DOG GONE

Had to do it. First a blog about birds then came cats and now I have gone to the dogs. Made quite a few glass dogs in my time and recently the humble sausage dog was a popular request. I even appeared on the UK Dachshund website and not many people can say that. I have always wanted to make an especially long sausage dog and make the body as if tied in a know but to date not had the time. Maybe a subject for a future blog.

Living and working in Scotland I am more than familiar with Westies. Purely in an artistic role you understand. I have made many a glass Westie and for a time they seemed very popular. I usually sandblasted the glass once made as most Westies I have seen seem to be white. Sometimes dirty white but never blue, green, or pink. No idea why. Thing about making a glass Westie is the ears and nose. Also of course the hair.

Hairy dogs are somewhat trickier than smooth coated dogs such as Labradors. Whippets and greyhounds to are almost straight forward, especially if standing up. Got to get the tails right though as that seems vital. Not forgetting the ears as they can make the difference between a dog and a pig!

The thing about dogs is they seem to love lamp posts. Obvious to those that know their dogs its for weeing! Great advantage of a dog cocking his leg up against a lamppost is that its easy to reproduce in glass. Attach the leg that is raised to the base of the lamp post and the whole structure is very stable. The lamp post is being help up straight by the dog as is the dog being held firmly by the lamppost.

One of the strangest requests for a dog formed part of a glass sculpture made to celebrate a retirement. I have many many things in my time and most I understood but not this. It consisted of a glass dog wearing a bank robbers jumper and a mask over its eyes. The dog was holding a bag with “swag” written on it. The dog was sniffing at its own dog mess! All the was mounted on a wooden base with an engraved brass plate. Not too sure where this dog is now. Maybe a case of dog gone?