Spade Tip - Tumblr Posts
Here's a dragon tail I finished up a couple weeks ago for a commissioner. It's made of primarily red anodized aluminum scales, with stainless steel on the underside. It also has five claw-shaped spikes down the center, giving it nice spines, which is something I've done on a lot of these tails.
The new thing here was the arrow-shaped spade tip. It was an idea that had been in my head for a while, and this commissioner independently asked about it, so I went ahead and came up with a way to do it. It's made of leather, which I stained and sewed together with some padding in the center to give it some extra depth. The spade tip attaches by way of three lobster clasps, so it's also easy to swap out for a change of pace, or in case it ever needs to be repaired.
Here, have a pile of photos of me swinging it around to show off how flexible these tails are.
This tail has a lot of stuff going on. It used 6 different types and sizes of metal claw spike down the spine, with a big increase and decrease in size towards the middle. It also has a diamond-shaped spade tip that attaches to the tip, made of leather and painted gold.
Some action shots of my personal dragon tail and scale shirt, as seen at the dance party of a convention I attended recently. I incorporated a bunch of lobster clasps into the weave on these, specifically so I could attach glowsticks all the way down the spine like you see here.
You can also see the acrylic spade tip I put on the tail. It's a clear fluorescent green, which lights up under black light. I have a couple other tips that I use depending on the circumstance. They also attach with lobster clasps, so it's easy to swap them out.
At some point I want to set up a photo shoot to get some really nice photos of this tail with the glowsticks. The right way to do it would be to start with a completely darkened studio, with a black background and some studio strobes. Set up a long exposure, maybe half a second to get good long trails on the glowsticks, and have the strobes flash at the end of the exposure to get a freeze-frame of the tail and the person. Sadly, I have no good space to set up as a studio, no big black backdrops, and no strobes. Ah well.
Black aluminum dragon tail with chrome spikes and a spade tip. It also has an underbelly in standard aluminum.
The base pattern for this was clean and simple, but the details were nice. The spikes down the spine accentuate the surface and catch the light nicely. They each attach onto the scales with a screw, which I use thread-lock solution on to help ensure they don't loosen. This pattern has become my standard arrangement of spikes. Though I can only get 2 sizes of these spikes, I feel like this arrangement does a good job of giving the impression of a gradual decrease of size from the top to the bottom.
The other fun detail on this tail was the spade tip. It's made of leather, which I laser-cut out to get an accurate pattern, stain, and sew together by hand. It attaches via 3 lobster clasps, so it can be removed or swapped out.
I'm going to post another set of photos with close-ups and details of this tail, because I have a few more photos. If I have a chance before I ship this out to the commissioner, I'll try to get photos with this outside somewhere pretty.
If you're curious about these dragon tails I make, feel free to check out my commission information page about them and drop me a message!
Detail shots of the previous scale dragon tail. There's a bit of laser-engraving on two scales--the name of the character this tail is representing, plus an insignia the commissioner uses. I use the same laser cutters to do this engraving as I use to cut my leather designs.
Also showing some close-up shots of the spade tip. This one was a diamond-shaped tip. It's made of leather, which I laser-cut, stain, and sew together by hand. In between the two exterior layers are more leather pieces shaped to give the final tip a bit of dimensionality and bulk.
You can also see the way in which the spade tip gets attached with three lobster clasps, which means the tips are easily removable. Those last photos were taken before I attached the spikes in.
This is just a spade tip to go along with a dragon tail. This one was ordered by someone who wants to make their own tail, similar to the ones I make, and wanted me to make a tip for the tail. I hope the project goes well for them.
I'm showing two slightly different angles, one with more reflections than the other. As usual, it's laser-cut leather which I stitched together by hand. It was finished with a bronze-colored acrylic paint, and is rather shiny. Also a bit brighter than I'd expected.
For more info on dragon tail commissions, check out my wall of text informational page on them!
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.
Just some shots showing assembly of a leather spade tip for my dragon tails. I pack the inside with layered leather to give it extra thickness and stiffness. These leather pieces are laser-cut out with everything else, then glued together like a double-sided ziggurat and inserted between the outer pieces before sewing it all together. I neglected to get any photos of it while I was sewing them together, but oh well.
A mostly blue dragon tail with a yellow underbelly. Made with anodized aluminum scales, a full line of chrome spikes down the spine, and a diamond-shaped leather spade tip in blue.
I included a close-up of the tip of the tail to show the lobster clasps that hold the spade tip. And also a photo under fluorescent lights to show how hard it is to get this blue to show up properly in photos. White balance is weird, guys.
Anyway, the stats on this one: it measures 33 inches from tip to top of belt line, and the spade tip adds 2.5 inches. In total it weighs 3 pounds 6 ounces.
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.
This dragon tail has a golden flame pattern to it. Made of anodized aluminum scales, mostly yellow/gold with some orange and red. And it has a spade tip made of fluorescent orange acrylic plastic.
It measures in at 32 inches long without the spade tip, 35 with it, and weighs 2 lbs 15 oz.
I’d fallen a bit behind, but nearly finished up March’s commissions in time. I’ve got 2 more tails incoming.
