Some Progress Shots Of The Christmas Gift I Made For My Sister. A Zeppelin Purse. (It's Not A Blimp,

Some progress shots of the Christmas gift I made for my sister. A zeppelin purse. (It's not a blimp, it's a rigid airship.) I drew up the design and laid out the cutsheets in Rhino, then used a laser cutter to cut the leather. Then there was a lot of sewing to do. I also hadn't really been positive how everything would fit together before I started, so I had to undo a couple lines of stitching when I was unable to fit my hands in to sew the last couple of rows of stitching.

I'll post some photos of the finished bag, complete with sister, sometime in the next couple of days.

I did snag the idea from someone else on Etsy who makes figural bags out of felt. Here's the airship bag that gave me the idea. 

I'm excited about these clear polycarbonate scales that the chainmail supply company I get materials from just started making. Here's a bracelet that I put together as a first test of the material.

For quite some time I'd wanted to laser-cut acrylic scales, but was kind of hesitant, because acrylic tends to be more brittle than I would necessarily trust for this sort of thing. But polycarbonate is more durable. (Or, more precisely, I don't know the relative hardnesses of the materials, but when abused, polycarbonate will deform and bend where acrylic will chip and crack. So things made of polycarbonate tend to last longer.)

The clear does give an interesting effect. It'll catch the eye with reflections, but from other angles it can be hard to see the scales at all. The transparency lets you see through to the network of rings that holds the scales together, but where multiple scales overlap it obscures it enough to make it difficult for the eye to make out what is underneath.

A number of my friends have said that they prefer the normal metal scales to these plastic ones. Which I can see. But I think it kind of misses the point. I think these are interesting enough that I'll definitely stock them and make pieces with them. I will also look into cutting my own acrylic scales, because these aren't being produced in different colors, nor are they available in the large size.

Oh, and for the curious, I posted this up for ordering through my Etsy page.

A quick photo of a black sea dragon mask that someone requested. They say they'll be wearing it at Dragon Con as part of a costume. This mask design I have listed in default colors of green and blue, but as with all of my designs I'm more than happy to make it in different colors.

I guess I haven't posted many photos of masks on hats. When I have a booth set up at a craft fair, it's normally the way I prop up the fancier masks I make.

Wooden scale maille choker necklaces that I made in the last week or so after having made some bracelets with smaller wooden scales.

I laser-cut the scales out of marine plywood, which tends to be a very nice material, and is rather strong. (If these were made out of straight planks of hardwood, they would break immediately along the direction of the grain. But the plywood is made with 3 layers of veneer laid cross-wise, so it's much stronger.)

Baltic birch plywood is one of my go-to materials for wood. It's the lighter blonde wood with a very clear grain. I also got a small amount of Okoume to play around with. It's a medium-dark wood with a red tone and a more pronounced grain, a bit similar to mahogany. I like it. For both, I finished the wood with tung oil before cutting it. I'm liking the oil finish more than a varnish or something. It brings out the grain, gives it a bit of luster, and helps waterproof it a bit. But I think it feels more natural and pure than varnishing it, which feels more artificial to me.

I really want to make something large with these scales. Like a dragon tail or a shirt. Also, if people show interest in these, I may also see about acquiring more types of woods.

Here's a custom mask request that's been on my mind for long enough that I'm kind of embarrassed about it. Someone requested that I make a version of a respirator mask worn by someone on a Magic the Gathering card (Ral Zarek is the character). The person is putting together a cosplay of that character, I believe. Here's the source artwork that I was basing it off of. The character is only shown with the mask hanging down around their neck, hair swept back by the wind, lightning flashing around them, looking like they just stepped out of an airship.

So basically, the mask as originally drawn wasn't designed to be worn, but to look cool. So even though the mask as it ended up doesn't hold onto the face all that well, it doesn't fall off, so I'm OK with it. If I were redesigning this for more real wearing, I'd have another attachment point farther forward near the cheeks, and that would have a cord that went up around the top of the head.

Anyway, the next step for this is to paint the whole thing gold. The commissioner says he'll be making the hose attachment.

Newly completed scale dragon tail with mottled red stripes on a black background, plus a full line of spikes down the spine. The last photo I really liked because it showed off the swinging motion of the tail so well.

I also just finished writing up my tail ordering guide and posting it on this blog. If you're interested, check it out: http://armoreddragon.tumblr.com/tails