I have always admired animal artists - especially those who create in miniature. And as an animal lover I have collected many, many 1:12 scale animals over many years from many artists. Seems like everyone loves animals in their settings. Especially cats and dogs. But other than carving tiny animals out of wood for my Noah's ark sets - of which I did hundreds, I never thought to try realistic, "living" animals. Not until an animal artist going under the name of Paizley Pawz created an easy to follow tutorial on making a realistic looking sheep covered with wool with the base a Schleich plastic sheep. I tried it, liked the process and was very pleased with the results.
Sweet, right?
This is a great project to try your hand at furring an animal and I suggest you hop right over to PaizleyPawz and get the tut.
Recently, on an auction site, there was a sculpted Great Dane that was suspiciously like one done by the late Ann Maselli. Ann was a wonderful artist who worked in miniature and inspired many - including me - with her how to articles in the old Nutshell News where she did a vast assortment of all manner of miniature scenes. She was for sure a mentor for many. And her work is, thankfully, still out on the web for all to see.
So this became the perfect challenge for me. I would try and sculpt a Great Dane similar to Ann's and then post it as a tribute to her. I was not sure I could pull it off, but I think I did a pretty fair job. Not bad for a first attempt.
Stay tuned for the finished Great Dane !!
Stay tuned for the finished Great Dane !!
Gawd Patricia - I am mightily impressed on your Great Dane. He reminds me of Scooby-Do. :o) Your talents are just endless. Can't wait to see him finished.
ReplyDeleteLOL. Thanks. Yes. Yes, he does look a bit like Scooby. Lets hope his new fur coat will help with that.
ReplyDeleteOMG! He's GORGEOUS finished. No disrespect for Ann's work, but I love your much better. He has some meat on his bones. LOL So, get those finished pics posted here pronto! Now, I'll toot your horn for you: For those that are interested in purchasing this wonderful dog, check out her eBay auction (ending on 2/19/12) here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310379125140
DeleteI tried doing this, but failed miserably! I tried making one of her golden retriever dogs, it all went wrong, I don't know if I was using the right kind of wool or glue, perhaps the quality wasn't good enough.
ReplyDeleteFantastic job you did though, it looks exactly like PaizleyPawz's!
Thanks, Harriet. This project was so much fun and sent me off in a new direction. Grateful to Paizley Pawz. I suggest you try the sheep and go step by step. I did learn you must use a natural fiber - wool is easiest to get - anything with acrylic in it will not work. So beware of a wool 'blend'. Lesson learned for me. lol.
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