad you had to change it :s i can see painting this is gonna be fun and the client is going to love this!
Thanks Amy! I’m very happy with the new ears of the Blue. I’ll show you those soon. I also gave the Red dragon a webbed spine. I didn’t know it was supposed to have one until I saw your PDF. And I changed that crest thing on the White dragon to look more like the photo in the PDF. Not huge changes, but important ones, thanks to you. I’m enjoying the painting although it’s a bit nerve wracking. I want all of them to work. Talk to you later
Wow. Just wow.
Thank you Shaggy!
Love the twisted horns very much, but I liked the scale shape of the wallpaper. But it came out very nice like all your work. Can’t wait to see your paint artistry.
Thanks Ralph. I like this scale idea as well. I appreciate the note!
the dragons are really just out of this world. I can’t wait to see the colors you use. they look just wonderful. I keep learning things from you all the time.
Thank you Pandora! Glad you like these!
I really like the facial expression on this guy, and I’m very impressed with the horns too. Making them around an aluminum core has given a great result! I also love how you’ve given all the heads very different personalities, but still have them look like they belong to the same animal. That must have been a bit of a challenge, and I’m impressed.
Hey Stella. I’m so glad you noticed my attempts to make them look similar as well as different. I painted the mouths the same color for that reason. I’m pretty pleased so far. Thanks for the note!
Love this guy, so much personality. Looking forward to the painting…
Hey Carol. Thank you! I’m painting now. Lots of work. Thanks for stopping by!
These are fantastic, I love watching the progress of your work. I can’t wait to see the painting!
Thank you Teresa! I am painting now. It is always more time consuming when it is a commission because I’m a little more careful. Should have an update soon. Thanks for stopping by.
Dan, I think this guy is my favorite! I love the scales, once again your work is astonishing. I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall when your client(s) uncrate this piece!
Thank you Norma! Just the mention of “uncrate”ing makes me ill. Shipping is very difficult. I swear, it’s more work making the custom shipping container than it is making the project. And in this case there will be quite a few containers. I always worry until it arrives safely.
Nice, very, very nice! \0/!
You are right to worry and spend time with the packaging, it is critical to the integrity of the work! Much success to you and your amazing work!
Thank you for the nice notes Ivonesio. It is much appreciated.
The variety of textures and details is delightful. I am excited to see this latest masterpiece painted, Dan. This is a terrific work of art. I know it is going to thrill your customer when they see it.
Thanks Chet! I’m having fun painting. I should be finished soon. Thanks for the note!
This is just magnificent. I can’t even.
Well, actually I can. I have a technical question: Do you blackwash the inside of the mouth and teeth before you go on to the rest of the sculpting? Is it difficult to get the black paint removed from the teeth sufficiently?
Thanks. And applause, as always.
Hi again. Yes, I do blackwash the mouth first. Sometimes I brush on a little water to help get the paint off the Fimo. But it comes off. Good luck
WOW!! Amazing!
Thank you cerplast!
Hi Dan. Not seen any of your blogs for a while, Hows the Tiamat Dragon going. Painted him yet?
Hi Dave. You caught me. I finished painting on Thursday. But I added some clear casting resin to the mouths and it takes a couple of days for that to harden. I am ready to take photos today. For some reason I am more reluctant to post painting in progress. They just don’t look very good until the last few brush strokes. But I’ll post something very soon, I promise. I am also working on the time-lapse video of this. I have almost 200 videos to edit. Soon…
I can’t wait to see this finished! So far they look amazing, and I bet they look even better painted!
(By the way, the baby dragon you made on the side was really cool.) Seeing new blog posts and videos of yours is one of the highlights of my days. Keep making great art, and take care!
Hey Grumpmeister. I will have finished photos soon. I’m glad you like the baby too. That was just some fun. It helped that I had an egg I’d made a while back. Thanks for your patience!
How long until all painting is completed?
Sorry this is taking so long Ralph. It’s done. I’ll have some photos very soon.
Hi !
Wonderful is it possible to buy one ?
Thank you Carole. I have a few things for sale on my website, https://gourmetpapermache.com/art-for-sale/. I’m currently not taking any commissions. Too much to do . I appreciate your interest.
Hay if you do not have the resin to make the teeth and horns what can you use?
I only used resin to make teeth for the Ice Dragon. Usually I use polymer clay like Fimo or Sculpey. That is what I used on the Tiamat dragon. But actually you can make teeth out of anything sharp, clay, carved wood, plastic.
Holaa, me gustaría que me ayudes a intentar hacer una máscara con estos materiales, es genial!
Hi Johan. I’m glad that you like my techniques. I do have a series on Youtube that shows how I would make masks. They are in English but you can get a lot of information just by looking at the images I think.