Fire Lizards Revisited

Several weeks ago, I joined up with 4 other members of my guild and bought a table at the 3rd annual Shipwreck Bead Artisan show.  We had a fun time despite the heat and sunburns we obtained.  It was a more successful venue than the last one I attempted (where I sold one item for $15 and vowed never to attempt to sell again)

I had made a lot of new earrings, and when I was going through my supplies from the last disappointing show, I came across some Dragons I had made a few years ago. They had been created using techniques I learned from Christi Freisen's Dragon Book.  I included them in the stock I took to the sale, and was very glad it did. They were my best selling item, and I got several leads on possible venues for later sales.  I only sold one pair of my new earrings, which surprised me. I thought they were such a unique design that there would be more interest.  Maybe it was not the right venue.

When I got home, I took stock of my inventory and found that I had few of the little guys left.  It has been a while since I tried my hand at sculpted these critters, but at last Saturday's clay play day, I dedicated my time to relearning how.

I call my little  friends Fire Lizards, in homage to creatures from one of my favorite series of books, The Dragonriders of Pern.

Clive

Cecil

Snuffles

Sunny

Lenny

What I did in Tucson, part II

Another fun class I took from Christi Friesen was a baby dragon hatching from an egg.  I learned how to make the egg shells and have them crack open realistically.  And a different style of wing than I usually make...and I made my first successful dragon claw.  I have tried to make claws in the past with no luck at all - that is why my fire lizards do not have them.  But with Christi's help I succeeded. Now it remains to be seen if this can be accomplished in the comfort of my own studio. Of course, when I added the wings, I covered up the talons so now I can't see them. Next time I will be more careful and show them off.

 Here is my Saucy Dragon.  He is sticking his tongue out for the camera - he really does not like to have his picture taken. 





No Cameras!  I haven't had a chance to shine my scales yet!



Also worth the price of admission was the secret to making the stones the mother dragon laid her egg on.  I am thinking of other uses for this technique. Here is a close up.