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Hi, Melody! If you have a minute, will you tell the story of how the Oriental Moon Dragon made it into a real sculpt at last? For years I knew her as “the one in your Elfwood gallery with the cheese!” but never saw any mention that she might actually be produced (I vaguely remember that there were problems when it was tried? Or just problems finding a crystal ball that would work?)… then I disappeared from the Forums for a while and when I came back I discovered that some Moons really did exist! But I could never find any official discussion of how they came to be, how many were made, and what their future looks like!
Needless to say, I’d be on cloud nine if I discovered that one day I could buy one in Peacock to go with my Oriental family! 😀 😀 😀
Thank you!
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
So far, the moon dragon was only came out as ebay items and in one batch in copper patina.
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/mybooks.htm
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmThis thread is worthless without Afore mentioned cheese pic 😛
It’s in Melody’s gallery, along with photo of the hippogriff, the jackalope, and other interesting stuff.
http://windstoneeditions.com/category/image-galleries/windstone-staff-gallery/melody-pena
This thread is worthless without Afore mentioned cheese pic 😛
Good call ruffian. I approve of this. 🙂 Too bad Melody hasn’t found any stones to look like ‘cheese’ 😉 I suppose we could supply our own chunk of moon cheese.
not trying to steal a thread or anything, but i looked at the link above of melody’s sculpts and i come across this again and again and always wonder the same thing..What are the original sculpts made of? I see some that appear to be made of the same stuff as windstone, a have seen ones that look like normal clay, and I have seen on her elfwood, ones (like the SK) that are made from some kind of air-dry clay…
What does she use? I always wonder cause as much as I love the clay departemtn of art, I have no kiln or access to one, and another question, is does she carve theem at all like the scales? Because I never seem to have sucess at keeping finger prints out of my poly clay..just curious, anyways, looking for suggestions, and still trying to figure molds out..I’m pretty bad at molds..but I’m not sure what works best or how to make a good reusable one at all really either though..
Recently married to the ever lovable BiPolarBear (little John)
www.weaselsoneasels.com | www.facebook.com/weaselsoneaselsAs seen on This is Life with Lisa Ling on CNN (2018) !
Always open for pyo commissions, repairs and fine artwork! Email me for current prices! awier(@)weaselsoneasels.comShe uses a lot of different things depending on the sculpt and the stage it’s in.
Most of the details are carved into a casting of an intermediate version for the sculpt (form, but not detailed).
They make a lot of intermediate casts, then ultimately a master out of a harder material that they use to make the molds from.
I think Melody has said in the past her method is pretty eclectic and likely wouldn’t work well for folks without the access to resources she has.
I think a couple forum members do smaller scale casting (purplecat and Robin come to mind) that might be more helpful than Melody’s method. 🙂
Oops! I typed a reply and then realized this is “Ask Melody”, so she can explain it!
Everybody is always welcome to chime in!
Hi, Melody! If you have a minute, will you tell the story of how the Oriental Moon Dragon made it into a real sculpt at last? For years I knew her as “the one in your Elfwood gallery with the cheese!” but never saw any mention that she might actually be produced (I vaguely remember that there were problems when it was tried? Or just problems finding a crystal ball that would work?)… then I disappeared from the Forums for a while and when I came back I discovered that some Moons really did exist! But I could never find any official discussion of how they came to be, how many were made, and what their future looks like!
Needless to say, I’d be on cloud nine if I discovered that one day I could buy one in Peacock to go with my Oriental family! 😀 😀 😀
Thank you!
All kinds of things got in the way of producing the Moon Dragon:
When I sculpted her, we were only selling wholesale through real gift stores. The Oriental dragons weren’t as popular as the Western dragons, so she got set aside to get the more saleable stuff produced first. This went on for years.Then then we moved – then we had a big backlog of sculpture in the mold making department – then we had casting issues… but now everything is perfect again -except we are out of horns and the orientals are still a pain to cast, so I don’t know when we will be able to make production batches of them.
