For my FMP Folklore and fairy tales I decided to create a wooden puppet dragon. I based the dragon off the Viking legends ‘ Niddhog ‘ the death dragon that eats corpses and roots from the tree of life. I based it off the dragon Nigghog because I have always been interested in Viking legends and I randomly had my heart set on creating a dragon. I wanted to make it a puppet because I wanted my art to move some how. I wanted to expand and not have my art stay still.

I made the puppet dragon out of bass wood because it’s easy to carve with. To create the shape I used a coping saw then I did the actual carving with a carving knife. It was difficult to begin carving but once I got the technique it was quite satisfying and therapeutic.

I originally wanted the dragon head to have a horn but that would have been difficult to carve and shape without accidentally snapping it off.

I am very proud of the horns for the back because they were particularly difficult to shape because they were so small.

I eventually cut the tail and neck into pieces and drilled a hole through each of them. Drilling the holes was difficult because the draill refused to drill through the middle in some of them, so I was worried that the neck and head was going to look wonky.

I then painted the pieces in vanish. I had many shades to choose from but in the end I chose the darkest shade to make the wood stronger and to hopefully cover the rough patches.

I am very proud of my wooden dragon puppet, it was my first time creating a wooden puppet and carving a creature. Because of this project my carving skills have improved and this had given me a chance to expand my art skills. If I had to change anything I would have put patterns on the puppet and would have made it look intimidating like the Viking dragon Niddhog.