Making a Dragon Lamp Using Carboard

Recently I was watching a movie about dragons, then thought having your own dragon would be so cool . But finding a real dragon would be real hard rather why not make it myself. That's when i came with idea to make a dragon lamp.

So i surfed around the web for some dragon designs, then mixed some elements from here and there and drew the design of the lamp.

Materials

hard cardboards, bendable cardboards

Mount board ( high quality cardboard used for mounting paintings, these are easy to bend to create arch which will be used a lot to form the structure)

Tracing paper

Parchment paper( or any paper can be used which will be used as small paper strips and attached with glue on the structure ,later to be painted on, so use a paper that doesn't tear easily)

Electrical wire

Smart led bulb with multiple colors option ( or any white bulb of at least 12 watt or above can be used too)

A bulb holder compatible with the bulb

A two pin or three pin plug

1/2 inch foam or thermocol ( I used thermocol)

Tools

Pencil

Marker

Scale

Protractor

Compass

Scissors

Precision knife

Hot glue gun

Making the initial structure

First I cut out the three curvy structure tracing the template on hard carboards using precision knife.

(The base of this body structure would be of 20 cm diameter and the top would be of 13 cm diameter, as per the template.)

Then designated each three cutouts as 'F' (front), S (side) and B(back) as per the template. also cut a second S cutout tracing the first one. thereby by totaling four cut outs.( refer the image 1 )

Then drew a curvy line along the the middle of the side (S) cutout, did the same on the other side(S) cutout but on the opposite side as it will face the other side of the body. then cut some 2 cm carboard strips and pasted it along the middle line of S cutout in an upright fashion.( refer the image 3.1,3.2 )

Now I cut a circle of 20cm diameter and a 9 cm/ 5cm rectangle using cardboard. Then drew some straight lines on the circle and designated each line with F , B and two S as per the image.( refer the image 2&4)

Now using hot glue I joined the top(the narrow 5 cm side) of the two S cutouts with the narrow side(5cm) of the rectangle in perpendicular fashion.( refer the image 5)

Now I joined the bottom of the structure on the small straight lines that are designated as S S(sides) on the circle.(refer image 6)

Then attached the front( F ) cut out on the straight line designated as F on the circle and similarly attached the back(B) cutout on the straight line designated as B on the circle. Also attached the top with the rectangle.( refer image 7 &8)

Like this the initial structure is formed.

( while joining the front and back cut outs to the circle and rectangle use as little hot glue as possible ,cause later it has to be removed and used here just to support the structure initially)

Completing the body

to form the body I cut some 2x20 cm and 2x15 cm mountboard strips.( refer the image 9 )

I started attaching the 20cm strips on the back side of the body from bottom to top using hot glue. ( apply the hot glue on the edges of the side cut outs and don't apply it on the back (B) cut out, its there just to give the required arch to the strip. and cut the excess strips around the edges as the cutouts are gradually narrower from bottom to top)( refer image 10,11,12)

Now I started attaching the 15 cm mountboard strips on the one side of the body from bottom to top. then cut the excess strips( here apply the hot glue on each edges of the side(S) cutout and also on the middle upright portion to form the arch on the strips.)

Similarly did the other side of the body.( refer the image 13, 14 )

Now for the front part I cut 1x15cm mountboard strips and started attaching it from bottom to top giving an even spacing of about 3 cm between two strips( again here apply the hot glue on the edges of the side S cutouts and not on the the front F cutout )( refer image15 )

Now I cut a 2x42cm mount board strip to create a circle of 13cm diameter and attached it to the top of the body, it is where i will later join the head structure.( refer the image 16 )

Now covered the whole body( except the front) with parchment paper strips using adhesive glue) ( refer the image 17)

After it dried I cut a circle of 12 cm diameter from the bottom circle upon which the structure is formed using precision knife. Then carefully cut at where the front F and back B cutouts are attached to the circle at the bottom and the rectangle at the top. ( refer image 18,19 ,20)

For the front i cut some 4x15cm strips of tracing paper and glued them in between each two mountboard strips.( refer image 21 )

Here's the template for body structure

To make the spikes first I cut out the tracing paper as per the image , and also cut three 10 cm mount board strip to form a circle of 3cm diameter. Then I rolled the cut angular shaped tracing paper along the vertices to make a cone and and glued them with the small mountboard circle. ( refer the image 1 &2)

now along the center of the back side i drew three circles of diameter 3cm using compass giving spacing of 3cm in between the circles and cut out the circles using precision knife.

then attached the cone spikes in the holes using hot glue.( refer image 3,4 )

creating the initial upper and lower jaw structures

First I cut out some cardboards tracing the template for the head using precision knife .

