I thought about this piece for three years before I started working on it. Part of that time, I was just learning different techniques and the other part I was waiting for the right Dragon to come to me. Eventually I just had to make myself start working on it. I spent the last year stitching the image on and off.

There are several different shibori stitching techniques in the dragon. The body is made up of stitches on a grid. The “scales” have stitches that run across the body and are offset in each row, which is similar to the look of woven shibori. The striped underbelly is also made up of stitches on the grid, but the stitches line up and run the length of the body.  The spines, horns , and teeth use a kind of cross between make-age and maki-nui, using a whip stitch around the entire shape. The long whiskers are simply nui, a running stitch, and the eyebrow is ori-nui, a running stitch on a fold. For the eye and nostril, I got creative, thinking about how to use stitching to make the cloth come forward or go behind, so that there would be darker and lighter areas. The snout and forehead were also improvised, as I pleated the fabric and whip stitched it through all of the folds.

I am quite happy with the presence it has. It is hanging in my living room and dominates the room. The image is quite fierce and powerful, but also protective, and I am happy it is finally in physical form!​