Frequently Asked Questions
Why Dragons?
I mean probably for the same reason as most people. Dragons are a core part of fantasy, gaming, and folklore. All things I myself loved as a child, and still now as an adult continue to love. My favorite book from when I was very young was a beautiful picture book called "The Dragon and the Unicorn" the pictures were enchanting, and my Mom made me the princess costume from the book because I loved it so much.
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As a sculptor, it's also really fun creating a creature that's not 'real' because it doesn't limit my creativity. When someone hears: rabbit, dog, cat, pig, etc. They have certain expectations, with dragons who says they can't have 3 eyes, 7 legs and a mushroom popping out of their head. It's a lot more fun and free to make fantasy creatures because the options are limitless.
How do you make your eyes?
All of my eyes are glass cabochons, with a design of my own make printed onto the back, it's a much simpler process that I was unable to do until I acquired my printer before that I did this:
Hand painted onto glass cabochons, I use a small stamp I made myself with scrap clay to get the black circles all the same size and shape. I purchase the glass cabochons on amazon.com, but there are many places and shops that sell them.
What tools do you use?
The main tools I use for sculpting are sets I bought, one from Michael’s and one from amazon that were just generic tool sets with a variety of shapes and angles used for a number of different things. I also use a rubber gum dental pick for smoothing clay around hard to reach areas, it’s quite possibly my favorite and most used tool in my arsenal. I also use a very fine pair of tweezers for making paws and picking out fine hairs and dust that sometimes gets into the clay. I use a small amount of rubbing alcohol on my sculptures as well to help them be as clean and neat as they can be. A set of dotting tools is also in my tool kit for various texturing and grooves.
How do you PUT LIGHTS IN YOUR SCULPTURES?
All my sculptures that feature LEDs either in the sculpture itself or in a part of it are made by using translucent sculpty. It is the only clay I know of that allows light to shine through well and give a lovely glowing effect. Any of my pieces with the lights actually contained within the sculpture itself is also made with apoxie sculpt, as it’s an epoxy clay that air dries, therefore is workable around electrical wires without melting them or damaging the solder in any way. All my pieces that feature lights have a battery socket and switch built into them so replacing the battery is relatively simple and easy as well as turning your light on or off.
Where did you learn to solder/build circuits?
I worked for 4 years for an electronics company, where I was trained to solder and eventually became skilled enough at it to be a solder rework specialist. It’s always been something I enjoyed and I have my very own soldering iron and electronic set up at home I enjoy messing with. I hope to as my business grows, to offer more fancy pieces with the LED’s programmed to fade in and out, or change colors depending on the sculpture or design. As for now though that’s on hold as it would greatly add to the price of my pieces to add a circuit board to allow that to be done. It’s definitely something I hope to be adding in the future though so keep your eyes peeled!
How do you keep your sculptures from breaking in transit?
I send each of my sculptures packed in a variety of layers to hopefully keep them as safe as possible until they arrive to the customer. I first pack them in a bunch of cotton balls, then wrap the whole thing up in a ball of bubble wrap. Then I place it into a cute little takeout container with my logo on it, then that gets placed into a shipping box (generic ones I purchase on amazon) with a layer of newspaper around that. With all those layers of different protection it seems to work well as I have not had a report yet of anything being broken upon delivery!
Don’t see your question here? Feel free to contact me
I’m always happy to answer questions, feel free to reach out to me on any of my social medias or email. Facebook is probably the slowest response rate from me as I refuse to download their mobile app and give them access to my entire phone, so please keep that in mind if you’re looking for a quick answer.
