Dirt Dragons with Dragons of Whimsy

Clay Dragon Sculpture with Dragons of Whimsy

Past Michele Thymmons and Vered Gillman of Dragons of Whimsy

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Clay Dragon Sculpture with Dragons of Whimsy

Clay Dragon Sculptures with Dragons of Whimsy

Take you e'er watched a movie or Television show similar How to Train Your Dragon, Dragon Centre, Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Eragon, the Never-catastrophe Story, or Game of Thrones, and wanted your ain dragon? They are creatures of myth and fable, notwithstanding we are fascinated by their power, terrible beauty, strength, and ferociousness.  At least I know I am :) Which is why I am very excited to start this ii month serial of Dragon Maker Features!! Over the next ii months we will have several Dragon Maker Features and I will also write an article or 2 about crochet dragons, delve into their myths and legends, give you resources to capture your own dragons, and I will fifty-fifty make ane (or more :) myself!! This Maker Feature group are all amazingly talented artists who use clay to make their dragons and other mythical creatures come up alive!

We will be starting this series with the Dragons of Whimsy, a magical and enchanting land, where Vered has captured her vision of dragons in clay and made them come alive! Her dragons are defenseless in a variety of poses and environments, from those that are plant sleeping on treestars, flowers, and leaves, to those that stare up at y'all with big beautiful optics. Her Draegonlings are adorable petty ones sleeping, and her milky way dragons are heavenly :) Accept a dragon in your listen that you want captured? Vered can create one for you lot every bit well! In this Maker Feature, she describes her journeying and some of the resources that have helped her to strop her craft.

Vered: You lot can find her on Instagram and her Etsy Shop, althougth her customs are closed you tin however follow her on Instagram to encounter the latest dirt dragon sculpture she is working on.

Always since I was a piffling girl, I take always loved annihilation magical and mystical. In fact, I detect myself utterly enchanted past really annihilation in the fantasy genre every bit a whole. Whether I was binge reading novels about hidden magical worlds, concocting costumes for fantastical cosplay, or creating whimsical paintings, the realm of fantasy has been my lifelong passion and pursuit.

My creative endeavors really did not start with clay dragons, though. For years, my medium of pick was pigment. My walls and my closet are filled with acrylic paintings whose subjects are mainly surreal whimsical trees and reimaginings of animals and nature. For a long fourth dimension there was never anything more exciting than the two-for-ane canvas sales which meant I could paint and pigment to my eye'south content!

Clay Dragon Sculpture with Dragons of Whimsy

It wasn't until 2016 that I start discovered polymer dirt. I was planning my enchanted forest themed wedding, just being on a tight upkeep, I turned to the DIY route for most everything. I was meticulously looking for the perfect invitee book, and couldn't observe anything that was just right. My search eventually led me to fantasy book covers fabricated from polymer clay. I started researching and decided right and so that even though I had never used polymer clay, I was going to brand our wedding ceremony guest book out of it. And then afterward a full twenty-four hours of watching tutorials, I went to the art store, bought a agglomeration of supplies, and spent another total twenty-four hour period making our perfect wedding invitee book. Looking dorsum now, there are things I definitely could have washed better (like baking information technology longer!) but it will always be perfect to me considering it is inevitably what led me down this path.

Later on a lot of experimenting, I eventually ended up making dragons because, well, I beloved them and then much. The wonderful thing about creating dragons is that, since nobody knows what they actually look like, the sky's the limit! For me, personally, dragons are elemental beings, and so I generally go my inspiration from nature, and await for her subtleties everywhere I go.

My advice to anyone who wants to kickoff using polymer dirt is, first and foremost, be truthful to yourself, and simply make certain that you are making things that you lot love and that make you happy. If you don't know what yous want to brand or where to kickoff, await to your favorite artists and find the way their art makes you lot feel. Take that feeling and turn it into something original and unique of your own design. Starting time pocket-sized and simple and build upward - it can be really frustrating and time consuming when yous are learning, so brand sure you relish the process and what you get out of it. Keep at information technology and you can't help but better. Above all, proceed creating, keep dreaming, and keep making magic!

Resources that helped me:

Clay Dragon Sculpture with Dragons of Whimsy

Polymer Clay Tutor: She is a wealth of noesis! She has tutorial videos for and so many polymer clay techniques, including how to make a skinner blend without a pasta machine! I used her skinner alloy technique for my Sleeping Beauty Dragon.

Creative Rachy on youtube, specifically this tutorial institute hither:
This is a great tutorial for tips and tricks for people but starting out with polymer clay. I watched this one when I was only learning about the medium. It has some tips on how to mix colors, baking, right temperature, and what to practise if your clay is dried out. It actually helped me out a lot in the very beginning of my clay journey.

