One of our souvenirs from Beijing was this wooden balsa dragon that we intended to give away but sorta were intrigued as to how flat bits of wood would create a dragon. So, we kept it and today, we finally essembled it.
Four flat pieces of wood with parts stamped into it--about 200 pieces that have to be pushed out and then slid together... with directions in Chinese. Yes, this was going to go very well.
 |
| the directions.... |
We did find a map of how the pieces intersected: piece 1 matching with another piece 1, located on another slab of wood and marked piece 17 as well.
 |
| ...oh, thank goodness, a map. |
Slowly but surely, we made our way through the puzzle of bits of balsa, adding scales here, a wing there.
 |
| working on the head |
Until eventually, we got a foot and half long dragon, complete with claws, wings, and the traditional Chinese dragon mustache. It is very fiddly; we need to add some glue on some scales, or else it could lose them.
 |
| complete! |
But, we think that he is pretty incredible, especially considering all the bits of wood we had to punch out and the lack of Mandarin between Will and I. He is now assembled and on display in the kitchen.
 |
| all the bits punched out |
 |
| the underneath, all the "ribs" helping to support him |
 |
| Our Chinese Dragon, guarding the kitchen. |
No comments:
Post a Comment