Here There Be Dragons

So, in Chemistry last year, we grew borax crystals on shapes made of pipe cleaners, and it was awesome! And since dragons are awesome, afterwards I made a little pipe cleaner dragon to try to do the same thing with. I even asked my teacher if I could make another one, and she said I could, only I kept forgetting to bring it in… But a couple days ago in physics, we got to make borax crystals again, since it’s with the same teacher, and we saw the borax in the back and got really excited, so she let us. So I brought my little dragon in and finally finished him! I think he looks kind of fluffy! Also, thankfully only one of his wings got kind of crystallized to his neck.

Also, as I was reflecting on just how long it had been since I had originally planned to finish him (almost exactly a year ago, in fact…), I remembered about another dragon I only finished recently, and actually had to retrieve from the art room yesterday… This cool-looking woodburned dragon that I started at camp last summer!

And then, because of course I am always forgetting about projects to finish them and bring them home, I also remembered about this little guy, another dragon, made of clay, which I had actually made at around the same time as the pipe cleaner dragon (and then I forgot until like halfway this year to actually glaze him, after which he had been sitting in my locker until now when I finally remembered to bring him home). I named him Kalec because of his color.

And even though this isn’t actually a dragon, I think it looks cool, and I actually made (and finished) it just after I had started making Kalec last year. It’s a hearthstone, and it hadn’t actually gone according to plan… it kind of exploded in the kiln. But it ended up better, because I was able to glue the pieces back together and then I coated it in spackle, which made it look more rock-like, and kind of glittery and magical and awesome! The swirl had been carved into the clay, and I painted it blue and then put clear acrylic paint over it to make it shiny and fill in the groove so it was smooth (which took a lot of layers…). But I'm really happy with how it turned out, and it fits nicely in the palm of my hand! :)