This youtube tutorial from Artzierush found here. I watched this tutorial before I fifty-fifty attempted to make a dragon. What I love about this particular tutorial is that she guides people into figuring out how to make their ain pattern with their ain ideas. She also discusses some basic anatomy tips.

Dragons and Beasties, specifically this tutorial found here:
I watched this tutorial when I didn't even know how to begin sculpting the general shape of a dragon, and she guides you through from armature making to finished dragon.


The Blue Canteen Tree has so many astonishing tips for using polymer clay for beginners. I pretty much read through all of their beginner articles when I commencement started out, from how to buy dirt, how to bake clay, to products not to use in on your dirt.

If yous similar this, you may also like:

  • Ultimate List of Dragon Makers on Instagram

  • Clay Dragons with Bella Enchanted Studio

  • Clay Dragons with Dirt Works with Jen

Note - This post contains chapter links, which means I volition make a commission at no actress cost to you, should y'all click through and make a buy.

Clay Dragon Sculpture with Dragons of Whimsy

Anybody creates, designs, and learns things differently. With this in mind, I've tried to include a variety of articles/resource below about clay dragon sculptures, clay sculptures, and more than volition exist added to other articles of the Capturing the Dragons of your Dreams Series. Almost of these resource are free but others include classes or resources that are paid. Starting with myths and legends (no dragon series would be consummate without including dissimilar true worldwide myths and legends every bit dragons tin can be found everywhere!) and then delving into clay sculpting and where you can find these resources will be the three types of resources in each of these articles.

Dragon Myths and Legends From Around the World:

10 Mythical Dragon Entities from Different Cultures describes x different dragon myths from Arab republic of egypt, Georgia (the country), Bhutan, Scandinavia, Mesoamerica (Southward and Central America), Sumeria, Greece, Scotland, Bharat, and ancient Iran (Persia). Each of these is shown in picture show and described equally they are known in culture and history. Did yous know that the Druk (Bhutan) is besides known as the Thunder Dragon and is the reason why the Bhutan leaders take the championship Thunder Dragon Kings? Pretty cool. :)

Where Did Dragons Come up From? by the Smithsonian Magazine. Ever wonder where dragon myths may accept originated from? The Smithsonian delved into this for their article for the Chinese New year - Year of the Dragon (2012). Some of the these explanations include dinosaurs, nile crocodile, goanna (Australian large, predatory animal), Whales, and fifty-fifty the homo brain - huh? Interesting to come across what the ancients could have used to explicate the unexplainable.

Clay Dragon Sculpture with Dragons of Whimsy

Listing of Dragons in Mythology and Folklore literally lists out the diverse dragons divided into region (Asian and European only) as well as an even longer list of other dragons. If you're truly wanting to delve into dragons of myths this is an extensive list to start with :)

Clay Sculpting:

Meridian Tips for Beginner Clay Sculptors gives 10 tips from a multifariousness of clay sculptors on how to set up and showtime sculpting your own clay pieces whether it be homo, characters, dragons, etc.

Beginners Guide to Sculpting in Clay describes how to start with water-based clay and lists our five useful tips to work with clay. The last of which is to find a local studio that may accept classes to help with techniques and working with clay hands on.

Larn Sculpture is a serial of videos by Chuck Oldham (posted 6 years ago) that walks you through his methods for creating sculptures of animals and people.

Where you Tin Purchase these Materials/Equipment:

Clay Dragon Sculpture by Dragons of Whimsy

Online Locations:

I am currently working on an Ultimate List of where you tin can detect clay materials and equipment that will be posted soon. :)

Physical Locations:

If yous prefer to actually touch and see (possibly fifty-fifty scent :)) these items and talk over them with someone physically, most of your local craft stores have some of the types of clay described above too as the equipment. These stores tin include Michaels, Joann Fabrics, Hobby Entrance hall, sometimes even Staples, CVS, Target, Walmart, and other grocery stores may have modeling dirt or other types of dirt and the equipment needed to craft the base of operations/foundation of the dirt sculpture or clay dragon sculpture you want to capture.

You can detect other maker features hither about sculpting, pattern writing, web log creating, and wood etching and you can find tutorials for Tailwind, blocking your handmades and more than here. I'd also love to hear from you lot almost what types of resources you want more information on as well every bit Makers you would similar to nominate for a Maker Characteristic! Please email me or leave a comment on this commodity! Looking frontwards to hearing from you and have a cracking day!

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