Savannah’s Color Guard is doing a dragon dance this year, and we needed a dragon. They can be bought, but the cost is pretty high, so we decided to make our own.
We experimented with a few different approaches, including wood and foam. We really weren’t happy with either. There’s not a lot of dragon production going on in Florida, so we did our best to try to figure out how traditional dragons were made. They need to be light, yet durable. Looking at dozens of photos, we decided that they were mostly built on a wire frame.
This dragon gave us a good feel of the structure underneath
Using an enlargement of the photo above, we could clearly see the wire structure. This became our template.
Six gauge copper foundation
Large gauge copper (6) was used to form the foundation, the head rings which would form internal grid for structural integrity, including the skull and the jaw lines, which would take the most abuse.
Another view of the six gauge
This layer would be followed by eight gauge to form more of the structure, but in a thinner gauge to keep the weight down. With the copper we thought about soldered joints, but decided these joins would be too weak for a whole season of competition, so we opted for a stronger ‘mechanical’ join. To achieve this we used 10 gauge stainless steel wire.
Basic foundation
The copper is thick, but pliable and serves for a good foundation. The steel is thinner, but more flexible and forgiving. So we used the thinner 10 gauge steel to form the internal lines, or “wireframe” around the copper, as well as the external ‘horns’. They bounce back after getting hit. Everything is tied back into the internal stiff copper ring, which will be attached to a PVC mounting ring in the future. You can pick this thing up and put it through all sorts of abuse and it springs back fine.
Scale of the dragon
Dragon heads seem to come in all sizes. This one will be on the end of a pole, and needs to be large enough to capture the imagination of the audience viewing it from the stands of a football field, but small enough to be handled agilely by a color guard member. With that in mind, we worked up our head to be the above size.
With the foundation of the dragon complete, we’ll now begin to put on it’s skin. We bought some red silk-like material to cover it with, and then will follow with some accent colors. We’ll also create ‘flame’ drape-like transitional piece to fit with it’s yellow body (which will have some red complements too it as well).
We had some left-over eyes (don’t ask) and they worked great. For effect, Savannah taped on some paper teeth.
PVC Support
The dragon is going to ‘dance’ at the end of a pole. To create the structure that will be used to both support the pole, attach the head and act as an attachment point for the body fabric, we needed a strong sub-structure. We built it out of 1 inch, schedule 40 PVC. In the image above, the left portion will be attached to the wire structure of the head. You can see the threaded PVC ‘pole’ attachment beneath. On the right is the attachment point for the dragon’s body.
PVC support and the wireframe
The support structure and the wireframe are joined and hold together perfectly. In our own ‘mock’ dragon dance, we feel confident on how solid the structure is. Next step is to cover it with the yellow fabric and then add details. We’re right on schedule and should have it done by the end of the month as promised!
Faux Dragon Dance
As a test, Savannah simulated a dragon dance for two minutes in the July sun. She reports that it should be very do-able for the lead person to perform the dance. We concerned because of the weight of the PVC and the copper.
New stand, eye s’wooshes’ and mouth
We built a PVC stand to mount the head so we could work on the ’skin.’ The stand will most likely be needed in the future to transport the head. It fits on with the same 1″ threaded PVC attachment as a pole would. After that we put down the ‘mouth’ lining layer using fabric glue. While the glue holds very well, and is waterproof, most of these joins will be sewn in the future. As a test we also draped some of our green boa around the newly added ‘eye swooshes” to see how it works. So tonight we continue with covering the head with they yellow fabric.
Working the wire
Tonight we framed the wire with the yellow fabric.
Lots of wire, more glue.
The goal for the night was to have the head formed and prepped for detail. Nailed it.
The basic head structure is complete. Tomorrow we’ll add on teeth, put back the eyes and start bringing the ‘highlight’ aspects. On the last day we’ll do clean up and bring this puppy home, on deadline.
Giving Byron a little teeth
Now that he has a a mouth, he let us know his name was Byron. Today he got his teeth, cut from craft foam and glued in place.
And a little nose detailing
All traditional dragons have a ’sawtooth’ pattern surrounding the mouth. Again, with craft foam we put in a few rows.
Lips for Byron
Using red boa, we put on some lips. He’s tilted here so we could let gravity help us a bit. We also used green boa to line his eyelids, and taped them in place to dry. His eyes were attached to red ’swooshes’ and are drying on the side for mounting tomorrow.
So tomorrow is the last day of the month, and the deadline for the dragon. All that needs to be done is to install his eyes, finish the other side of the lips and to put in his tongue, which is also drying on the side. We have some whiskers, but haven’t decided if we’re going to use them or not.
Byron is done!
We finished up Byron today, putting in his eyes, some side detail, whiskers and a few other small details. The finished dragon head comes in at 8lbs.
