# It's alive. Halloween Dragon



## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

Here is a test of the Halloween Dragon I am making for this year. This is a test of the puppet mechanism.
here is the you tube url if the movie does not play.


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

Looks great. Love the head movements. Terrific job on the head.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Looking forward to seeing more progress on this. The head is looking cool.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Gotta love a dragon

I like how unflappable the cat was.


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## Abunai (Oct 28, 2007)

That's looking great. 
Pretty ambitious project.


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## The-Hog-Flu (Oct 21, 2013)

That's looking awesome! Can't wait to see more.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

Thats something totally fresh! Really nice work on that. The movement is so fluid and you can really get some height from that armature. Can't wait to see more.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Absolutely fantastic! It is so amazing how much the dragon's head and neck movements bring to the character....no kidding, it makes the character look inquisitive... What is it made out of? It looks fairly light weight.


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## The Halloween Lady (Aug 18, 2010)

That is just plain neat! I could totally imagining seeing that through the eyes of a child. The movement looked like it was something that was truly alive!


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## nimblemonkey (Aug 21, 2011)

ditto what they all said- looking forward to watching your progress on this. I see a tube hanging down from the head... does that mean you'll be adding some "smoke"? as in fire-breathing?


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Excellent job on the head, looking forward to seeing more.


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

nimblemonkey said:


> ditto what they all said- looking forward to watching your progress on this. I see a tube hanging down from the head... does that mean you'll be adding some "smoke"? as in fire-breathing?


Yes. I am going to hook a smoke machine to it.


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol:Absolutely fantastic! It is so amazing how much the dragon's head and neck movements bring to the character....no kidding, it makes the character look inquisitive... What is it made out of? It looks fairly light weight.


Thanks .The timber is old pallets and the head is paper mache, phone book pages/


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

Thanks for all the encouragement, everyone. I will post more as it progresses.


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Yowza! That is gonna be Epic!


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Fantastic!


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

Here is the complete dragon head ...with the jaw attached....ready for paint

I seem to be a retard...I will be back when I figure out how to upload a picture.....sorry


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Very cool, great work on this. You have great movement with the head mech, and cool idea using the tire for a base. This is sure to make the people happy on Halloween!


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

*updated pics*

Here is the dragon, now painted . I am using a very small cable instead of string. It does not stretch. Now I have to figure out how to get the smoke from the ground...along the neck and out thru the mouth and still have so volume. 1 step at a time 
Sorry, I cannot get the vidio to upload this time. click on link below.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

Oh My!! That looks amazing! Great color scheme. That is just such an awesome prop!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Here you go, Joe






The movements are so realistic. Great job!


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

Thanks so much, roxyblue!!!!!!


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

I just picked up one of those little $35.00 smoke machines from the Spirit store, so he will definatly be a smoker! 
NO...it is never good to smoke, kids! Unless you are a dragon.
My wife is going back into the house, shaking her head. She says "it's for 4 hours one night". You are 60 years old..... what is the matter with you? 
Wait till I show her the Malefescant (sp?) Head piece I am making for her. I had suggested that she costume herself as a princess with one of those pointy hats with the silk streamer attached. The dragon prisoner. I think she will enjoy being the dragon master better while she hands out the Mountain Dew.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

spokanejoe said:


> I just picked up one of those little $35.00 smoke machines from the Spirit store, so he will definatly be a smoker!
> NO...it is never good to smoke, kids! Unless you are a dragon.
> My wife is going back into the house, shaking her head. She says "it's for 4 hours one night". You are 60 years old..... what is the matter with you?
> Wait till I show her the Malefescant (sp?) Head piece I am making for her. I had suggested that she costume herself as a princess with one of those pointy hats with the silk streamer attached. The dragon prisoner. I think she will enjoy being the dragon master better while she hands out the Mountain Dew.


:jol:Joe, you are 100% right... (4 hours one night?) Tell your wife, that life's greatest moments are in the blink of an eye. You strive for that blink...we all do. It's what separates us from the _normals_. Your dragon is simply stunning!


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

Thanks Pumpkin 5...and everyone for your encouragement. I DO have to give credit where credit is due. Even though I have built this dragon my self ,I was inspired by a Youtube video I saw. I watched this video at least a 100 times , stopping it and taking screen shot after screen shot to see how he did it. His dinosaur was smaller, but he is the master builder. I am plagiarizing for my own evil purposes. Check out this vid to see where my inspiration came from.


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## jabberwocky (Apr 30, 2008)

This is absolutely beautiful. 
I tip my hat to you.
And may I suggest either vacuum hose or corrugated pipe for transferring the smoke up the neck and out the mouth.


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## scarycher (Aug 4, 2014)

your dragon is fantastic!! and we all "borrow" others ideas from time to time, thats what we are here for. imitation is the best form of flattery? I think?? and by the way I spent days building a ship wreck for 3 kids to come to my haunt, but they loved it and thats what counts


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

That looks awesome! I can't wait to see more!


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

The test for Dragon smoke .


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## darrylqmiller (Oct 22, 2012)

AWESOME!!! Looks like the cat thought he was going to be a tasty treat and made a hasty retreat!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

That works beautifully!


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Awesome!!


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

Here are a few pics,


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

great job


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## nimblemonkey (Aug 21, 2011)

Wonderful prop and great effect with the smoke- did you drape fabric around the neck and body? or was just the head seen over a wall or hedge? p.s. don't worry about your other half thinking it was too much effort for 4 hours on Halloween.... there are a lot of other hobbies that could be taking your time and this one makes so many kids (of all ages) happy. (as well as making you happy, right?)


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

Here is the only video that I got from a friend. The puppet worked well. Unfortunatly the computer I had set up for making him roar and talk broke down at the last minute and I could get no sound out of it at all.So I had a mute dragon. Also the cheapo smoke machine I bought from the Halloween store malfunctioned. The remote that operated it would turn it on but would not turn it off. So each time I wanted him to smoke it would run till the heater ran down. Looked good but often would produce so much smoke that it obscured the view of him.
Anyway here is the video on You Tube. Check it out.


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

nimblemonkey said:


> Wonderful prop and great effect with the smoke- did you drape fabric around the neck and body? or was just the head seen over a wall or hedge? p.s. don't worry about your other half thinking it was too much effort for 4 hours on Halloween.... there are a lot of other hobbies that could be taking your time and this one makes so many kids (of all ages) happy. (as well as making you happy, right?)


I ran out of time...as usual for the great effect I had imagined. I made carboard legs and flat chest shape from cardboard and covered them with crepe paper. Sort of like we use to make homecoming floats when I ws a kid in the 70's. We just draped cut pieces of crepe over the wooden neck mechanism and got sort of a cool waddle looking neck. My "castle" entrance was made from re-purposed foam to make the stones, from other projects. The gate was cut from card board and painted. Then my wife had some great black ,sparkly material that I draped between me behind the gate and the public. The lights caught the sparkles and blocked me from view but I could see the kids coming up the walk and followed them and breathed smoke on them. 
If I use him again( not next year) I will work on the body and the sound system some more. But overall, he was a success. Only I knew what didn't work.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Even if he did have some last minute malfunctions, I'll bet he was still the coolest thing on the block


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