Okay better explain the title i think lol...
I am currently working on three large dragon head trophies, or rather have been for some time amongst other dozens of projects which i cycle through. One of the trophies is in the paint stage right now and has 'frons' (medium sized solid frills with spines) on the head. This will be a female dragon you can see some of the earlier pictures of this one in the right hand WIPs (Work In Progress) column as well as a couple of earlier posts. The other a male is to have horns.
Now whilst messing around with the horn designs for the male i got a little side tracked (whats new lol) and figured why not make some life size bull/cow horns with ornamental stands for my Etsy shop? I will modify some of these to be large dragon horns too later with twists and ridges along they're length. For now though i thought why not show you how i am making the bull/cow horn versions. Later i will show you how i am going to make the stands and the twisted and ridged versions.
In the past i have shown you how to make simple horn forms using tubes and foam. This time i will be using balloons for the larger horns. Here are the six simple steps to creating the basic armature or form. Trust me here this IS longer in the telling than the doing lol.
NOTE: Always work in a warm/hot room when using balloons to reduce shrinking.
Attach a large elongated balloon which is thicker than you want your final design to actually be. This will become clear as to why shortly. Hold the pump and the balloon(s) as shown in the picture above, then slowly begin to inflate it.
Keep pumping until the balloon inflates and then takes on the curve you want as shown above. You could easily just inflate the balloon in the normal manor but then when you bend the balloon to make the curve you will create a crease in the balloon which will add extra work when adding the strips later. This method creates a more natural smooth curve in the balloon.
Once you have your desired curve simply let the end of the balloon go and carry on inflating the balloon fully. Remove from the pump and tie off the end as normal.
Now using a piece of string fix the balloon in the curve you want by tying it off at 'both' ends as shown above. Remember to leave a short length at one of the ends to hang the balloon from. Once we have the first layers of the strip formed shell on here whilst the paper is wet the shell will be heavy and will deform the balloon(s) from the shape you created. Hanging the balloon from one end whilst being restricted by the string will keep the curve you wanted until fully dry and then fixed in shape.
Whilst 're-shaping' balloons in the manor i am about to show you i prefer to work with a shell of no more than 6/8 layers of paper strips. This makes cutting into the strong but flexible shell(so much easier whilst also making the re-shaping easier too. When using PVA glue the paper once 'fully' dried will become stiff and fragile at this thickness. Not only would this potentialy split or shatter along the cut line but also may do so when re-shaping too. Keeping the strip shell to around 6/8 layers with a rotating layer of news paper and white printer paper keeps the shell strong and flexible too. I prefer to work with strips of around 2cms in width for balloons of this shape. Length wise is up to you but when working with news print anything longer than 20cms will crumple and form small ridges when drying if you are using a glue or paste that is too wet. I prefer a 'pure' first coat of PVA glue (any white glue) for the first layer of news paper then rotating through news paper then 80gsm white printer paper with a glue mix of: 50% water and 50% PVA glue for the final layers.
Keep your balloon in a stable as possible warm room once you have added your strips. Too hot and the balloon will swell and at best split the drying shell. This mercifully can be repaired with masking tape then a few more strips added. At worst the balloon will attempt to swell beyond the restricting paper shell and then simply burst. If this happens 'after the shell is fully dry then nothing is lost. However it can happen more than not before the paper shell has fully dried which will collapse the wet shell rendering it useless. In a normal shaped balloon shell you can sometimes replace the balloon whilst the paper shell is still wet. In a balloon such as this shape however it is near enough impossible to not even try.
Now burst the balloon then remove it. Cut or slice 'one side' just over half way down. Do not go all the way along the length of the shell. Tear off some short lengths of masking tape ready. Now carefully 'tuck' one side of the cut shell under the other side, squeeze and roll one over the other forming the final horn shape. As you can see the fold or rolled form thins out slightly down the form. This is why you need a balloon that is slightly wider than you intend your final horn form to be to allow for this thinning of the final form.
Now tape down the edges to fix them in place. Once the final shape is fixed in place go over the 'entire' cut edge with masking tape to smooth out the seem. Now again swapping between news paper and 80gsm printer paper finish off the horn to a thickness you are happy with. You can add another six layers or so (three news paper and three printer paper) then paint on three layers of my dragon skin to make a fast super hard super smooth final coating. If not then simply add as many layers of new strips as your happy with. The horn shown here is approximately 100cms x 27cms or 39" x 11" inches.
Even though at this point the shell will be self supporting hanging it up IS still the best way to dry out the project. When wet the shell will easily be dented and therefore damaged adding to creation time thanks to having to waste time filling in any deformities created in resting the shell on a hard surface. If nothing else the 'roundness' of the shell could be effected in this manor.
At this stage of drying i prefer to strengthen the shell with masking tape then simply run a short length of bamboo skewer through the open end of the shell. To which i then tie a short length of string in a 'loop' form to hang the shell from.
Once fully dried simply sand down then paint in the colours and paint types you prefer to use. Voila' one finished horn. In the second part of three parts i will show you how to make a simple but effective display stand for this project.
More soon.
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