Why Dragons?
I’ve never been asked this, but I’m sure it will come up at some point. Why would I stick painted dragon eyes on handmade bags? It’s been done before, of course, but why when I could easily just stick to making handmade bags as a fashion accessory and stick bling on them or nothing at all?
Actually, the dragon eyes came first. I began helping Cheral McGee of Tyrannical Piratical Treasure out at her convention shows and at the Southern California Renaissance Faire as a guest artist. She invited me to bring my painted dragon eyes, and she’d make space on her table for them. People gravitated to them, but stated they didn’t know what to do with them. The next year, I glued some metal filigrees on top of polymer clay backs and made pins out of them. People gravitated to them, but just said “nice.” After a show of selling absolutely nothing, I looked over at Cheral and began to moan about my poor sales. At the time, I was making leather bags for my costumes. She said, “why don’t you make some bags and stick your eyes on them.” Fair enough.
At the time, I was making some larger bags and during my research, came upon a guy on YouTube sewing a handbag with a machine. I had a little Singer Heavy Duty sewing machine. I was okay at sewing with a machine, but preferred to hand stitching leather. I realized that this was going to take far too much time and that having a sewing machine would be better. I was intrigued by the handbags because I’d never attempted such before. I won’t bore you all with my rabbit hole of watching YouTube videos and learning how to make handbags, spilling over to Facebook where I came across groups of women making bags. My friend came over with a handbag by some designer, but the vinyl was gator embossed. I took one of my painted dragon eyes and stuck it on top and felt that’s where I needed to go. However, getting even gator embossed leather was expensive. It was important for me to keep things cost-effective for the type of shows Cheral and I were doing. I then came across vinyl, which settled that problem. Though not cheap, it wasn’t too expensive either. The dragon was unleashed.
But I digress. Why dragons? Why must there be dragons. I began painting the eyes because I’d dove into the rabbit hole of YouTube and came across artisans painting them, and it just woke something in me. I’d always loved dragons. As the Empress of Ev*A*Dream and a traveler of many realms, I have befriended many characters, including dragon keepers. No, they don’t keep dragons, they merely study them, and when they evolve and leave their bodies behind, they draw illustrations of them - because we have no cameras there - and log them in their writings. There was one such soul named Johannes who told me of his many travels of tending and logging dragon evolutions, and I asked to come along. I’ve been treated to many different dragons of various sizes, shapes, and colors. They are everything the storybooks tell us, but far more solitary, which is why they no longer inhabit these realms. I was amazed by their eyes, even in evolution, they remain just as colorful and light as when the spirit inhabited the bodies. The only difference is there is no movement. Johannes and other dragon keepers have an amazing skill where they can stun the dragons into stillness, allowing them to get close enough for observation. Thanks to him, I have seen some downright beautiful dragons, even some extremely cute, and some you hope never to meet anywhere.
No, their eyes aren’t as sparkly as the ones I paint, but the sparkle is to represent the lifeforce which is present in us all, and to see what the dragons see when they are charmed into stillness. We all need a little stillness from time to time.
Stay tuned for more stories. I have many.
