Page 56 - Creating Whimsical Characters Using Simple Wood and Paper Forms, Wire, Paperclay, and Encaustic Medium

This is the armature for the dragon player. We used

square and rectangular dowels for the body and legs
and round dowels for the forearms and neck. The

head is a wooden egg. And the wings are made of
wire mesh. Notice how the arms have been attached

to the body using wood glue and a screw that’s been
countersunk. And wood glue and a finishing nail

were used to attach the two parts of the legs.

Because the large wings can be quite heavy with the
wet clay, I had to sculpt him in
two phases. In the first phase I

did a base coat of paperclay on

the entire body and put a thin coat of paperclay on
the wings. The wings were done last and the
dragon had to be laid on it’s back on top of some

wax paper covered boards with the wings carefully
positioned into place for the clay to dry.

Once the clay is dry, the wings are frozen in place

and quite sturdy. In the second phase of sculpting,
I added all the detail work and the tail. I just

misted the dry areas with water and added new
wet paperclay.

56