Scale Mail Dragon Tail Commission I Just Finished. One Of The Prettiest Patterns Of Colors Ive Had The

Scale mail dragon tail commission I just finished. One of the prettiest patterns of colors I’ve had the pleasure of working with.

It’s got a custom pattern of anodized titanium scales in purple, violet, dark blue and teal, and it’s got a stainless steel underbelly. The anodized titanium has to be special-ordered from the manufacturer, and it’s pretty pricey, but it’s worth it. The spade tip’s shape was based on a reference from the commissioner, and it’s 1/8″ birch plywood that I laser-cut and painted with acrylic paint.

It measures in at 34 inches long without the spade tip, and the spade tip adds 4 inches, bringing it to 38 inches total. It weighs 3 pounds 13 ounces.

I’m currently open for more tail commissions like this! Info here: https://armoreddragon.tumblr.com/tails

Money and the Future

Since I tallied my finances for taxes, I've been thinking about my prices. The transaction and payment processing fees through Etsy and Paypal seem to have increased to more than I'd accounted for. I couldn't figure out when that change happened or if it was announced. But my margins have dropped.

Which is to say, if you've had your eyes on my Etsy store, now would be a good time to put in an order, before I figure out how much I'm gonna raise the prices.

(And I do think the quality of my workmanship has been steadily improving. It's been a while since I last re-balanced my prices, I think the bang-for-your-buck has gone up in that time.)

So yeah. Call this a sale announcement I guess. Length indeterminate, probably until next day I’ve got free to angst about crafting stuff.

Next projects?

Time to decide on a next Project! Current contenders are:

• dragon head version 2

• big cat mask/hood

• corset (probably just a personal project though, sizing them for other people looks Hard)

• get the dragon claw gauntlet design polished up and ready to sell

• open for dragon tail commissions

Thoughts?

I am opening for dragon tail commissions! I'm looking to make 3 during May, possibly more into June. Info here: https://armoreddragon.tumblr.com/tails

I call this design a storm dragon, an angular contrast to the sea dragon mask that's been one of my most successful over the years. Not as many people seem to have been enamored of it, but I'm still fond of the geometric patterns in the fins. This one is dyed silver.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/291664939/storm-dragon-mask

Sometimes you just gotta make something simple as a material test.

Threw together this collar because I’ve been dissatisfied with my strap work. Needed to do a bit of practice and figuring out on making the edges a bit nicer.

Normally I’m happy to just leave the laser-cut edges on things I make. I try to put the hard work into the design, and keep the labor to a minimum. After all, there are plenty of other leather crafters who’re better than I’ll ever be at doing things like highly polished collars and straps. But as I’ve been doing more designs that require buckled connections, it’d be good to get more confident in the hand-made strap department.