Spiral dragons

[Wichman]

I've got five of these cut and only one is really useable. It's okay as this was a test of my limits and the materials limitations.

All the tails broke at 11" (out of 14") , so I think that's the limit, for now. Many of the smaller details broke, so I'll limit myself to closed edge patterns for now. I still like the concept, now to adjust some patterns  

 

Edited April 5 by Wichman

[rjweb]

There are neat, RJ

[heppnerguy]

 It does indeed to appear quite changing to be cutting the long part without it breaking.  No one really would know it was supposed to be longer if they were not told that anyway. I think you did a marvelous job on them

Dick

heppnerguy

[Wichman]

1 hour ago, heppnerguy said:

 It does indeed to appear quite changing to be cutting the long part without it breaking.  No one really would know it was supposed to be longer if they were not told that anyway. I think you did a marvelous job on them

Dick

heppnerguy

The tails didn't break while cutting them, they broke while bending. The short one broke while I was sanding  

I used paper coffee cups as the bending form and used another cup to hold the dragon, gently twisting with the curl, in place while it dried. I was able to stack 4 at a time to dry.

 

[Roberta Moreton]

I think they are amazing!

[Wichman]

I did a Google search for anyone else doing something like this, the only result that was close was one of my pictures

[Ber Gueda]

On 4/5/2025 at 6:23 PM, Wichman said:

The tails didn't break while cutting them, they broke while bending. The short one broke while I was sanding  

I used paper coffee cups as the bending form and used another cup to hold the dragon, gently twisting with the curl, in place while it dried. I was able to stack 4 at a time to dry.

 

I did not understand very well how did you do the bending? Do you have some pictures of the process?

[Wichman]

1 hour ago, Ber Gueda said:

I did not understand very well how did you do the bending? Do you have some pictures of the process?

I don't have any pictures of the process. If I do another I'll get my son to help take pictures. The process takes two hands and a lot of focus.

I used 20 oz cups from a local coffee shop. I cut the bottoms off several cups to allow better airflow to speed the drying. The dragon and tail were cut at an angle to the grain so that the bias would match the downward angle of the spiral.

For a cup holder design it starts with the dragons head at the top of the cup. For the dragon to sit on top of a tree, start with the head at the bottom of the cup.

After soaking the dragon, hold the body of the dragon 1/2" below the rim. Hold the dragon body at the base of the tail. Next gently bend the tail around the cup, working slowly and allowing the wood fibers a few seconds to relax before moving to the next section, continue until you reach the end of the tail. While continuing to hold the dragon body take another cup and place on top of the dragon, with a slight twisting motion, with the direction on the bend fit the second cup on top of the first cup, when the cups get close to each other carefully tuck the small pieces in the body under the top cup, when the two cups are tight together tuck the end of the tail in between the two cups. Allow to dry 2 to 3 days.