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Paper-mâché Chinese Dragon’s
Head
by Sally Riley by Williamsburg, VA
skill level: medium
cost:
$5-$20
craft time: 6 hours plus 24 hours drying time
picture of
a Chinese dragon (I copied mine from the book Happy New Year!/Kung-shi fa-ts'ai
by Demi)
large rubber balloon
newspaper
2 bottles liquid
starch
string
2 packages gold tissue paper
small amount red and black
tissue paper
white typing paper
cardboard (empty cereal boxes will
do)
masking tape or wide transparent tape
white glue
paper curling
ribbon
fabric ribbon
blanket or bedspread or length of felt
Cover
work surface with newspaper.
Cut strips of paper.
Cutting tapered pieces
make them easier to fit to the contours of the balloon.
Inflate balloon and
secure tightly.
Pour some starch in a bowl.
Dip strips (as you work, not
all at once) into starch and apply to balloon. I do one layer of vertical pieces
and the next horizontal.
After two layers, hang balloon to dry over night. I
hang mine above a wastebasket, in case it drips.
Repeat process the next
day.
Decorate head: When the head is dry, pop and remove the
balloon.
Trim the bottom to make an opening that will be comfortable to go
over someone's head.
Place it on your head, or a helper's to determine the
eye opening.
This opening is an oval 5 or 6 inches long and 1-1/2 inches in
the center, and is the mouth of the dragon.
Cut it out with a sharp
knife.
Fashion the dragon's snout out of a handy cereal box, cut in half
horizontally.
Make concave cuts on the open edge of the box so it will fit
snugly against the head.
The boxes folded edge faces outward.
Fasten above
and below the eye opening.
The person inside will be able to look through the
dragon's mouth.
Cut two rows of big, scary teeth slighter shorter than the
width of the jaw.
Also cut a long tongue from cardboard.
Glue two layers
of red tissue paper to the inside surfaces of the mouth.
Cover teeth with
typing paper, and tape to front of snout, upper and lower jaw.
Cover tongue
with two layers of red tissue, then tape flat end to inside of mouth with
pointed end extending over the
teeth.
Cut long strips of gold tissue
paper 4 inches wide and 8 inches wide.
The wider strips are for the mane, the
narrow for the snout and face.
Fold strips in half horizontally with colorful
side out, and fringe the cut (not folded) edge to make fur.
To fringe, make
cuts about 3/8 inch apart and extending up to an inch from the fold.
Apply
glue along the folded edge.
Cover the snout with narrow strips, and use a
narrow row around the bottom of the head, the neck opening.
Work from the
bottom up, each row laps over about a third of the preceding row.
Use wide
strips for the mane and narrow for the face.
When you near the top, place the
wide strips across the top, with the mane "growing" toward the back.
Using
typing paper cut big ovals for the eyes.
Cut four round pupils from black
tissue paper, and glue using two layers for each eye.
Add a curled paper
ribbon mustache to two corners of upper snout.
Sew two pieces of fabric
ribbon to the blanket so that the wearer can tie it around his neck.
The
other children get under the blanket with their hands on each other's waist to
form the body of the dragon. Dance while the people shout Kung-shi Fa-ts'ai,
Happy New Year!
Gwen:
"I made this as a decoration for my
daughter's birthday party, so I didn’t worry about making eye holes. I taped the
cereal box to the balloon before applying the papier-mâché. My daughter helped
me and we had a great time! It turned out pretty good."
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