MJ Russell

I don’t have many in-progress shots of Jörmungandr the World Serpent, but I do have a few as well as some other final shots from different angles. I also wanted to describe how I made this project, since it was different and new to me.

Our goal was to create a project using paper-making techniques. We were taught how to blend up paper, make a paper pulp slurry, and pull sheets of paper using a mold and deckle. The process is pretty interesting! It’s a fun way to get a variety of color and textures with paper.

This is the base of the Serpent’s body. It’s made of wire mesh that I rolled into cylinders and hot glued together. I’ve done a wire mesh project before, so this process was familiar to me. The Serpent’s body is 30 inches from snout to tail
Often when creating art, I like to use the drawing function on my phone’s photo editing. Here, I mocked up what I wanted the Serpent’s body to look like. I followed this plan pretty closely

From here, the process got interesting. I made a group of major paper colors such as deep blue (head), gray (mountains), dark green (trees), brown (trunks and earth), light green (grass), and light blue (river). I then pulled multiple sheets of paper of each color, let the sheets dry (but not completely!), and applied the colored sheets to their respective places. I was essentially using very wet paper to create the skin of the Serpent. Once it dried (and stayed in place with the help of a healthy dose of glue), I painted on all the details with acrylic paint. Everything from the stars and moon, to the aurora, to the flowers, I meticulously painted on. I thought of doing the details with paper pulp too, but that ended up being way too difficult. The eyes are air dry clay, varnished to have that nice shine

The Serpent is representative of the entire Earth: the sky, mountains, forests, plains, water, and soil
The design wraps all the way around the Serpent, too. I had a lot of fun blending the colors. The aurora is my favorite
The tail of the Serpent is loosely representative of earth and dirt, with two teeth marks where Jörmungandr bites his own tail
Here’s his face. I was inspired by the rhinoceros ratsnake (a real thing!) to add some uncanny-ness to the Serpent

Jörmungandr is a being from Norse mythology. He is said to be a massive serpent that wraps around the entire world, and holds his tail in his mouth to complete the circle. In the end of the world, Ragnarök, he will release his tail to join the forces of chaos and fight against the gods. I chose Jörmungandr because I liked the idea of literally interpreting his title: “The World Serpent” … a serpent that is the world. I also enjoyed the combination of paper-making and painting!