Beautiful Welsh Dragon

Here he is, finished in all his glory. The real beauty of stained glass is the way light plays through it, every minute as the light changes it looks different; comes to life. 

Enjoy the pictures, hope you enjoy him. 

Welsh Dragon

Thought I had better do a quick update. It's been a busy week so didn't progress as much as I would have wished. Was hoping to have him finished by now, there is only about a days work left to do so should have him finished Wednesday. 

This week we ran a stained glass course, which went well; but sadly my kiln has broken down which is causing a few problems. New one being delivered next Tuesday should put us back on the rails. In the mean time have a look at our lovely dragon. 

On Terra Cotta

Had a couple of spare hours so cracked on with the green. It's very tricky getting even the simple looking pieces to fit; one curve just a fraction too tight and everything moves. Very accurate cutting of both templates and glass is the key, but eyes like micrometers helps. Looks good standing on terra cotta. 

Nice Dragon

That's the easy part done, all the tricky little bits. Nice dragon though. The hard part now starts, cutting the big white and green background pieces. Made a few minor changes to his back right foot to improve the look, drew a new part cartoon which I will include with the main one as a Mk2 modification. He does look good with his big claws and spikes though. 

Tomorrow we have a stained glass course on so I doubt there will be much progress till next week. 

Half a Dragon

Didn't get quite as far as planned today, my knees gave up early afternoon so took the opportunity to watch a bit of the History Channel. Reworked his tail a bit to slim the lines down and look more serpentine than canine and it worked a treat. The great thing about doing this as an appliqué picture is that we can create fantastically vicious looking spikes spurs and claws, a dragon should look formidable. 

 

Welsh Dragon

Coming together nicely. We have used a rough rolled glass in the end, there is a better range of reds and the texture is still good for scales. Should have him finished tomorrow with just the background to go. 

How to make a Dragon

I've been asked by several people how you go about designing something as complicated as the stained glass dragon. It starts with the idea and a clear vision of what you are aiming to achieve, in this case a glass flag. An interweb search gives clear images, I never look at similar stained glass projects, I need inspiration not imitation. I then do a blobby sketch to get layout, orientation and scale right; at this point you need a vivid imagination to see a dragon. 

I then draw in a clear outline and basic shapes. A lot of rubber gets used at this stage but it leaves me with a good working drawing. 

Now we start to convert nice sketch to stained glass cartoon. The detail is drawn in very gently, and then I sit back and stare for a while, looking for shapes that won't work in glass. An adjustment is drawn and I sit back again. When happy, it goes up on the wall for a day or so until I am entirely happy with it. The detail is then overdrawn in bold black felt tip pen. 

After more pondering it goes onto the light box under a sheet of tracing paper. With a fine marker pen I then trace what will be the final shape, we can still make adjustments at this stage. The sketch is then removed, leaving the master cartoon on which the remaining cut lines and the border are drawn in. 

I then make four copies and file the master. 

Simples. 

I will put a PDF copy on my website if anyone wants to copy him; if you do make money out of him please make a donation to one of my charities. 

Cartoon drawn

Cartoon drawn and ready for glass. I have made the flag slightly bigger so he sits in it rather than on it. Will use a slightly textured muffle glass for the scales to give a scaly look and probably cathedral glass for the wings. Background will be semi opaque to make the dragon stand out, hope you like him. 

Sent from my iPhone

Stained glass Welsh Dragon

Next project is a Welsh Dragon. The photo is a previous example which was completed with copper foil and was shaped entirely by hand. I have since entered the technical age and added electric grinding machines to my equipment inventory, these allow very tight concave curves to be achieved and so I am changing the design slightly to make the most of this. I will also enlarge it a bit and will assemble it as an appliqué project, if the client is not to happy with that it is simple to copper foil him. 

Magnificent beast isn't he (dragons not too bad either).