Friday, August 2, 2013

Circus Puppy by Rachel Whetzel

It's been a balancing act, that's for sure... creating this piece while getting ready for our family reunion this week, but I'm so tickled with how it came out!! This is a commissioned piece I made, and hope to have published next year. Aside from it's base, it's entirely made of Creative Paperclay® modeling material.
Want to make one yourself?
YOU WILL NEED:

I sculpted the body of my dog onto the dowel attached to the base of my paper towel holder. 

I gave him a pot belly over some puppy dog feet...
 Some droopy ears, and a nice fat nose for balancing.
 To help him hold up his ball, I screwed a screw into the tip of his nose once he was dry, and then used foil to wrap around the screw, and fill in the center of the ball.
 Painting tip: Animals don't generally have whites of the eye showing like we humans do, but to help set apart their eyes, (especially if they are the same color as their fur) a teeny strip of off white helps to define their eye area.
 Next, I painted the base white, to get ready for the CIRCUS to come to town!!
Here's the base finished.
 
Once his ball was made, I painted it, and added some glue to help keep it secure.
 Once everything was in place, I stained the piece, and then added a crepe paper circus collar using a needle and thread to sew through the center of the paper, and then folded in 1/2, and bunched together to make the collar.
I would love for you to let me know if you create something of your own inspired by this post! Leave me a comment, and let me know if you do!! I would love for you to visit me at my "house" too!! Thank you so much for reading!!  ~rachel

7 comments:

Barbara Rankin said...

Fabulous!!! You are very talented.

Megan said...

Love it. He's very fun!

I'm curious, do you have any tips on how to stain the piece? I've tried using antiquing medium before (where you put some on and then rub some of it off real quick) but it always seems to take off some of the paint underneath. Do you seal the painted part first and then do the antiquing over that?

Jess B. said...

Love what you've done! I wish I could make sculptured pieces like you. TFS

Mrs Pretzel said...

Megan, I use Valspar to antique, and it doesn't take off paint as badly as some... usually, I notice I have the most issues with that when the paint hasn't dried for as long. Sealing in your paint might help too. :)

Megan said...

Cool, thanks for your help :) I'll have to try letting it dry longer and using Valspar. I appreciate the ideas!

Linda Hess said...

Oh My Gosh!! TOO cute!!

dawnmercedes said...

This is outstanding!!