Look, I won’t pretend to know a lot about the Welsh. But from the little that I do know, I think they’re very different – in a good way – from everybody else. For example, they have two official languages, one of which is positively ancient. While many celtic languages are facing extinction, Cymraeg (Welsh) seems to have a pretty good chance of survival since a high percentage of Welsh people (mostly in rural areas) still speak it as their mother tongue. Also, the country itself has an ancient feel to it, what with all the medieval castles and cobblestone houses.
And, maybe most importantly, while the rest of the world use the Lion or the Eagle as their heraldic animal (nothing wrong with those, of course), the Welsh are badass enough to use a Red Dragon in their flag! The associated motto: Y Ddraig Goch ddyry cychwyn (The Red Dragon gives impetus). There is a plethora of awesome tales surrounding the Red Dragon representing the Welsh, or the Celts. But let’s be honest here: Almost every story is awesome if there is a dragon in it!
Anyway, what was I going to tell you about? Ah, yes, my Red Dragons. When I visited Wales, I picked up a cute, stuffed version of the Red Dragon in a castle gift shop. It’s been living in my car, riding with me ever since. And as soon as I discovered the art of making 3D animals from beads, I knew I wanted to make a Red Dragon to keep the stuffed Dragon company, flying beneath my rear view mirror.
The instruction book on beading fantasy animals I bought contains three different dragon patterns. One has a beautiful, fierce head and elegantly arched, long neck, but stubby wings. The other has magnificent wings, but a boring, rounded head and stompy feet. And the dragon baby I’ve already shown you, has a pretty, arrowhead-shaped tail. For my Red Dragon, I combined the three patterns and made some adjustments to the legs, and produced this beauty:
Ultimately, she will find her place in my car and fly with me, but for now, she’s also pretty happy sitting on my hand.
The Dragon on the flag is all red, but I found that a little boring, so I gave her golden horns, toes, and spikes on her back to set her apart from the crowd.
Look at that beautifully arched neck and the gorgeous wings! Those are three darn great dragon-patters, and I’m glad that the combination worked out as well as it did, too.
Torsten Becker (the author of the instruction book) did an especially great job designing those wings. They are thoroughly thought-out and I think they look very life-like … as life-like as a fantastic creature can look, anyway.
Even though the “fingers” in the wings are very sturdy for a beaded creature, I had to stabilize them so the Dragon could lift them up and be ready to fly.
Aaaaand here she is, keeping her furry co-dragon (hiding at the very bottom of the picture) company and exploring the world with me.
I’ll admit, she’s a little distracting, with her great cornering ability and the way she digs in her heels when I break, but I’ll get used to that at some point and drive safe again. 😉
(Don’t worry, mom, I’m kidding, of course!)
Iechyd da i chwi yn awr ac yn oesoedd!
(Good health to you now and forever)
P.S.: In case you hadn’t noticed – this isn’t really a how-to, but another god-awful pun. Sorry!
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