Complex Pattern - Tumblr Posts

Planning the pattern for a somewhat complex dragon tail commission. This one will involve 5 different colors of anodized titanium, which the commissioner special-ordered from the manufacturer, plus stainless steel on the underside. The titanium colors are all kind of irregular and iridescent-looking. Really cool looking. I'll have to grab a photo of them.

This dragon tail is made with anodized titanium scales, which the commissioner special-ordered and sent to me. This is definitely the most beautiful material I've worked with. There were 5 different colors of titanium used here, but because of the way the anodizing works there is a good amount of color variation from one scale to the next, or even within a single scale. It gives the whole piece a cool iridescent appearance.

This tail also has a stainless steel underbelly, which will match with the chrome spikes that I'll be installing down the spine. But I wanted to get photos of it before I did that.

Update of the anodized titanium dragon tail with metal spikes installed down the spine. You can see in the close-ups how irregular and varied the titanium scales are, which I really enjoy. This was for a commissioner, but I'm very much considering a similar one for myself.

Not as many photos of it this time as the previous set, because it was getting dark.

This dragon tail has a fading amber color pattern. It's composed of actual bronze down the center, blending into brown and orange anodized aluminum. The underbelly is standard uncolored aluminum. Also featured in the design is a full like of spikes down the spine.

The bronze when it's new is a shiny-penny copper color, and over time it oxidizes to a more matte and muted brown. I like the material a good amount, and I'm glad the commissioner for this was also excited about it. I don't get much chance to use the material.

I'm including the pattern I drew up for this coloration, in case people are curious. I'll also see about getting someone to model it before I ship it out, because I really liked the blend of colors on this tail and I'd like to get more photos.

This is definitely the shortest dragon tail I've made. The commissioner requested that it be only 16 inches long, so it wouldn't quite reach down to knee height. They asked for a mix of purple and blue, and I put together a pattern for them, which they liked.

Photographing the purple scales is always troublesome. The fact that it's approaching twilight and the light is very blue doesn't help.

As usual, it's made of anodized aluminum scales linked together with stainless steel rings. I included the pattern, in case people were curious. (Though I ended up slightly expanding the top after finishing it according to the pattern and finding that I had mis-calculated the length a bit.)

Cranked out these two dragon tails over the span of a week! It felt good.

The rainbow one I made for myself, and managed to get it done before Halloween. Someone had purchased my previous personal tail shortly before, and I needed something to show off for the holiday of costumes. I'd had the rainbow tail idea kicking around in my head for quite some time, and I'm happy I finally got it made.

The black and red one was made for a commissioner.

Both are made of anodized aluminum scales linked together with stainless steel rings. Both also have lobster clips at the tip for attaching a spade tip to. I'll be cutting the leather for the commissioner's spade tip tomorrow. For my own, I usually cut a few different ones out of different materials to swap out whenever I feel. Also, whenever I find myself at an appropriate party I'll clip glowsticks onto them.

If you're interested in these tails I make, you can check out my tail information page! I'm finally catching up on my commission queue, so I'm likely to finally be able to get new commissions done with relative speed.

I'm thinking about putting a whole lot of metal spikes into the rainbow tail, so it'll match the crazy rainbow helm I recently made. But it'll have to wait until I order more spikes, because that helm used up all of the spikes I had of those types.

This dragon tail has small flecks of purple on a background of black. It was a fun pattern to put together, because I haven’t had many chances to do asymmetric patterns. 

And I can’t believe I’ve never posted any photos of these tails all pineconed. It’s a fun silly thing to do with them. Because of the nature of the scale weave, and since they’re hollow except for a tensile system of internal supports, you can hang them upside-down and lower them onto the ground and they collapse down like that.

Anyway. Purple and black anodized aluminum scales linked together with stainless steel rings. If you’re curious about these, you can check out my tail ordering guide.

This dragon tail has a pattern that was based on an emperor dragonfly. The base color is red, with a black pattern down the spine and an underbelly of a very shiny pink. The leather spade tip was done in a custom double-diamond shape.

The pink used here is a “Bright Anodized” aluminum that I haven’t worked with before. It’s very reflective, and does look quite nice. It’s ten times as expensive as the standard aluminum scales, so I don’t think I’ll be stocking it, but I can order it for commissions. In fact, another commission currently on my queue also is going to be using these Bright Anodized scales, but in blue, and not hidden on the underside of the tail.

This tail was for a tall person. The tail itself measures in at 35 inches, which is my standard size, but the spade tip adds about 3.5 inches onto that length. It weighs in at 3 pounds 3 ounces.

Information about these tails I make is over here, though I’m currently not accepting new commissions until I finish up my current queue.

Got photos of this chainmail dragon tail today. It’s got a custom pattern of jagged V shapes in red on a black background, over a blue underbelly.

It’s not quite done, I still need to add spikes into it down the spine. I plan to get that done and get more photos of it in the next couple days.

I’m almost done clearing out my backlogged commission queue! I’ll be opening up again for new orders soon!

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.

This dragon tail commission is patterned to suggest a tropical sea. It’s got blue and green mixed together with flashes of silver, over an underbelly of sandy yellow. And it’s got a full line of spikes down the spine, and the leather spade tip is dyed turquoise.

It measures in at 29 inches long (31 with the spade tip), and weighs 3 pounds 2 ounces.

This was the last tail outstanding on my queue for now. I’m going to take a couple weeks and either work on personal projects (like maybe something new for Magic Meat Week? Is that happening again this year?) or spending my free time volunteering for Hillary Clinton in whatever capacity I can. Towards the end of the month I’m planning to open for tail commissions to be completed during November, keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested.