Layers upon Layers...

 OK.  I officially have the base coat on everything now.  Desmond is green and the bricks are stone colored...

 Now I have to make them look like a real dragon and real stones...

This could take a while...

After I get this done, I am going to have to decide what I want to do with the inside of the walls.  I am not sure that I want more stones...

I may just move to wood on the blank end.  I need shelves.  A place to put plant pots, tools and bags of dirt.

And I want to add a potting bench.

While I am trying to decide what to do, I am sitting around curving leaves.

I am using a new mat of a couple of layers of leather.

I couldn't find my stylus, so I am using a crochet hook.  It is working quite well. 

I only have about three or four hundred yet to go.

Wish me luck.  I'm going to need it.

See you tomorrow.

Kota Bites!

Would you argue with this face?  I am not arguing!  Every time I stop working on one of the Christmas presents, he starts stalking me... And  growling...

I did manage to put some stone under Desmond's feet.  He seems more secure.  He still needs to dry a little, so I am working on Christmas presents today...

 No.   I am not going to show you what I am doing... Someone might be spying on me to see what they are getting... I'm not telling...

I have been working since about 7 this morning.

I am getting nowhere fast and making a huge mess doing it.

I think that Christmas is just a holiday where you make a real mess of your house, so that you will have an excuse to take everything out, clean up, and start over... I am in the take everything out part right now. And getting nowhere fast.

Back to the grindstone.  See you tomorrow.

Twenty Four Hours... Or So...

As soon as I kick Kota out of my bead tray, I will start working on some Christmas beading...

This could turn into a cat fight!

Meanwhile, I used my new bag of model air to get Desmond perched on the roof. 

I had a bit of bad luck whilst cooking him.  He lost a couple of toes and a piece out of his side.

No problem.  He is going to be just fine. 

I have to do a bit of smoothing and refining here and there, but he is for all intents and purposes just about finished. 

He is thanking me for turning his head as it is.  He can watch TV all day long from that position.
I am not telling him that he is going to be moving to the family room and will have to look at Zar's Tudor Trailer all day long.

Please don't mention that to him. I am now going to go back and do a little more refining with the air drying clay.  So far, that and the regular Sculpey seem to be working just fine together.  I will let you know how it works out in the long run.

I think that he needs a stone perch under his right foot.  He looks like he is just hanging there by his tail right now. I don't want him to be uncomfortable. 

Back to work and then I have to move a cat!  That will be the hard part.

See you tomorrow.

Another Step Closer...

I tried to get Kota to pose for the dragon... He refused to sit on top of the conservatory and dangle his tail over the top... So much for that idea.

He just wanted to look out the window at the birds in the bird feeder.  That's like TV for cats.

So... I proceeded to work on the dragon in my head.  It worked pretty well.  This build may have to be called the Dragon Conservatory before I am done...

I put some glass eyes in his sockets and made his feet smaller.

The arms are sculpted, but not fastened all the way on yet.  I need to do some more work on them and position them still.

I put his tail on an armature, so that he would keep it twisted the way I wanted him to hold it. 

Looks awful now, but after he is baked, it will do what it is supposed to do.

The wire is simply some craft wire and will stay the way that I pose it.  The end will be buried in his body after he is baked.  The hole will go in the body before I bake him.

I plan to fill in anything that is not the way I want it with the air drying clay.  That way it will all look the same and smooth.

 I Still don't have the wings started, but those can be added at any time.  The bumps on the tail are just put on but not smoothed.  There is still a LOT of finishing to do.

So far, I am pleased with the way things are going.  Keep your fingers, eyes and toes crossed for me... I may need it before I am finished!

Back to work now.

See you tomorrow.