The Lava Dragon

Description

Like a moth to a flame the Lava Dragon, often referred to as a fire-dragon, is inextricable drawn to molten lava. It is only on these rare events, when a volcano erupts spewing molten rock, that the true beauty of these tiny dragons can be fully appreciated.

For most of these little creatures, their lives will come and go without them ever having experienced the thrill of this event. but when a volcano erupts their senses somehow know. Quite how they do this remains a mystery, but having spent its entire life until this point in a relatively small home territory, the lava dragon will suddenly become agitated, excited and will then fly, in a direct line for as long as it takes to reach its destination.

Once there, its usual plain and rather dowdy colouring takes on a radiant beauty all of its own. It quite literally mimics the flame-like colouring of the molten lava as it dances in the heat above.

It is not known what causes this behaviour, or why it occurs, but the little creatures joy at the event is palpable to all those close enough to feel it. Like a pebble dropped into still water, the lava dragons delight and happiness ripples out in waves for all to enjoy.

This perfectly balanced kinetic sculpture requires just the merest tap or faint breeze to send the tiny Lava Dragon twirling into flight. Its motion is mesmerising to watch and enjoy.

Constructed entirely from recycled and pre-owned materials, with the exception of the brass pivot post, this beautiful little dragon is made from scraps of leather, chiffon, gilding flakes, beads and wire. The base was the result of a fellow creatives resin experiment. This happy accident found itself in Concordia’s World rather than being consigned to landfill. The resin contains a fir cone and a small plastic pot.

This kinetic sculpture stands approximately 18 cm tall, with the outer wing tip circling 13.5 cm from the central pivot point, so requires a 27 cm diameter space in which to fly.