DRAGON HEAD

Here a rough drawing to give me some ideas. On the right is a rough wire frame.I made the frame out of 16 gauge galvanized wire . It comes in 100` rolls or 1 lb rolls. I paid $3.50 per roll at my local hardware store.

In the picture above you can see the ear bone are covered with latex. I did this by wraping the wire frame of the bones first with cotton.I took a bag of cotton balls and unwrapped the balls. They unwrap to 5" or 6" pieces of cotton that I wrap around the wire. Once I have it wrapped I apply mask latex with a brush, The first coat of latex  applied may not cover everything. It basic purpose is to sercure the cotton to the wire frame and to hold the shape .

What your looking at in the picture above it Viva paper towels covered with a coat of latex. ( I use VIVA towels because after the latex drys it looks like dry stretched skin)The first thing I did was take a few sheets of paper towel and tear the cut end away. I did this because the cut ends leave a line when the latex drys.The jagged ends tend blend in better. (This is the same thing with papier mache)  Next I brushed some latex over the the wire frame. Just enough latex so I could place a piece of paper towel over the frame. The idea is to let the latex on the frame glue the towel to the frame. Once the latex drys it turns a little yellow than you can paint on a second coat over the attached towel.In the above picture you can see the wet latex is a milky color and the dried latex is more yellow. If you look on the right of the dragon head you can see a brown wing to another project. I used the same method to that but I used a brown dye in the latex. By using the brown dye I don`t have to worry about painting the wings. I`ll just add black in the corner and seem around the bones to add shadows.

The picture on the left shows the head after a few coats of latex. And a back view on the right. Once I finish adding latex to the front I`ll do the inside. I do this because if I want to push out an area of the face I`ll push it out apply some latex. Once the latex drys that piece I pushed out will stay out.

Some side views but I still have to finish the top of the head.

I mixed some yellow and blue dye into the latex to get green. You can see the latex is a lighter color when its wet.The eye are two rubber balls that fit pretty good.I used hot glue to hold them in place then I covered them with latex. The rubber the balls are made of doesn`t atach to the latex so the eye can come out and be replaced with a light. I also added the nose which is made of cotton covered with latex. To make the nose I paint some latex on the area were the nose is going. Then I took some cotton and shaped it into nose . Then I placed it into the wet latex on the dragons head were I wanted the nose to be. Once it dried I add another coat.

Close up of the eyes and nose. On the right I added some teeth and a tomgue. The tongue was a piece of foam that was stuck to the foam can.( The foam that grows out of the straw when you finished using the can.) The teeth are cotton shaped like teeth and covered with latex.

A side view and close up of the mouth.I also built up gums around the teeth using cotton.

Some back views of the head. On the left you can see the teeth and back of the tongue .You can place a hose for fog in there. And on the right you can see one of the eye balls which can be removed to install a light for some glowing eyes.

This picture is another close up . The ear flaps are about 22 from flap to flap.And the heads is about 14" high.

I`m finished paint so this guys done. I went over his eyes and tongue with  Perma-wet from Monstermakers.com that gives it a wet look.

Above you can see some side views. I covered the eye with yellow colored latex painted a thin black light in each eye. Then I used my air brush to spray a little red over the black line. Just enough to show a hint of red. After it dried I brushed on the perma-wet. I think next time I`ll spray on a sealed over the eye before using the perm-wet to avoid messing up the detail of the eye with the brush.

Materials/Tools Used

1 roll of 16 gauge galvanized wire. (found at local hardware store) 1 gallon  Mask Latex ( I used very little latex so a gallon will make alot of stuff. And I get it from MonsterMakers.com 1 Perma-wet ( comes in a bottle but you use very little) 2 or 3 bags of cotton balls. Check Drug Store .99 cent a bag 1 roll of Viva paper tower. 1.99 Wire cutters, paint brush and a cup for water.

Painting latex To apply latex to my projects I use brushes I get from Harbor Freight Tools. The item # 41338-ocwa and they cost 4.99 for 36. They call them 1/2" shop brushes.There online at harborfreight.com or 1-800-423-2567

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