Meet this week’s newest dragon, Sashi.  Like last week’s project, Jaide, she’s sitting on a container for treasures.

Click on any of the photos for a closer look.

She is atop what is called an inro box. I made this when I took a class over at CraftArtEdu by Donna Kato. Inro boxes have an interesting history as they were used as pockets in Japan because kimono don’t have pockets. If you look up inro boxes on Pinterest you’ll find many beautiful traditional ones as well as many made out of polymer clay.

To learn why I’m making a dragon every week check out this post on Errol, dragon #1, for the details.

In the class Donna showed us how to make her wavy cane. I, of course, had to make it more complicated and do mine in two colors but I really like how the white pearl and green work together with the dark purple.

I didn’t intend for Sashi to be faux ivory but the translucent mixed with a little bit of pearl clay after being baked for a long time ended up looking like just that so I went with it. 🙂

And here is how the box opens. The bead above slides on the cord and will keep it closed.

This was a fun project, not only learning a new technique, but also learning all about a traditional Japanese handcraft.

Check back next week for dragon #24!

If you’d like to keep up with my dragon creations this year, I’ve made a Thursday’s Dragon Pinterest board just for them.

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