“Crikey, I’d like a dragon.” — Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Just as there are lots of different kinds of dragons in the world, there are many different sorts of dragon lovers out there. But there is one thing most of us have in common. We are all Hagrid. We all want to own a dragon. Whether we dream of riding a dragon of Pern or flying with Toothless, we agree that dragons make awesome friends. However, they’re hard to find and challenging to feed, so we have to make do with substitutes. Here are some ways to get a dragon in your house without having to knock out a wall or buy a herd of cattle.

When I was at the bead show in Tuscon in February, I got to see Cindy Hulsey’s wonderful beaded dragon in person. The dragon is part jewelry, part puppet, and lays along your forearm. I was reminded of Anne McCaffrey’s cat-sized fire lizards, tiny dragons perfect for apartment dwellers. You can get the pattern and all the beads needed to make it from Hulsey’s Etsy site CCBeadwork2.

You’ve probably seen the popular video of an artist making a dragon-head wall trophy from paper mache. Dan “The Monster Man” has a lot more dragons out there, each cooler than the next. This article about his trophy heads contains mostly dragons, and you can find other wonderful dragons in his paper mache gallery.

If you aren’t up for making your dragon companion yourself, there are plenty of clever artists ready to make one for you. Kate Higgins of Flamingo Incognito turns the classic pink plastic yard flamingo into dragons and sells them on her Etsy site.

Another Etsy artist takes a more whimsical approach. Olga Shirobana’s soft-sculpture dragons remind me of Toothless, from the movie How To Train Your Dragon. Big-eyed and sleek, her made-to-order dragons would make great companions.

I doubt the last dragon I want to share with you is for sale, but I had to include it because Kim Rhodes’ painted sculpey sculpture is so beautiful. Maybe if you made her an offer…?

Do you want a dragon, too? Which of these is your favorite — or is there another one you have your eye on? Please share!