Sparkle – a Fae Pixie Dragon – Adopted

Sparkle’s body is made from a white, with small holographic scales Lycra velvet fabric. I used a holographic lycra fabric for her belly and under ears, and a white velvet for her under wings.

New Dragons for sale

This batch of dragons has been listed,  hope they all find their for ever nests soon. I have two more days before school starts for the grandsons, where has the summer gone?

On Wednesday I’ll start working on the October dragons, decided to keep it simple this year and just make Pixies, since August’s hatching ran over.

Wednesday,Thursday, and Friday I’ll be cutting out, 8 bat-wing pixies, and 8 Dragon- wing pixies for Halloween.   A few of them will be all black, some will be all white, some will have purple, silver and red under colors.   The following Monday it’s back to pinning and sewing.

I will list them October first….and will do as many as possible.

I was able to finish 6 dragons Friday-Sunday

  I have got to work quicker!    I have 2 more listings to write up, then will list them early tomorrow.

3 pixies, 1 Reiver and 2 Guardians

Working on dragons this weekend

“Hemlock has been adopted”,  and will be heading off to Australia tomorrow.  

Camp Grandma is coming to end, can’t believe school is starting up so soon,  I  haven’t  hatched a lot of dragons, but it has been a fun summer.  Which is important too.  On a good note I have 7 dragons ready to assemble and list next week.

Updates

We’ve had a few power outages due to storms, nothing too long.  I’m working on the next batch of dragon, I hope to get them all painted next week and listed in August.  I’m finishing- Perchers- purple, burgundy, and white, Pixies- green (spoken for), blue, coral, and a Reiver- rainbow.

I’m redoing Hemlock for his new potential owner in AU, giving him faux fur, and silk cords.  Trying to find the right faux fur was challenging, I ordered 2 pieces of  greens, one has arrived and has been rejected,  the other is on it’s way from Europe.  I really hope it is perfect.

I kept looking at the Rainbow Reiver and really wasn’t happy with the glitter eyes I had chosen…I just had to redo them to be satisfied with it…. took a day to switch out to the teal eyes,  but so worth it!

Husband’s birthday get together was great, bought him a new hat to wear to the Ann Arbor Art Fair.  The Art fair was too hot for me… I don’t do well when the temps are in the high 90’s.  What a heat wave we had!

Not storm related but we had a huge tree fall across the road, and almost take out our mail box. Which as you can see is a very lucky mail box.  The air was filled with so much wood dust- looked like it was snowing .

Nippers are coming back!

I’ve decided to bring the Nipper back , although I may not have them sewn until 2020.  I plan on making a few improvements – adding ball and socket spine, and changing the arms to more of a Pixie style.  Haven’t decided if they will have nose rings or not.  The new Nippers will be listed at $145.

Compared to a Pixie,  the Nipper- has smaller wings, the body is much plumper and shorter, the legs are made to be standing, and the ears are a different shape.

This is how I’ve calculated the cost of a Pixie … or other small dragons for 2019

If your curious, This is how I’ve calculated the cost of a Pixie…or other small dragons  for 2019

2yds fabric @ $30-$40 = for 8 Pixies, I cut out 8 pixie dragons at a time.
$3.75 -$5.00 per dragon for the fabric, average $4.00 per dragon, this is an average fabric cost, but may go up or down depending on the fabric.  I  use a good quality stretch, Lycra velvet.

I give myself an hourly wage of $12.00…

Trace the pattern onto folded fabrics,  8 dragons have 136 traced parts, –4 hours
Pin, cut out, match and bag into 8 dragons ready to hatch, – 4 hours

8 hours @ $12.00 per  = $96.00, ( 1 hour per dragon)  I then add $4.00 cost of fabric per dragon,

Approximately – $16.00 per 1 bagged pixie dragon, for pre-sewing costs!

Now I add in the Hatching Time Per 1 Pixie      

Pin parts, – .50 hour
Sew parts, turn and top-stitching, – 2 hours

Armature spine into body, – .50 hours
Wire limbs, – 1 hour
Stuff limbs, sew closed, –1 hour
Stuff body, sew on ears, –1 hour

Add eyes, Stuff head, sew head to body, – 1 hour
Sculpt face, – 1 hour  

Paint face nubs and claws, – 1 hour
Assemble, button covers, mane, name tag, take pictures, list,  – 2 hours

Start to Finish time estimate for one pixie estimate  11 hours, at $12.00 totals $132.00 for my wage, plus the $16.00 for pre production = $148.00,  I rounded down to take into account the lowest cost of fabrics.

Total Cost estimate for a Pixie Dragon $145.00

Also, per my Etsy Over lords requests, I’m offering free domestic shipping, at least for the rest on this year.

Getting ready to start July’s Dragons

In late July I will be sculpting beaks and claws, casting and have them finished for Gryphons in August-September.  I also will be painting moth and butterfly designs to have printed on fabric to use for future wings.

As for sewing, I’ll have more dragons sewn for July, and I have an idea for a Gryphon shoulder harness pattern to tweak. And it’s time to start the Halloween bat dragons!

Update

Trying to package dragons for shipping with the Grandson’s is  challenging.  Orion and Leo are heading home this evening, I will wait until afterwards and get the dragons ready and plan and mail them out tomorrow.

I’ve been going through the dragons eggs and making sure all the parts are still  together, have found a few are missing pieces. mostly button covers, which I can easily replace.

Happy Father’s Day

Weather permitting we will be setting off (launching) rockets with the grandsons. Should be fun!

“Camp Grandma” is doing well, I’m watching the “boys” 3 days and two nights weekly, for the summer.

I finished 4 dragons up last week – 3 pixies and one Guardian size.  The green Pixie sold right away! I might need to go back to similar batches, since so many wanted a green dragon.

I also got an inquiry about making a Nipper custom order,… Nippers are retired.  I’ll have to think about this one.

Update: sent her a convo saying I would make her a custom nipper, for the same price as a Pixie, but have not heard back yet.  Ball is in her court now.  My thought is she wanted a custom Nipper for less?

I currently have 3 Guardians, 1 Ryder, and 2 Reivers to finish up in June. The Reivers are a long over due wedding gift.

On the good news! I found my missing dragon eggs! I took them out for inventory, set them into a different tub and stored them under a rarely used table.

I need to start sewing the next dragons to finish now! I’m thinking of moon, moth and bumble dragons, with some green and purple dragons added.