The Mad Lab

BONEWART

May 2010 Mad Lab Entry
SEI - Recycled Materials

Matierials Used:

Recycled Cardboard
Recycled Cereal Boxes
Recycled Toilet Paper Tube
Recycled Newspaper

Other Recycled Materials used in the body of Bonewart include 2 Litler Soda Bottles, Toilet Paper Tubes, 20 oz Soda Bottles.

After watching this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWBHO8BbNwg I was inspired. So... I have started working on my own crazy large dragon for Halloween this year.

While my entry is only part of Bonewart, the head, it is 100% complete with the rest of his body in the works.

I started by taking a look at some different wooden puzzles for dragons and dinosaurs. The way the pieces slide together seemed like a good way to start with the basic head shape. I looked at a lot of dragon drawings and dragon skeleton drawings to get ideas tha tI liked for proportion. I knew the body needed to be 20 feet long (mainly because I found a good deal on a drain hose that was the right size and was 20 feet long) Then I started cutting out cardboard, there was a lot of eyeballing and trimming. I made the head and jaw separate so they could eventually come together and still open and close. The base of the structure was created using corrugated card board.

The next step was to add some shape to the armature using cereal box cardboard.

Once the ribbing was in place I used fiberglass tape to fill in the gaps and to help further define the shape of the head. The tape worked great and made putting the strip mache in place much easier.

After it was covered in fiber glass tape I started putting on the strip mache. Nothing fancy, just a quick a dirty covering of 3-4 layers to give it some strength. Once that first layer dried I started placing the teeth. The teeth were cut out of corrugated cardboard and taped into place. I used little bits of wire to hold the teeth into position. Once dried I was able to clip the wire off.

Once the teeth had dried I started adding reinforcement to the joint of the jaw. After talking it over with STOLLOWEEN he gave me some ideas to use milk jugs/plastic where the joints are to add strength since the mache will eventually weaken if put under too much stress. I added section of plastic to the upper and lower jaw. I also cut a large section to act as a plate for sliding the hose connector through in the lower jaw.

After the plastic had been liberally hot glue into place with countless layers of my own skin I roughed it up with sandpaper and covered it again in another 3-4 layers of strip mache. While still wet I slid in the hose connector seen below.

Once all of that dried I was able to start working on the "axel" for the jaw. I ended up using a 5 inch section of 3/4 inch pvc pipe in the head and two plastic thread bobbins as plugs/bolts that can be inserted from the out jaw. A length of wire can run through the pip and hold the plugs in place. I cut a long strip in the bottom of the head and inserted the pip into it. 4 layers of strip mache have been added over top of it to secure it in place. In the eyelets on the jaw I cut a 1/2 inch length of the pvc pipe that fits as a gromet in the lower jaw, then the plug slide through those and into the pipe in the head.

I did a lot of detail work on the head including adding the texture and shape to the teeth, horns, beak, and brow line. I also stared texturing the entire head. In doing so there were some clumps that I couldn't break apart and they look like warts. Since this is going to be a bone dragon, I didn't like the warts at first. However, they are really growing on me and I think this dragon now has a name... Bonewart.

After the top side of clay was all dry it was time to add some clay details to the underside. I.E. the inside of the teeth, the flip side of the horns.

The final detail of the head was to cut a 1/2 section of toilet paper tube to use as an eye socket. I have some LED flicker tea lights I plan to use as fire eyes and the toilet paper tube is the perfect size for a holder. A layer of strip mache was added and then it was hot glued into place. (sorry no good working pic of that) Now the fun part, painting! The base coat was "Hotel Ivory" and then it was dry brushed with a tanish brown mixture. The colors don't photograph well with my cell phone camera but in person it looks a little bit like a dug up bone. A little dirty in spots and a yellowish white underlying color.

Once the dry brushing was set, a brown acrylic-water wash was used to darken it all up.

Here are a few detail shots of how the drain hose was attached that will end up being the spinal column and how the jaw is connected the head.

The rest of Bonewart is really coming along, on my blog I have details on the progress of the hands, feet, rib cage, arm bones, leg bones, vertebra, etc.  You can see more of Bonewart here:
http://apetoes.wordpress.com/bonewart-the-papier-mache-dragon/

Thank you for reading!

Very cool! And your inspiration is awesome. I can't wait to see yours finished!

Your dragon head is great!  I wish that you would have used this picture for the contest entry instead of the one that you did:

This picture clearly shows that your entry is a dragon head and not just a fossilized bone of unknown import.

Thanks for the input Lorriedel, I will remember that for future entries!