Hello again my fellow lion enthusiasts. It’s been a really long time! I’ve been pretty busy with school and Alex disappeared off the face of earth. Just kidding 😀
I haven’t finished painting Ace yet, but I hope to complete the whole project by the end of 2013. Didn’t I say that in 2011?
Anyway, several months ago, I helped restore a dragon tail for a friend in LA. It was just finished last night!
Here’s how the dragon tail looked originally. I’d say it was still in decent condition.
Dragon tail before restoration
A closer look showed damage on the fins. Removing the paper actually revealed that most of the fins were snapped from the main frame.
Fins were pretty banged up
The fins were repaired and reinforced.
Repaired dragon tail frame
After the frame was fixed, a layer of gauze and paper was put on the frame. The papering process wasn’t finished but it was time for my winter break! So I brought the dragon tail back to SF to work on.
Paper mache completed
After two layers of paper, a coat of white was painted on the dragon tail. Then I sketched the patterns and started painting!
Upside orange raindrops on the base coat of white
Most of the patterns were pretty simple to paint. It was similar to coloring within the lines, much like a kid’s coloring book. The most complicated part was blending colors on the fin, but that wasn’t too bad.
Scales completed and blended colors on fin
I couldn’t finish painting the dragon tail during my winter break, so off it went back to LA again.
Paint almost completed. Just needed white shadows on flames
After painting, the entire dragon tail was coated with a glossy varnish. Velcro was hot glued back on, and the project was complete!
Complete!
Hope you guys enjoyed this much needed update!
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