The Last Few Weeks Were Pretty Darn Busy For Me Partly Because I Was Working To Complete A Large Order

The last few weeks were pretty darn busy for me partly because I was working to complete a large order of these horned crowns. The customer needed 40 of them for a youth theater performance. Since hand work is only marginally sped up by parallelizing, I did them in series, shipping them out in batches of 5 as I completed them. The one thing I was sad about was that it meant I couldn’t get a photo with a huge pile of all 40 of them, as I never had more than 10 at a time.

This was easily the largest order I’ve received. It was tiring, but exciting.

How many tails have you made and kept for yourselves ?

So far I’ve made around 40 tails over the years. Since they take a bunch of time to make, though, I don’t make them for myself very often. Usually it’ll only be if there’s some particular thing I want to do that I’m not getting commissions for. Like this black dragon tail with clips for glowsticks. Or my current one, this rainbow scale dragon tail, which also currently sports the only wooden spade tip I’ve done. (I’d love to do more, though. They’re fun and simple and sturdy.) 

But I don’t really enjoy having multiple around my room at a time. So when I make a new one I’ll take the old one, inspect it and make any repairs it needs, and sell it off. I think over the years I’ve sold off 4 tails that I’d originally made for myself. I think they’ve all been snapped up on Etsy in under a day. It makes me happier to think of someone else wearing and enjoying them rather than them languishing in my closet. Also, money is nice to have.

Remember kids, this is why you don’t take photos in direct sunlight. In order for the bright parts not to be blown out, the shaded parts end up in total darkness.

Anyway, this was a heat-colored titanium bracelet that I just shipped out. The bracelet is heated over a flame until it starts to glow a bit, and the surface oxidizes with colors that depend on the heat. Always fun to see what you get. This one turned out with a nice gradient from light blue to rose on nearly every scale. But of course the photos sucked.

Hey! Just wondering how many scales do you need for one long tail? :3 about 3 feet? I am starting mine and was wondering before I buy lol

It takes around 4-5 hundred scales to make a 3-foot tail. I’d recommend getting a bit extra to have some to experiment and practice on.

I made this wallet for my sister as a Christmas gift. It’s the first wallet I’ve made, and I think it actually came out pretty well. Next time I need to give the card pockets just a tiny bit more space at the sides and top, and I need to adjust the order of when I sew which parts of it. But on the whole, quite successful.

The outer shell was stained brown, then everything else got a saturating coat of neatsfoot oil. It should help keep it supple and develop a nice patina as time goes on.

The second dragon tail I finished up today! (I’d gotten both mostly built in quick succession, but wasn’t able to do the spikes until just now. Here are some photos of it from earlier without the spikes.) This one has jagged red Vs on a black background, with a blue underbelly. Also a more dense pattern of spikes than I normally do, with large spikes on the red areas and small spikes on the black.

My friends are excellent, by the way.

This one measures in at 33 inches from tip to top of belt, and 3 pounds 1 ounce in weight.

Again, I’ll be opening up for new commissions for these in a week or so. I’ll be updating my tail commissioning guide before I do.