Read more to see my hat building process.
I got tickets for the rugby world cup Wales v Fiji game in Cardiff. I was gonna be supporting Wales and that meant making a dragon puppet hat to wear to the game.
I wanted to make it all singing all dancing and have the tail, the wings, the head and the jaw move via wires being pulled.
But i didn't plan it well and it looked rubbish. I also had problems with the wiring for the tail - to make it work the wires had to come out the front of the hat and to make them come out the back with the rest of the wires I had to figure out a way of adding something to make the tail wires do a 180deg turn.
I got to this stage (see below pics) with 3 weeks to go till the game when I made an executive decision and go for a regular (non puppet) dragon hat instead.
I wanted to make it all singing all dancing and have the tail, the wings, the head and the jaw move via wires being pulled.
But i didn't plan it well and it looked rubbish. I also had problems with the wiring for the tail - to make it work the wires had to come out the front of the hat and to make them come out the back with the rest of the wires I had to figure out a way of adding something to make the tail wires do a 180deg turn.
I got to this stage (see below pics) with 3 weeks to go till the game when I made an executive decision and go for a regular (non puppet) dragon hat instead.
EMERGENCY DRAGON HAT was born!!
I used my original sketches for the general look.
I shaped the body, the head and the tail from some nice super thick foam I had...but I didn't take any pictures of this stage (facepalm). Then I covered each bit individually with the fleece material and pinned the head and tail onto the body.
Then to add the wings I poked wire through the body from the underside, wrapped around in a circle inside the body cavity, poked the other end of the wire through the other side of the body, back into the body cavity and wrapped it around again. I did this circle shaped bit of wire inside the body in order to give the wings some stability (again no pics of this).
Then to add the wings I poked wire through the body from the underside, wrapped around in a circle inside the body cavity, poked the other end of the wire through the other side of the body, back into the body cavity and wrapped it around again. I did this circle shaped bit of wire inside the body in order to give the wings some stability (again no pics of this).
The next step was to make a wiggly tongue like the welsh dragon. and to add back spikes. The back spikes were made from scrap foam and then covered in fleece and sewn on to the back of the dragon from head to tail.
I made the tongue from two pieces of felt with a bit of wire in between them. I made the wire into a narrow V shape with some extra wire at the end to fit into the head for securing. Then I cut the felt to shape, layed it over the long V shaped wire and felted the sides on the outside of the wire. The felting allowed me to make a tongue without a seam.
I cut a slit in the roof of the mouth fleece and put the extra end of the tongue wire inside the fleece and sewed the slit back up again.
I cut the teeth out of white felt and sewed them on. I used red thread to make a feature out of the stitches rather than trying to hide them badly.
Then I started thinking about adding nostrils. I couldn't decided which version would look the best and after consulting the puppet makers workshop peoples on facebook I realised that the nostril problem was really down to the eyes being too small.
So I decided to do the nostrils later and go to the shop to buy some more bigger eyes.
Then I started thinking about adding nostrils. I couldn't decided which version would look the best and after consulting the puppet makers workshop peoples on facebook I realised that the nostril problem was really down to the eyes being too small.
So I decided to do the nostrils later and go to the shop to buy some more bigger eyes.
Then I sewed on the legs and feet that I had made for dragon hat version 1.0.
I put wire in the feet so that I could curve the claws to look like they are holding on.
I also made the hat making sure that I cut the fabric stretchy way around the forehead so that it would grip onto my head and help the hat stay on.
I put wire in the feet so that I could curve the claws to look like they are holding on.
I also made the hat making sure that I cut the fabric stretchy way around the forehead so that it would grip onto my head and help the hat stay on.
I went back to work on nostrils and eyes and figured out which ones looked best.
Here is the final hat.