Dragon Sculpture.

[Hans Meevis]

I started a new project a few weeks ago.
Attachment 6938
The start is fabricated from cartridge brass.
Attachment 6939
I carve the neck and head out of two sheets of wax that I temporarily melt together. The when I am finished with the basics I cut the apart and make four pieces which are cast individually to keep the metal down to manageable weights.
Attachment 6940
Delft casting is quick and simple, but I use it for the basic form only.
Attachment 6941
The heads soldered together.
As can be seen, it still require substantial metal finishing off.
Attachment 6942
So far. Now to finish the claws and then the tail and then the wings.

[susieq]

Hans - that's amazing. Is it part of a larger project or will it be a stand-alone dragon?

How do you start your working model for something like that - drawings, scale drawings and then cut from thick paper?

Susie

[caroleallen]

I love it.

[JonLendrum]

Its quite refreshing to see this sort of work on here, looks great!

[Vos]

I absolutely love those 'scales' in the first picture!

Out of interest (and having just bought a delft clay kit) how does casting brass compare to casting silver?

[emsterv]

Very neat! I like the idea of carving the head before dicing it up to remove excess metal. It may be a well-known technique to most, but its the first time I've heard it so thank you.

[Hans Meevis]

Hi Susie,
It is part of a larger project. Essentially, I am going to make a dragon standing guard over a stylistic/faery/treasure plinth.
Inside the plinth will be a piece of proper jewellery of unknown design as yet.
I draw basic cardboard cutouts and then take it from there.
I use a lot of reference pictures of dragons, my favorite being Anne Stokes, from Leeds.
She influences a lot of my fantasy work.
And Blackmore's Night is of course the music of preference in the workshop!

[Hans Meevis]

Hi Vos,
Silver is easier, in that the zinc in brass tends to fume when too much heat is applier too fast.
Remember, though, that Delft does not give the same detail as spin casting, so it is best used for basic shapes.
But the speed in wonderful.
An hour from carving wax to holding the cast piece in your hand.
Attachment 6947
Here is the bottom of the neck just removed from the sand.
Attachment 6946
And here are the two pieces prior to being soldered together.
As you can see, they are somewhat rough, so quite a lot of filing is still needed.

[Hans Meevis]

Attachment 6957
Basic body finished, now for the wings.
Attachment 6958
The frame will be out of brass and the skin will be thin copper sheet with lots more undulation than the cardboard shows.

[enigma]

fantastic! thanks for sharing the process.