Okay, here we go, let’s talk about this little project I just finished up – making a dragon head bookend.
So, I saw these cool dragon bookends online, you know, the ones with the head on one side and the tail on the other. They looked awesome, but they were pretty darn expensive. I thought, “Hey, I can probably make something like that myself!” And so it began.
First, I needed to figure out what to make it out of. I considered clay, but that seemed messy and I wasn’t sure it would be strong enough. Then I thought about wood, but my woodworking skills are, shall we say, not quite up to par. Finally, I decided to go with resin. It’s relatively easy to work with, and once it’s cured, it’s pretty solid.
Next up, I needed a mold. I searched online and found a bunch of dragon head molds, but none of them were exactly what I was looking for. So, being the resourceful guy that I am, I decided to sculpt my own dragon head out of modeling clay. It took a while, and my hands were covered in clay, but I finally got it looking how I wanted. Then, I made a silicone mold of the clay sculpt. This part was also a bit messy, but I managed to get a decent mold after a few tries.
- Sculpting the dragon head: Took about 5 hours, not including breaks to complain about how tired my hands were.
- Making the silicone mold: Another 3 hours of fun, plus waiting for the silicone to cure, which took about 24 hours.
Once the mold was ready, I mixed up the resin according to the instructions. I added some black pigment to give it that cool, dark dragon look. Then, I carefully poured the resin into the mold, making sure to tap it gently to get rid of any air bubbles. This was crucial, I did not want my dragon to be full of holes!
Now came the hardest part: waiting. The resin needed to cure for about 48 hours, and it felt like an eternity. I kept checking on it every few hours, hoping it was done. I had a lot of other things to do, but I could not think about anything but the dragon!
Finally, the resin was cured! I carefully removed the dragon head from the mold, and it looked… pretty good! There were a few imperfections, but nothing I couldn’t fix with a little sanding and some more resin. I spent maybe an hour or so fixing it up. Then I made the tail part using the same technique. I used some wooden blocks that I already had to make sure both ends were the right weight to hold my books. I am pretty sure I could make my own blocks as well, but I was eager to see the final result and I did not want to wait too much.
The Final Result
After all that work, I finally had my dragon head and tail bookends! They’re not perfect, but I’m really happy with how they turned out. And they hold my books perfectly. They look pretty awesome on my bookshelf, if I do say so myself. Plus, I made them myself, which makes them even cooler. I reckon these would easily go for over $30 online, but I made mine for way less. Sweet!
So, that’s the story of my dragon head bookend project. It was a fun little adventure, and I learned a lot along the way. If you’re thinking about trying something like this, I say go for it! Just be prepared for a bit of a mess and a whole lot of waiting. But in the end, you will have a truly unique piece you can be proud of.