This shoulder dragon protects you from the cold due to its belly full of cherry pits of and its microwave resistant skin. It makes a great companion on Halloween walks or warming your bed on cold winter nights.
My daughter came up with the idea to make dragon heat cushions in a workshop for children. As the target age for the workshop is 6 to 12, the design was tuned to be as simple as possible. It involves drawing from a template, cutting fabric and some basic sewing.
As for many heat cushions the power of the microwave should be limited to 700 W. For the relatively small size we made them, the heating time should be limited to about 1min20.
My daughter came up with the idea to make dragon heat cushions in a workshop for children. As the target age for the workshop is 6 to 12, the design was tuned to be as simple as possible. It involves drawing from a template, cutting fabric and some basic sewing.
As for many heat cushions the power of the microwave should be limited to 700 W. For the relatively small size we made them, the heating time should be limited to about 1min20.
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Signing UpStep 1: Materials and tools
Materials:
About 200g of cherry pits, flaxseed, uncooked rice, wheat, feed corn, buckwheat hulls, barley, oatmeal or beans. (i only have experience with cherry pits, but a good friend of mine uses flaxseed for heat cushions). You can get cherry pits at www.opitec.com.
A piece of fabric for the body, about 25 cm by 50 cm. In general natural fabrics like cotton or wool are recommended for heat cushion. I certainly would not use a fabric you cannot iron. And of course, avoid avoid any metals.
A piece of 3 to 5 mm thick felt at least 45cm x10 cm. Two pieces 10cm wide and roughly half the length work out fine too. Using more gives you more freedom in design of ears, wings and legs. You can also get this thick felt at www.opitec.com.
A couple of non-metallic buttons.
Some sewing thread, preferably in the color of the felt and some in the colour of the fabric
A textile label indicating the maximum power and heating time (700 W and 1min20 for about 200g of cherry pits). I had some iron-on labels made for the workshop. You can order them with your own text at different online suppliers. Of course you can make your own marking in another way (e.g. with a textile marker, embroid the text).
The template included below, printed at full A4 size.
Tools:
some good scissors for fabrics
an ordinary pair of scissors for papersome glue or cello-tape
a printer for the template
some (blackboard) chalk
a stick to help turning the "dragonskin" inside out (chopsticks ar perfect for that)
some pins
a hand sewing needleand preferably also a sewing machine
a microwave
About 200g of cherry pits, flaxseed, uncooked rice, wheat, feed corn, buckwheat hulls, barley, oatmeal or beans. (i only have experience with cherry pits, but a good friend of mine uses flaxseed for heat cushions). You can get cherry pits at www.opitec.com.
A piece of fabric for the body, about 25 cm by 50 cm. In general natural fabrics like cotton or wool are recommended for heat cushion. I certainly would not use a fabric you cannot iron. And of course, avoid avoid any metals.
A piece of 3 to 5 mm thick felt at least 45cm x10 cm. Two pieces 10cm wide and roughly half the length work out fine too. Using more gives you more freedom in design of ears, wings and legs. You can also get this thick felt at www.opitec.com.
A couple of non-metallic buttons.
Some sewing thread, preferably in the color of the felt and some in the colour of the fabric
A textile label indicating the maximum power and heating time (700 W and 1min20 for about 200g of cherry pits). I had some iron-on labels made for the workshop. You can order them with your own text at different online suppliers. Of course you can make your own marking in another way (e.g. with a textile marker, embroid the text).
The template included below, printed at full A4 size.
Tools:
some good scissors for fabrics
an ordinary pair of scissors for papersome glue or cello-tape
a printer for the template
some (blackboard) chalk
a stick to help turning the "dragonskin" inside out (chopsticks ar perfect for that)
some pins
a hand sewing needleand preferably also a sewing machine
a microwave
dragontemplate.pdf(595x842) 191 KB
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Very cute by the way :)
Thanks.
Indeed many other creatures are possible. We just happen to love dragons.
I'm going to see if I can make a parrot with the same principle.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRR! :D
Thanks fo sharing
A parrot would be great too. I guess you should fill it completely, in order to keep it upright.