Gourmet Paper Mache

Not your third grade paper mache

Posts tagged ‘Game of Thrones’

This is just a page with photos of a few dragons.  Most are old photos, from back in the day when cameras used film and you had to get them processed at “One Hour Photo” (which always took a full day), resurrected from boxes.

I thought I’d start with my first paper mache dragon, made in 1980-ish.   His name was Punk.  He was supposed to be a young dragon, almost fresh from the egg.

Paper Mache "punk" dragon

Punks stands about 5 feet tall.   I still have him in my studio, although he has fallen into severe disrepair.  In fact, I just took his eyes to use for my latest iteration of Drogon (the young adult version).   It’s a bit sacrilegious to do such a thing.  But, it’s also kind of the circle of life when it comes to paper mache art.

Now the second paper mache dragon I made was his mother.  It was also the first drogon trophy I made.  I wanted it to look like his mother, big and protective.  She also had to have features that would lead you to believe that punk would some day grow up and like her.   Now the photo of punk is terrible by today’s standards.   He actually had elements of orange and red on him.  And she had elements of green on her that matched her son’s colors.

Paper mache Igbay Agondray

I am severely disappointed that I never got a photo of them displayed together, as they were intended.   He stood underneath her in my grungy, little, monster-making apartment by the zoo.  She hovered over him protectively.  They were a perfect pair of dragons.

Some other older dragons include the one that hangs over my bathtub.

paper mache bathroom dragon

A little closer look.

paper mache dragon close up

And then there is this red dragon.   It was very large and very heavy.   I donated this to a school that is housed in a public building at the base of the Space Needle (in Seattle, where I live).   They are the “Center School Dragons”.  It is permanently displayed outside the front door of the school.   Sorry, this is a terrible photo.

paper mache red dragon

And another older project, a paper mache “Sea Dragon”.   It is obviously based upon those little sea dragons that live in the sea.

paper mache red dragon

As opposed to another paper mache Sea Dragon that I made within the last couple of years.   It is still my current, favorite dragon.

Paper Mache Seadragon- Dan Reeder

I really like the baby in the nest.

Paper Mache Seadragon baby

Speaking of babies…here is a dragon I made as a commission .   It was supposed to be a “toddler”.

paper mache toddler dragon

Here is another older project that I made for my daughter, Allison.   It is titled “Family Jewels”

paper mache familiy jewels

I forgot.  Here is another very old paper mache dragon.   I show it because it has a very different shape than most of my dragons.  I wanted it to look more like a dinosaur, a raptor.  Hence the short neck and stubby head.

paper mache blue dragon

I do want to mention another little dragon I made in conjunction with a baby lion.   I call this project “Parallel Paper Mache”.   I tried to maintain parallelism in every aspect of the two pieces, the same basic shape, the same look on their faces, the same attitude.  It was quite a challenge.  I think it turned out very well.

Parallel paper mache

 

I’ll end with a notable project.   This are not terribly old, but interesting.   Here is a piece I call “Double Trouble.”

The challenge here was to entwine two dragons.

Paper Mache Double Trouble

 

 

I made a dragon for my friend Pascal and his family.    Here he is.    If you are interested in how he was made, you can see this on my blog, here.

One of the interesting things about this dragon is that when he is hung like this, he looks to be surveying the ground, perhaps looking for little children to eat.

Pascal's paper mache dragon- hoveringWhen his vertical, he looks ready to fight.

Pascal's paper mache dragon- verticalFrom the back

Pascal'w paper mache dragon

 And a close up.  I think the color of the eyes make them really pop.

Pascal's paper mache dragon-face close up

I have been asked for years to make paper mache sculptures that could stay outside.   In fact, weatherproofing paper mache is kind of a holy grail of paper mache artists.    Many have tried.  Many have failed.  I’ve made feeble attempts in the past.  By that I mean I’ve just put a few things outside for a while to see how long they would last.   They didn’t last long.    The thing is, newspaper absorbs moisture.   That’s why we use it after all.  But this time I’ve made something that just might be the answer.  This paper mache dragon is my most recent experiment.  I have put it in the apple tree in my front yard.  I’ve watched it for more than four years now.   It has withstood Seattle weather without any deterioration.   I’m surprised.

outside paper mache dragon

Watching over the neighborhood

outside paper mache dragon-close up

outside paper mache dragon

Looking for children to eat

outside paper mache dragon-looking at you

outside paper mache dragon- look left

The thing is, he has become a landmark on Queen Anne Hill where I live.   Every kid knows my dragon.  He has to last now.  I’m not ready to declare success.  But I’m very optimistic.   I’m willing to say that the process I used describe will last at least 5 years.

So what did I do?  I used “exterior” grade wood glue instead of flour and water paste for the initial paper mache stage.  Then I used the same glue for the “cloth mache” skin.  Then I painted the project with exterior grade paints.  Some people have tried sealants.  I have too.  I don’t like them.  They change the paint.  The clear layer takes away any subtlety in the color.  Who wants something that lasts forever if it looks bad?

 

I love the Game of Thrones.  I decided to make a few paper mache Drogons, parallel to their appearance on the TV series.

Here is the first. In George RR Martin’s books, Drogon is the most fierce of the three dragons.  He is black with red markings.

Paper mache baby drogon

Baby Drogon

 

Viserion was born next.  In the books he was supposed to be a creamy white color with gold markings.  Here he is just breaking out of his egg.

Paper mache baby dragon- green

Viserionbronze

That leaves the third dragon, Rhaegal.  He was born last, as you can see.  He is a green dragon with bronze markings.

Paper Mache dragon egg

Rhaegal

Now I know that in the books, and in the TV series, the three little dragons were born in the fire of the funeral pyre of Daenary’s husband, Dothraki Khal Drogo (I’ll be he was teased as a kid!).   Dani (as I like to call her) went into the fire with her three eggs.  In the book, when the smoke cleared, Rhaegal and Viserion were feeding on Dani’s breasts, and Drogon was on her shoulder.  Perhaps you can see why I took the artistic liberties I did in these renditions.        Once again, I have blog entries of these being made if you are interested.  You can find it here.

And, I have a time-lapse video as well.   Just click on the Rhaegal’s egg above.

Now Drogon did get older.   Here he is as a juvenile.

paper mache juvenile Drogon

And as a young adult (I had to make a trophy since the full dragon would have been way too big!).  I have time-lapse videos of juvenile and young adult Drogons.    Just go to my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/GourmetPaperMache to watch them.  And subscribe if you haven’t.

paper mache Drogon- young adult