Creating the form of the Dragon over the shape of the interior cave was really just a matter of cutting and carving pieces of Styrofoam and attaching them to the inverted bowl shape with tacky glue and toothpicks.
Then I started adding Paperclay to the surface to cover the Styrofoam, just about six square inches at a time. I rolled the clay out on waxed paper, painted Tacky glue on the area to be covered and applied the clay to it. As the Paperclay began to firm up I applied texture with stiff brushes and any other tool that would create the effect I wanted.
As the clay dries it shrinks and cracks. There was a fair amount of crack filling to be done each morning before moving ahead with the sculpture. I wet the crack and the area around it before filling it with more Paperclay.
A small tube was fitted into the back of the piece between the dragon's body and wing. This was to hold up a wire tree. The area at the lower left that appears to be missing a rock is where the battery for the candle's light goes.
