I need help making clay dragons.....?

Question

I need help making clay dragons.....
I like making clay dragons, about 2 1/2 inches high and 3 inches long(depending on whether i curve the tail or not). Is there a tutorial out there for making clay dragons, and can someone suggest some ideas for like the feet and ears? I have trouble making them. Is it also a good idea to mold the basic shape with foil first....?

Answer 1

I learned everything I know about clay here -- http://catharsisjb.deviantart.com/art/Making-polymer-clay-chibis-33210396

There are also plenty of books at Michael's or JoAnne Fabrics you can get to tell you different techniques.

I also like to use Sculpey brand clay. It's really helpful, and you can warm it up in your hands to make it more pliable, or cool it off in the fridge to make it more rigid. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

You can find various lessons on making all kinds of dragons on my polymer clay site (if you're not using polymer clay, they should still help).
There are also lessons within those lessons on making their feet and ears, and you could also get ideas for how to make those from the lessons on other critters (or even on humans) because many of the principles will be the same.

Re the foil armature, polymer clay shouldn't be more than
1 1/4" thick at any point or it can crack while baking... otherwise no foil or other armature is needed unless you're just trying to save clay.
For a sculpt that small, you'd probably only use a foil ball or oval for the thickest part of the body, and you could also use a bit of heavy wire or twisted wire extending from the foil as armatures in the tail or through the neck if they are long and slender (...especially if you're using the *Sculpey* brand of clay which is weaker after baking in thin areas than Premo, FimoClassic and Kato Polyclay would be... FimoSoft is in-between).

So here are direct links to some of the pages at my site that would deal with all those things:

(on all these pages, you can just look for the info,
and/or you can do a Ctrl + f search on each page for the word:
dragon or feet or ears or foil ... etc.)

http://glassattic.com/polymer/kids_beginners.htm
(...look under the "Sculpting" category for simpler dragons and figures...)

http://glassattic.com/polymer/sculpture.htm
(... there's a lot of good info on that whole page re sculpting with polymer clay in general, but click especially on Websites --even the first screenful there should have lots of good lessons some of which are on dragons, though some of them may be larger or more realistic than you have in mind)

http://glassattic.com/polymer/sculpting_body_and_tools.htm
(...check out at least the categories called scales, wings, feet, ears, etc)

http://glassattic.com/polymer/armatures-perm.htm
(... look under the category called Aluminum Foil and Wire especially)

http://glassattic.com/polymer/heads_masks.htm
(...just faces and heads... people/animals)

The Halloween page may have more on creatures like dragons too:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/Halloween_etc.htm

And you might want to check out this page too on properly baking polymer clay:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/baking.htm


HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 3

draw or cut out a picture of what u want it 2 be then u can put it on the clay n use like a knife or something sharp 2 help u have a feel of wats it gonna be like

Answer 4

Part of being a crafter is practicing until you get the pieces right, and being able to use your own imagination. Just look at pictures and practice til it comes out right.
.