Originally for the DragonCon art show I planned on creating a gryphon wallpiece similar to my Knotwork Kestrel Wallpiece. However as I sketched designs, I couldn't figure out how to incorporate the hind legs in without it looking awkward. I continued sketching, trying front and back symmetrical designs, until I decided to try a side view. Then I got the idea to have a separate wing jutting out, with a swirly tail, and then of course that tail needed some decoration...and that's where this came from.

I'm really excited to make more of these, in all different colors and stone combinations. The whole thing is hand-carved from 7-oz leather, and shaped in the way that I shape my masks (wet-formed and baked in an oven at low heat). In order to give the figure dimension instead of being a boring, flat piece of gryphon, I used a variety of tools (a kitchen measuring spoon, for one) to push the leather from the back to get the rounded shape of the head, for example, and to push the muscles out. The stone is a green cat's eye, and the beads on the tail are a variety of aventurine stone chips, red horn beads, tiger's eye, and a variety of other glass and stone beads. The wire is simple goldtone wire, which I hand-wrapped on the tail.