I got this very neat book the other day: Dragonolia by Chris Barnardo, creator of the intensely creative and practically wise parenting website DadCanDo.* Assuming his alter ego as "Sir Richard Baron," Barnardo compiled his website's "best dragonry projects with Sir Richard Baron’s fantastical adventure stories." The site's blurb for the book is spot on:
"Gorgeously designed to recapture traditional Victorian values of quality and story telling, Dragonolia is a collection of 14 short stories each one wrapped around a uniquely inventive craft project."
Dragonolia is superbly crafted and presented. Each chapter is a story that includes directions on making something.
The Antique Chart project includes the link to a downloadable map template.
The Dragon's Egg story contains instructions on making a "real dragon egg" using the age old craft of egg blowing.
The book's website (as gorgeously crafted as the book) contains a few freebies which letter-writing aficionados will enjoy including dragon faux postage. The antique map template is here as well as some amusing potion bottle labels.
The Dadcando site contains some freebie projects but the pay-for-use version permits access to a great deal more, such as a page of DragonMail post labels. The so-called Dragonry section includes the items from the book and a great many more. (Membership means you can download the PDF files for the project.**)
While I prefer to craft my own fictional postal letters and packages, the Antique Mailing Box project looks pretty neat. It includes the printout sheet for making the above box.
The Dragon Journal project provides a blank book page file.
I bought my copy from the UK Amazon; buying internationally proved to be less expensive! £8.99 = $14.25 in USD. It arrived about 9 days after I ordered it. Amazon US has it marked at $52 and (gasp) $110 - only 3 copies available. Here is the link to the UK Amazon listing for the book.
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* [from the website]: "Dadcando.com is intended to be a resource for all dads, but with a special emphasis on helping the single and or non-resident fathers who have contact with their children (non-resident fathers are those who are separated, divorced or widowed, who live apart from their partner and do not have their children to live with them)."
** FYI: While I am glad I became a member, I will probably not renew my membership next year. The projects are quite good; it was worth paying for the initial access. But as I am not a parent, most of the projects I won't use.