I’ve got a dragon tail to sell! It’s red with black on the spine, with an underbelly of pink bright aluminum scales. Very shiny!
This tail had been made for a commissioner, who then was unable to pay. It’s been sitting in my room for a while, and it’s time to cash it in!
The commissioner had wanted a leather spade tip with a custom shape, which I made, but I didn’t really like it, so instead I’m offering it with both the arrow and heart shapes, but in acrylic plastic rather than the leather that most people get.
It’s for sale over on my Etsy page! Jump on it quick, before that other guy gets it!
I do hope to open up for commissions in not too long, but I need to finish dealing with a few projects currently owed to people.
I had two dragon tail commissions in a row that involved non-standard spade tips. Normally I do them horizontal/flat, in whale-fluke orientation. For this tail though the client wanted a vertical shark-fin orientation. I turned out to rather like it!
The other sort of funky thing about this tail is thankfully impossible to see. The purple scales scattered throughout are anodized titanium, which is a harder metal than the aluminum. I usually try to avoid mixing metals of different hardnesses, because the softer one will tend to get scratched up relatively faster. So to mitigate this problem, I cut a little scale out of suede to weave in beneath each titanium scale, as padding to prevent it from touching the aluminum scales below it. Maaaybe overkill, maaaybe more time consumptive than it was worth, but hey, it won’t scratch itself now.
Primarily made of anodized aluminum, red on top with an orange underbelly. Speckled through the red are some purple anodized titanium scales. It measures 29 inches from tip to belt line without the spade tip, 34 inches with it on. It weighs in at 2 pounds 14 ounces.
Pics of the other tail I’m finishing will be up tomorrow.
And here’s the anodized titanium dragon tail I was working on! I was super happy to get a chance to work with this metal again. Getting these takes putting in a special order to the manufacturer, and there’s always variability between batches, but it’s totally worth it. (There was a bit of a snafu getting started with this one because paying taxes had drained my bank account, and I didn’t have the cash to be able to put in the order for the scales until I had finished another commission... Anyway, it eventually worked out.)
This one also has a funky tip, which took rather a while to work out the specific dimensions on. The upper part goes clear through the tail, and the tail is slitted to provide the space for it. Like my normal spade tips, it attaches in to the tail with lobster clasps, so it’s removable. I’m pretty adamant about doing it like that, because I know that the materials I use for the tips will wear down more easily than the metal of the tail, so I want to make sure they can be easily replaced by the owner without needing to ship the whole thing back to me to take apart the chainmail.
Oh right, this tail also used a different style of spikes than I normally use. These are shaped like eagle claws. I rather like the side view of them, but for some reason they’ve got a strong twist to the side, which I was not a big fan of. The client liked it, though, so that’s fine.
The scales are all anodized titanium, primarily a mix of light blue and dark blue, with a pattern of violet diamonds down the spine and a scattering of teal and green on the top side. Spade tip is Baltic birch plywood with black acrylic paint. It measures in at 35 inches long with the spade tip, 33 inches without. It weighs 3 pounds 11 ounces.
This dragon tail is made of anodized titanium, and it’s got a couple new details!
First is the spade tip. The client wanted this more complicated shape, so I worked out how to get the upper piece to attach through a slit in the pattern of the tail. Like my normal spade tips, it also attaches in with lobster clasps, so it’s removable and swappable for different colors/materials. In this instance the client went for black painted plywood, and I threw in a plain un-painted birch plywood one as a spare.
The second new thing the client requested was the type of spikes used down the spine. The manufacturer refers to these as an eagle claw shape. I do like their profile, but instead of being symmetrical like the rest of the spikes I use, they curve to the side pretty dramatically. I could see it working really well on a big leather collar or super-spiked-out jacket, but for this application I was not super fond of them. But the client liked them, so that’s what matters.
The tail itself is made with a bunch of different colors of anodized titanium: violet diamonds beneath each spike down the spine, a mix of dark and light blue for the background, and a scattering of teal and green. I clustered the teal and green scales towards the top surface, and faded the blues darker on the underside. I got photos of it in a bunch of lighting conditions because the colors can really vary depending on the type of light they’re in.
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
Small scale maille dragon tail! Been a while since I made a short one like this, it’s nice and cute.
It measures just over 24 inches long, and the spade tip adds about 2.5 inches onto that. The scales are black anodized aluminum, and the spade tip is black acrylic. It weighs in at 2 pounds 5 ounces.
One of the funny things that struck me was how it feels subtly different to wear. The most common length of tail I make is about 3 feet long, and those swing like pendulums at about the speed that your hips naturally sway when you walk. This one swings much faster, so it tends towards quicker, bouncier movements.
Which is to say, big ones sway, little ones wiggle.
New dragon tail commission! This one has a complex custom pattern--red mottled striped and brown speckles on a purple background, with an underbelly of yellow with brown stripes. It’s got clusters of spikes down the spine, and a custom 3D shaped spade tip.
As per usual, it’s made of anodized aluminum scales linked with stainless steel rings. The spade tip is leather, and attaches via 3 lobster clasps. The tail measures 34 inches long, 38 inches with the spade tip, and weighs 3 pounds 14 ounces.