I was going to use a cast gypsum cheese for her! I need to do that.
I do love the opalite glass spheres that Pam found to use, they make perfect moons.
I don’t know how many we have cast, but I am guessing less than 100 so far. We only have a few castings left, and we aren’t casting more until we have a horn supply. Our ongoing hornlessness is also why I haven’t bothered working on the PYO oriental dragon.not trying to steal a thread or anything, but i looked at the link above of melody’s sculpts and i come across this again and again and always wonder the same thing..What are the original sculpts made of? I see some that appear to be made of the same stuff as windstone, a have seen ones that look like normal clay, and I have seen on her elfwood, ones (like the SK) that are made from some kind of air-dry clay…
What does she use? I always wonder cause as much as I love the clay departemtn of art, I have no kiln or access to one, and another question, is does she carve theem at all like the scales? Because I never seem to have sucess at keeping finger prints out of my poly clay..just curious, anyways, looking for suggestions, and still trying to figure molds out..I’m pretty bad at molds..but I’m not sure what works best or how to make a good reusable one at all really either though..
I use everything. I use polymer clay for rat to squirrel sized pieces, air dry clay for bigger stuff, and I have been using epoxy clay for really small stuff. When I have something sculpted out of clay, Marco, our mold maker, makes a reproduction of it in gypsum. That’s the material I finish detailing and sand and sand and sand … often many generations of castings until I get one right.
These aren’t fired in a kiln.
I have only made a couple molds by myself ( Windstone has a REAL PRO mold maker). Moldmaking is incredibly fun if you have the right attitude, and like to laugh at your own stupidity for doing SOME dumb thing wrong each time… It is hard to learn how to do it without having someone show you. It is so fun though.I would love,love love to be able to actually see the process and how it works, I always love learning stuff like that, and it is part of the reason I am constantly trying new media’s, sometimes I’ll find one I like and work with it for a while till it think im ready to try somethin new, and then go back later. Maybe some day, i’ll get somethin figured out.
and how do you carve into gypsum? Even makeing the eye holes larger on the pyo-s is very loud and seems pretty impossible with metal tools..
Recently married to the ever lovable BiPolarBear (little John)
www.weaselsoneasels.com | www.facebook.com/weaselsoneaselsAs seen on This is Life with Lisa Ling on CNN (2018) !
Always open for pyo commissions, repairs and fine artwork! Email me for current prices! awier(@)weaselsoneasels.comIf Melody doesn’t get someone else to do it sooner, I’ll get her help me pull some progress photos together next time I’m down (feb or march).
The things I’ve seen her use to carve into the gypsum almost look like dental tools to me! If you look at some of the pictures on facebook (I’ll try to find them later) I think you can see some of the sculpts, like the foos, in various states and probably some of the tools on her desk.
I don’t think we can take any photos of the molding process though – Molding and casting are things John hasn’t let me photograph.
I would love,love love to be able to actually see the process and how it works, I always love learning stuff like that, and it is part of the reason I am constantly trying new media’s, sometimes I’ll find one I like and work with it for a while till it think im ready to try somethin new, and then go back later. Maybe some day, i’ll get somethin figured out.
For getting started with mold making, check out this website: http://www.smooth-on.com/
I am always hunting for new sculpting materials to use too. Nothing is perfect! I have found you just need to decide which problems you are willing to tolerate when choosing any clay.and how do you carve into gypsum? Even makeing the eye holes larger on the pyo-s is very loud and seems pretty impossible with metal tools..
I carve gypsum with metal tools, like dental tools, xacto knives and also some carbide steel ones that we make.Yes it is very hard to carve.
I also have been using a Dremel type rotary tool to rough-carve things. They are tricky to use though, gypsum breaks very easily if the tool starts to chatter.
I work so chaotically I don’t think having me show my methods would be of any help to anyone, but I bet if you google “sculpting tutorial” and “Mold making tutorial” you will become an expert in no time.
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