After cutting the parts I assembled the parts as per the image to form an upper jaw and a lower jaw structure .( refer the image 1,2,3,4 )

Now I joined the the lower jaw at the 21.5 cm mark of the upper jaw in 60 degree angle.( refer the image 5 )

Now I cut a 2cmx44cm cardboard strip and joined the end points to create a circle of 14cm diameter, then joined this with the upper jaw-lower jaw combination as per the image ( refer the image 6 ,7 )

completing the head structure

First I cut some 2cm mountboard strips (length as required to join from one edge to other) and started to attach it from the side edge to the verticle edge using hot glue and cut away the excess strips.( refer the image 8 )

This is how I completed the upper jaw first then similarly join strips to the lower jaw and the joined the empty spaces between the upper and lower jaw using more strips.( refer the image 9 )

Now just like the body cut a lot of paper strips and glued them on the head.( refer the image 10)

After it dried I drew two diamond shaped eyes of 1.5cm length along the upper and lower jaw joining line. Then cut out the eyes and glued pieces of tracing paper to cover the eyes.( refer the image 11)

Also cut a 11cmx13cm tracing paper to cover the hole between upper and lower jaw given the length across the jaws are 13cm.( refer the image12 )

Here's the template for head structure

Making the head horns

First I cut out the cardboards tracing the template to make three horns.( refer image 1)

then rolled some 2 cm strips on the mountboard cut outs to create three long cone like horns. and glued paper strips to further hold The structure firmly.( refer image 2 )

Now I marked the point just back of the head where i want to join the horns as per the image( refer image 4 )

Then joined them using hot glue.( refer image 5 )

Making the jaw horns

I cut out the cardboards as per the template to make four horns, two on each side of the lower jaw.( refer image 1 )

Now again just like the head horns rolled some 2 cm mountboard strips but just half circular unlike the head horns.( refer image 2 )

Then glued some paper strips around the horns.( refer image 3)

And finally attached the smaller one (arching downward )just beside line where the upper and lower jaws are joined, and beside the smaller horn attached the longer horn. ( refer image 5)

Then cover the horn holes with mountboard .( refer image 6)

Here's the template for head and jaw horns

I used some 45 cm length of wire (use any desired length of wire as per need) then connected one end to the bulb holder and the other end to a three pin plug( two pin or any plug could be used which just have to be compatible the the bulb)

To create the base i cut a circle of 26 cm out of hard carboard .then i cut a circle of 6cm diameter of thermocol( or foam can be used also) and pasted it just beside the center of the hard card board circle. then cut a small grooving on the thermocol just as much as the bulb holder with the wire fits perfectly in the grooving.

after attaching the holder in the thermocol grooving using hot glue, the base is done.

Detailing of the body

First I cut lots of 2cmx3cm rectangles and started attaching them using hot glue along the line where the front part is joining the side part to create a distinct partition .(attach the rectangles from bottom to top keeping the 3cm length along the line ,after attaching one rectangle attach the next one above the first one overlapping about 1cm )( refer image 1 2,3)

To create the scaly body i cut loads of 3cmx3cm small squares using carboards.( use cardboards that are not much thick and can be bend easily for the scales)Then i shaped these small squares into pentagons by cutting two corners of the the squares and bended it along the long vertice using a pen. ( refer the the image 4)

(don't throw away the cut corners as it will be used in the detailing of the head)

Then started attaching the scales from one side of the body to the other side from bottom to top( start attaching it from just beside the partitioning of 2cmx3cm rectangles. After finishing one line of scale attach the next line of scales in between the two scales above the first line. But not always can be done so , some scale will just overlap each other and not be evenly spaced but that's fine ,this randomness gives it a more unique look)( refer image 5,6,7)

Detailing of the head

First I cut out the shapes using the template resulting in two eye brows, two large scaly cutouts and two smaller scaly cutouts totaling six cut outs .( refer image 8 )

I attached the small scaly cutout first just beside the eye keeping it along the eye and horn level. then attached the larger scaly cut out beside the smaller one keeping at the same level, then lastly attached the eyebrow.( refer image 9 )

Did the same on the other side .

Now to create some more detailing i used the small triangles which was created while cutting the corners for the body scales. i attached these from top of the nose of the upper jaw to the start of the middle back horn in upright fashion to give the head more spiky elements. and also used these triangle below the eyes to give the eyes mor prominent look.( refer image 10,11 )

Making the teeth

To make the long teeth I cut 2cmx3cm mountboard rectangles ,then cut two corners to create long teeth .( refer image 12 )

To make the small teeth I cut 2cmx2cm mountboard squares. Then cut to corners to create the teeth( refer image 13)

Now for attaching the teeth first I marked the points on lower jaw as per the image , then attached two long teeth in front of the jaw as incisors, then two smaller teeth ,then one long teeth as canine then again two smaller teeth as pre-molars ,then one long followed by two smaller teeth, totaling 9(except the front middle one) on one side of the lower jaw .Then repeated in the same pattern other side of the jaw and the upper jaw.( refer image 14,15,16)

Here's the template for the face scales

At last I put the bulb in the holder ,then placed the body on the base so as to the bulb should be in front part of the body ,attach the base with the body using hot glue.

Then I joined the head on top of the body as such the body spikes is aligned with the head horns.

I painted the whole body and head black then shaded the body scales and head scales with metallic grey.( paint it any color as you like it)

Now switch on the light and see the magic .Making this lamp was a bit tedious but well worth it. and it was really fun to design the whole lamp from scratch.

I hope you will make your own dragon lamp following this instructable.