Making Horns and Claws is the final piece to making a dragon, or any fierce creature. After quite a bit of Pinterest research, I luckily noticed a photo from the blog Desert Mountain Bear about making Bear Claws. This was exactly the spark I needed to send me out with a coupon for Sculpty Clay to bake into horns & claws!

The wings for these dragons have caused me no end of trouble. I’ve tried beading wire, sewn fabric wings, glued fabric wings, purchased sheets of felt, wet felted flat pieces, dry felting flat pieces. In the end it was felting my own flat pieces in the coordinating color that worked the best. I roll some fluffing up and CAREFULLY begin felting it into itself. When I’ve got a shape that will fit into the wing, I felted the piece into the wing, along the edge of the already felted chenille stem base. This is where I still hurt myself with sharp barbed felting needles, but what is a dragon with no wings? The sacrifice is worth it!

One of the dragons I’ve made, for more photos click here: Drogon

Felted eyes can be gorgeous, but sadly I don’t have that skill. On a happier note, I adore the look of basic black doll eyes! I order them from amazon in a mixed set of 2mm, 3mm, and 4mm. I also use black glass 5mm eyes. The important thing to have when using these types of eyes is a good awl, I use a nice comfortable rubber awl. Simple craft glue is enough to hold these eyes into place.

I also love the detail which can be achieved using glass eyes. I’ve tried a range of sizes and thickness when it comes to glass eyes, most have been frustrating to work with. I finally discovered LOW Domed 10mm Glass Cabochons, they ship from Malaysia, but they are worth the wait! For the design of the eye simply print out anything on photo paper and put it behind the cabochon! For these eyes I use craft glue to adhere the photo to glass, then Goop to attach the eyes to the dragon.

I had the amusing idea to add eyelashes to some of my dragons. Rich in time, but low in cash I searched through the reviews of amazon’s cheapest fake eyelashes, and discovered this gem: Natural Long and Thick False Eyelashes. I cut them into shape. For a large dragon, I just cut them in half, using one half for each eye. On a crazy whim I also bought these Mini Lashes (found them cheaper at Walgreens), which are just the right size for small dragons! I use a tiny amount of craft glue behind the eyes to hold them in place.

After choosing eyes and getting them glued in the right locations, the mouth and nose are simple by comparison. Use a “Fine” needle, a size 36 or up, to shape a mouth and nose wherever suits your fancy!

One of the dragons I’ve made, for more photos click here: Vixen

There are many sizes of needles, and they each have different uses. I’ll leave it to my fellow WordPress blogger over at The Felting Shoe to explain the specifics: Felting Needles 101

My favorites are a “Coarse” needle, sized 34, for making the body and applying the color. Then I go over the whole thing with a “Fine” needle, sized 36 or 38. I started with a basic set of Fine & Course felting needles from Michaels. I wrapped masking tape around the top tip of the coarse needles to keep them distinct from the fine needles. Eventually I invested in a set of Specialty Needles, but most often I still use the needles from my first pack of basics.

IMPORTANT NOTE! When I first started felting I attempted to use two or three needles at a time, in the misguided theory that would get the project done quicker. Don’t go down this road! It’s painful!! All I ended up doing was stabbing myself bloody. When you use a single needle you have more control, and you can stab deeper into the form of the project, which is actually what gets the project done quicker. Also I don’t use a handle, those seem to be meant for flat wet felting, not 3D sculptures.

On the discussion of felting mats, I don’t use one. Some people buy premade mats. Some people use foam of various thickness. Sometime people fill simple cotton bags with rice to use on a table. I’ve tried foam, I’ve tried the rice bag, and I find it’s really mush simpler to hold your project. True, you may get jabbed more this way, but only until your muscle memory kicks in, after which it quite rare to pierce yourself too hard.

One of the dragons I’ve made, for more photos click here: Morgan