Well, the dragon is done.  At least 99.9% done. I think he could use a little more beading on the tops of his legs, but I can do that later.  I had originally wanted to give him a 'beard and mane', but even though I had plenty of great coloured mohair, none of it looked right. So he'll go without.

He's very lightweight, and quite posable, and I figured I'd take some photos of him in the studio, along with a BID, so you can see how well he can pose, and how big he is....

So, let's go try that again.....

My dragon construction is entering the final stretch.  I finished most of the beading. The tops of both wings are done, as are all the fins on his back. All his claws are sculpted from Aves Apoxy, which is fine on the ends of his fingers and toes, but I needed something more forgiving (and pliable) to shape his knuckles - after all I can't have his knuckles popping off if he bends his fingers - and I wanted to add 3-D wing veins. Which meant 3-D fabric paint. We went to Michael's twice before I finally settled on some bright dark blue 3-D fabric paint with my weekly 50% off coupon (I know, 50% off $1.99 isn't exactly 'big savings', but I will take it where I can) and the blue wasn't the perfect colour choice, but our Michaels has extremely little choice. 

However, after thinking about it some more, I decided I wanted lighter wing veins. I intended to paint over them anyways, and it would be easier to paint a light colour over a lighter base, so back to Michaels we went again - this time without a coupon (I was lazy). They only have very limited colours at our Michaels (it's a very small store) so in the end I chose the 'Glow-in-the-Dark 3-D fabric paint.  It was a light pale yellow-green colour, so should work well. I don't know if the 'glow-in-the-dark still works under paint, not that it really matters, but it would be nice if the dragon didn't need a flashlight to see what he was doing in the dark.

With the final Apoxie additions cured, and the 3-D paint dried, today's job is to
​finish painting everything. Then I can put him together!  Can't wait!

The girls brought an interesting collection of dolls with them this morning.  Teagan brought a new kind of doll that her 'Little Grandma' had given her at Christmas. Maybe she's the Walmart brand?

I still have my 'Christmas Room' set up on the end of the dining room table,
​ so the dolls got a chance to pretend it was still Christmas...

Rachel brought a tiny doll along. She said she could be a 'doll' to the other bigger dolls.....

My dragon continues to progress, although slowly. I've designed new arms and wings for him, and decided how I intend to attach them to the body. They are sewn and stuffed. The top edges of the wings were extremely challenging to stuff. Now I'm waiting for the Apoxie claws to cure....

I need to wet the wings to let the first layer of paint soak in, and then find something to use for 3-D wing veins. After the top edges of the wings are painted, then I'll do some beading. The final step will be to build up the 'elbow' joint of the wing with Apoxie. 

I've painted the dragon's head and am very pleased. Now he's impatiently watching my progress on his limbs. It's going far too slow for his liking.....

So I got some pins to stick his arms on so he could see how they would look....

I think he's pleased....

I'm getting very excited about him!  I've always wanted to make a dragon, and even started a wire armature once-upon-a-time with the intention of sculpting one like Marianne's dragon.  But I really don't like sculpting, so he was never made.  I think this new technique of starting with cloth body parts, and building up details with Apoxie is "my" way to make a dragon. I much prefer working with fabric and beads. Minimal sculpting is tolerable, and painting brings everything together.

​I can't wait until he's done!

For the past week or so, I've been working on a hooded cloak for my larger ladies. I have several gorgeous larger dolls, but they rarely get photographed. So I thought I should make a nice cloak so I can take the dolls out for winter photo shoots. It took some time to finish, as velour is both stretchy and has a nap, so every seam had to be hand-basted first. And the cloak is huge! It took an entire metre. And the bottom edge was at least three metres wide, so it took several days to hem by hand.

Asa has been modelling for me, and this morning with all the fresh snow, I thought it would be the perfect time to take her outside for some photos. However, I thought she really could use a nice fur muff to keep her hands warm, so I looked through my boxes of fur to find just the right colour and length. I have all kinds of fur scraps, bits of fur collars from old coats, and the most interesting fur purchased at Trading Posts up north over the years long ago. There's seal fur, ermine, lots of rabbit, and even polar bear. I ended up choosing mink from an old coat collar.

It's supposed to snow all week, so I'm hoping we can go out for some
​magical photos in the woods on the weekend.

I'm continuing to work on my dragon, but it goes rather slowly.  I wanted a more realistic face than simple soft-sculpturing (which I don't like doing anyways), so am building up face details with Aves Apoxie, adding little bits at a time. Sculpting isn't really my strong suit either, so working with tiny amounts of Apoxie at any given time, means I won't mess up earlier parts, since they will be hardened already. 

His eye area was built up in layers, and the bases of the horns were added after beading the front of his face. I made his teeth and horn first,  letting them cure before adding them to the face. I think all the Apoxie work is done on his face now, but he still needs some beading along the tops of his ears, and along the fins on his back, as well as down the other side of his body. 

I've built up claws on his feet, anchoring them over large beads I'd sewn on first. The main body and legs are from a pattern from Smallworks, but I'm not happy with the way the wings work, and want to go a totally different direction with those, so will have to start over and design dragon arms and wings from scratch. So, still lots to do.

The whole goal is to have a realistic-looking dragon friend for my Fantasy crew,
but one that's light-weight, not too delicate - can handle being thrown in the car
to go on a photo shoot - and is poseable.   So far, so good.

It's been pouring rain for a couple of days now, and my kids are getting impatient,
​ waiting for when it gets cold enough to make an ice rink....

"When are we ever going to be able to try out our new skates, and hockey equipment?"

Well, I don't want to be making any promises, but there's a big winter storm
​headed our way, and it's supposed to hit any minute now.

I'm starting off the new year trying to finish the dragon I started back in September. He's a stuffed fabric dragon from a pattern by Melinda Small Patterson. All the body parts are sewn and stuffed..

Next comes a bit of soft-sculpture, and some painting....

I plan on building up the face details with Apoxie Sculpt, so right now it just has 
minimal soft-sculpturing, and beads sewn in for the basic eye shape. He still
needs his basic stuffed antlers and horns, and then I can start sculpting...

I'm not convinced that the button-jointed wings with claws are going to work for me.  

A dragon like if Marianne's and Smallworks' dragons had a baby, with the best attributes of both; not too heavy, soft stuffed fabric, that's not going to break easily, but with the details of a sculpted dragon. And fully poseable. Not asking much, am I?  

So I'm continuing with the body and legs, and once those are together, I will take a serious look at the Smallworks arm/wing design to see if it will fit my needs. If not, which I suspect will be the case, then it's starting over with those and designing separate wired arms and wired wings, and figuring out how to best attach those.

Just put up the second of two green lace dresses I made last week. The fabric I was using had two fancy edges, so I figured I might as well make two at the same time. They were made to fit a
Kaye Wiggs MSD, and the MIM doll for my granddaughter. So, there's just the one left.

Here's my Miki modelling it....

Just click on photo above for details.

​The dress will also fit an Iplehouse JID with small chest....