Scale - Tumblr Posts
Caminito Del Rey, Andalucía, Spain
June 2024
Fabulous new #rugs from @suryasocial! Love the a#scale of this #pattern. @jami_carlton in it for comparison. #unintentionalselfie #hpmkt #decor #furnishings #stylish #vogue #decoration #instadesign #fashion #style #interiordesign #interiors #rva #love #design #inspiration #beauty #creativity #greatfinds #highpointmarket #highpoint #market
I knew I was feeling light today...
Sense of Scale...
Sense of Scale
Transitional Dining Room - Dining Room Large transitional light wood floor, white floor and wainscoting kitchen/dining room combo photo with beige walls and a tile fireplace
I've been making these costume dragon tails on commission for a few years now. This one I made for myself, though, and I wear it whenever costumes are appropriate.
Compared to some of the tails I've made recently for other people, it's pretty straightforward in terms of design. It's got black anodized aluminum scales on top with standard aluminum on the underside. They're woven together in a chainmail pattern with stainless steel rings. The only special thing on this one is a line of clips down the spine, which I put in so I could hook glowsticks all down the tail. (Sadly, I don't have any photos of it that.)
[Update: I got photos of it with glowsticks! Here they are!]
Dragon Tail commission info
I spent some time and updated my overview of options for the scale maille dragon tails I make, to post it here on Tumblr. It's over here: http://armoreddragon.tumblr.com/tails I may end up posting some sets of photos from slightly older tails to show some examples of different patterns and materials.
I'm mostly liking this theme, except that it kind of hides pages like that behind a little drop-down menu button at the top-left of the blog's main page. Maybe that's OK though.
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.
This dragon tail is made of standard aluminum scales, with a blue anodized aluminum underbelly. It's my standard length of 35 inches long, and that's mostly it. Classic and simple. But at the request of the commissioner, it does have an engraving on the scales on the underside, right below the belt loops where it's attached. (The tail was commissioned as a gift.)
And I guess as an added bonus, the photo with the engraving gives a good shot of the belt loop attachments. There are two straps (made of stainless steel in a European 6-in-1 pattern) that your belt threads through, and if you want to make sure the tail stays well in place when you're wearing it, in between the two loops on the tail you can also thread the belt through the belt loop in the center of the back of your pants.
If you like these tails I make, how about checking out this page with information about them? http://armoreddragon.tumblr.com/tails (My commission queue is currently kind of deep, though. I'm working as fast as I can.)
Here's how I make my chainmail dragon tails. You can see it starting as just a few scales linked together, and growing to be a full piece. Along the way there are some shots of the interior tension supports I put into them to keep the tail from folding flat, and also some detail shots of the belt loop attachment. I use the large sized scales from The Ring Lord, linked together with 16 gauge 5/16" inner diameter rings.
I fairly regularly get people asking for pointers or instructions for these tails, and I give what advice I can, but I've avoided doing something too specific. I prefer to leave the messy details as a learning exercise for the reader. After all, I sure learned a lot about chainmail construction from figuring these out.
But there's a consistent point of confusion for people, which I'll try to clear up. Most people seem to start out thinking of it like a sewing project: they make a big flat triangle of all the scales in the project, then they try to connect it up the back. This is Hard, for a variety of reasons:
Because of the diagonal nature of the scale weave, you can't just join up two symmetric edges--either you have to make the piece asymmetric, or you have to add in the center-most column of scales in between the mirrored edges.
Joining it up like that means the expansions happen along the same seam as you're joining together. Keeping track of all these things is hard, especially because the naked edge of the scale weave is floppy and messy.
It's difficult to get your pliers in there to close up the tip.
You can't really get in to the center of the tube to do anything useful like building the tension supports that I do.
Instead, think of it like a knitting or crocheting project. If you've ever seen someone knit in the round, this may make sense. Basically, I start out with a (tiny) ring of scales, and build rows above that one. So it's a tube the whole time, and I only ever have one edge active. But people tend to stall out on how to build a tube.
Oh, and I guess my weave direction for scales may be different from other people's. All the instructions I've ever seen for weaving scales weave from the top to the bottom, with you looking at the underside of the weave the whole time. This is fine for learning, but I found that I greatly increased my speed by instead weaving from the bottom to the top. I look at and interact with the top edge of the weave, and link each scale down to two below it. After all, it doesn't matter if it's hard to see the rings from previous rows, because they're already there, and I don't need to touch them anymore. Anyway, I could go on about the advantages of weaving in this direction, but it'll just get preachier than I'm already being.
I hope this helps anyone who's thinking of trying their hand at making a scale tail! And for non-maillers, I hope the pictures were fun to scroll past on your feed!
Oh, and here is this tail finished. I made this one a while ago, but kind of forgot about posting the progress shots.
I got this tail done quickly before leaving for Thanksgiving. It's made of anodized aluminum scales linked with stainless steel rings.
Oh, and this post is my 100th post here on Tumblr! That's exciting! And I recently blew past 400 followers! That's also exciting! Thank you all so much. I'm happy that people are enjoying the things I make. Stay tuned, I have exciting plans for new costume pieces to make in the coming months!
For more info about these dragon tails I make, check out my tail ordering guide!
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 is primarily made of blackened stainless steel. It’s a material that I always enjoy using, though it’s got its quirks. The black is formed by a particular oxidizing process that turns the surface into magnetite, which is pretty cool. It’s the same process used to make guns black, I believe. The finish ends up being a slightly varied matte black, which I just really like. It does tend to rub off some black for a while when it’s fresh, most of which is oils from the manufacturing process. And while the steel is stainless, the oxide surface can develop some rusty patches over time. Making sure it’s not wet for too long helps, and a bit of oil can be used to wipe off any rust that does form.
That turned into care instructions for the material, oops.
The commissioner for this tail also requested a very small blue underbelly (made of anodized aluminum). Not enough to see most of the time unless you raised the tail up. It was a neat idea, and I found it fun to do.
Here’s the second dragon tail commission to upload for the day! This one is anodized aluminum, black with speckled green and a green underbelly.
It measures in at 29 inches long and 2 lbs 10 oz.
And the last dragon tail to upload today! It’s made primarily of blackened stainless steel. This one was a short one, only 24 inches long (though coming in at 3 lbs 2 oz, because steel is heavier than aluminum).
I think I need to edit the tip, though. The commissioner’s character had a specific pattern of blue on the tip. I didn’t want to use anodized aluminum there because it tends to get scratched by the steel. Also the commissioner wanted a light blue/teal, where the normal anodized aluminum blue is a deeper royal blue. So I suggested anodized titanium, which I had just enough of left over from a previous project. But the titanium turned out to have rather less contrast with the steel than I’d expected.
I had an idea for how to pad between the steel and the aluminum, so I think I’m going to build an alternate tip, see how it looks, check with the commissioner, and maybe swap it out.
On the upside, this may have been my fasted tail constructed ever. I started it after an early dinner yesterday, and I’d gotten it finished by about 1AM. The short size helped, of course, but man. This was the 5th tail I’d made in a month. I wonder if my speed has improved since the last time I carefully timed myself.
A trio of scale bracelets for someone. It took an embarrassingly long time for us to hash out the details and then for me to get around to making them, so my apologies to that person.
Left to right we have pink and yellow/gold anodized aluminum, then heat-colored titanium.