I took a break from studying today by finishing up the Zhao Pai on Annie’s lion. Normally, the two circles on the side would have the two characters for awakened lion (醒獅), but they were way too small to write anything in it. I was planning to glue metals disks inside the circles, but decided on trying something else that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. The idea is to glue small bells in place of metal disks. Originally, I was going to use this idea around Ace’s horn, but decided that it might be too obnoxious with the large amount of bells. Since this lion will only have two bells, I decided to try it out. The truth is, I can barely hear the bells when the lion moves. Even with ten bells glued on a lion head, I don’t think it will be too obnoxious. We’ll have to find out when I actually do it!

I was also stuck on what to put in the rectangle at the bottom of the Zhao Pai. Initially, I was thinking of writing the two characters for awakened lion (醒獅), but Annie came up with a better idea! Why not write their last name in English? It would fill up the space pretty well. And so I did it, and here’s the result:

Completed Zhao Pai.

You guys may be wondering why I’m not working on the frame that I’ve started from scratch. No worries, I’ll be getting back to it soon…hopefully…

Back to Annie’s lion, I’ll be cleaning up other parts of the lion soon and then it’ll be like new again (or at least close to new?).

One thing that slightly bugs me is when I see a lion head with a blank Zhao Pai on the back. In my interpretation (and only mine haha), a lion with a blank Zhao Pai has no owner and therefore is untamed, or at least not as tame as it could be. I find it important to paint a last name or school’s name onto the back of the lion as a means of identification and ownership. Of course, this is only my opinion and not culturally based in any way. I’m probably just finding an excuse to get bugged by blank Zhao Pai’s. 😛

Anyway, I spent a little bit of time painting my girlfriend’s last name onto her lion. Here’s a picture:

Ngai Family Lion

My girlfriend brought over her childhood lion head this weekend so we were able to take some detailed pictures of it. The original plan was to restore this lion, but we decided not to because it’s still in pretty good condition. Also, the original paint and tail design are really nice for a baby lion (much better than a lot I’ve seen). I’m just gonna touch up some of the chipped off paint and clean it up a little bit.

The newly planned project is to make a copy of the lion with a different color scheme and maybe some changes to the paint design. Target completion year = 2050 hahaha

Enjoy the pictures!

Front view of the lion.

We’re gonna have to do something about those reverse crossed-eyes haha

The reflective part of the original mirror is missing, but plastic piece around it is still there!

The paint design above the nose.

They used marbles for the pupils. Gonna have to clean up the paint around it.

I really like the design around the horn.

Side view of the lion.

Although simple, I really like the design behind the eyes.

The design behind gills.

The design above the eyes. Really eye-catching!

Back view.

The lion tail is also really cool. It’s different than many of the baby lion tails I’ve seen.

Here’s the manufacturer’s label glued inside the lion. Anyone ever heard of them? I think they’re supposed to be a garment factory of some sort?

I finished the main part a little over a week ago but haven’t had the chance to blog about it. Here’s a picture:

Check out that forehead bulge!

Compared to the first frame, this one has a much bulkier and pronounced forehead. I will be trying to change the dimensions of the mouth and eyes to match this shape better.

Also, I am taking detailed measurements of every single step for this frame. Who knows, maybe the shape will turn out amazing and someone will want to duplicate it? In my dreams…haha