For all you Game of Thrones fans out there, this one’s for you. Who doesn’t love Daenerys and her three dragons? I was inspired by GoT but I gave these dragons my own spin. I designed these to each have their own unique character, and I made the wings their defining feature.
These dragons look great in your living room or in a little boy’s room. Let’s face it, there just isn’t enough boys’ room decor out there. And how cute would these look against a woodland backdrop? You could also hang these at a party over a table or spread out around the room. Endless possibilities with these dragons!
If you want to use my dragon designs you can find these dragon SVG files for purchase from our SVG Files Shop. Of course you can always draw your own dragons, I had a lot of fun drawing mine!
Materials:
Cutting Machine
Cardstock Paper
Bone folder tool
Ruler
Double Sided Tape with Lining
White Glue
Small Paintbrush
Clear String
As I mentioned in my Hanging Fairies post, using a cutting machine to make these will definitely save some time. However, if you don’t have a cutting machine it’s not the end of the world. You can cut these dragons by hand, it’ll just take longer and your cuts may not be as smooth.
Step 1: Cut Dragons
Cut two dragons out, along with a hanging notch. You will need two of the same dragon design to make one hanging dragon. If you are drawing your own dragons, you should also design a hanging notch similar to mine (where string will attach) and cut that out of the same paper.
Step 2: Create fold lines for dragon wings
Create a fold line in each dragon wing. Use a bone folder if you have one, but any small dull tip will work, like a knitting needle or even the back of a butter knife. In my dragon designs it should be obvious where to create the fold lines, basically where the wings meet the dragon’s back. If you are designing your own dragon, keep this line in mind when drawing the wing.
Step 3: Attach hanging notch
Flip one dragon over to the side opposite of where the fold line is. Put hanging notch in place and tape down with double-sided tape. Keep the lining on the tape.
The location of the hanging notch is very important as it will determine the angle at which your dragons hang*.
*If you are using your own dragon design, you should experiment to figure out the best location for your notch. You can do this by using removable double-sided tape to tape the hanging notch between the two dragons, then hang to see how the dragon balances.
If you want your dragon to hang with it’s head higher, move the notch towards the head. For a dragon that hangs more horizontally, move the notch towards the tail. The opening of the wings determine the dragon’s balance also. Experiment with this to see what you like.
If your dragon is not hanging well, try opening up the wings more and make sure both wings are opened equally. You may need to go back to the drawing board if it absolutely refuses to balance. I had a lot of trial and error with my dragons before I found a well balanced design.
If you are using my dragon designs you will see a guide on where to place the notch in the PDF file with your purchase.
Step 4: Align two dragons
Align second dragon on top of the first one. This part may take some micro-maneuvering. Try to align all the small claws and corners for a cleaner look.
Step 5: Tape dragons together
Once you have the dragons aligned, hold them both firmly down on one side and on other side lift the top dragon up to expose the tape. With an x-acto knife or any sharp object, peel off the tape lining. Make sure you are still holding the top dragon in place.
Once the tape lining is removed, press the top dragon down. At this point, you have two options: you can move on to the next step where we GLUE the dragons together or you can save time and simply add more double-sided tape to different parts of the dragon to keep them together. I like the glue method because it’s a cleaner look, but the tape method works fine.
Step 6: Glue dragons
Using a small paintbrush, apply glue to all surfaces of the bottom dragon and glue both dragons together. I use regular white glue but you can experiment with any glue.
Optional: when finished gluing, place dragon between wax paper and let dry between two heavy books to flatten.
Step 6: Tie clear string to notch
Tie clear string to notch for hanging. You can hang these with scotch tape or create a loop in your string and hang it from a hook.
There you have it!
Please share your dragons and tag us on instagram at @chaivdesign. We love to see them!
