I made a dragon automaton for the crafts in motion swap. My partner @saintcady had dragons on her list of themes so I decided to make a dragon that flapped his wings.
And so thus began a long period of nothing but looking up dragon and bird automata. I knew I wanted to keep the moving parts somewhat simple as it was my first time trying to build an automaton. But I didnt necessarily want the dragon to be simple, if that makes sense.
I debated multiple materials to build the dragon. Paper clay, balsa wood blocks, a wine cork? In the end, I went with polymer clay. I had to mix two colors to get the purple I wanted.
I also debated multiple materials to make the wings. Polymer clay formed in parts, EVA foam, stencil plastic, fabric. Felt and leather seemed the perfect combo to give his wings enough structure to not just flop over but also allow for flexibility.
His mountain home was burned into one of those kid’s wood stacking/nesting boxes. I wasn’t sure what size I would need so this seemed the best way to get a lot of sizes. KiwiCo has the best price for these especially for what I wanted and needed. Less than $8 USD for the set.
His eyes are little black beads. He is coated in sculpey gloss glaze. I originally bought much stiffer wire for his wings but realized I actually needed more flexible wire so I used some wire I had in my stash.
I used Hillman 14 gauge galvanized wire for the wire used to secure him to the wood box and for the crank. The little stoppers are 6mm silicone rings. I found I had to add a little masking tape around the wire to make the rings a more snug fit but I wanted them to keep the thinner wing wire from straying too far down the crank.
Altogether I was pleased with how it turned out. I will definitely make another in my future.
