Friday 21 March 2014

Sh. Ch. Chicktin Creations Lord of the Rings



Meet my show winner "Lord" a German Shepherd Dog I hand crafted out of wool.  He took the best part of a full week to create and represents a black and gold GSD.
He has been crafted using 4 colours of wool, though if you look closely you will see 7 colours, excluding the tongue.  These were achived by blending combinations of the 4 colours.
Lord was commissioned by Dogs Monthly to be a prize draw for Crufts Dog Show 2014 and for this some form of "maul" protecton from the public had to be found.  Unable to scource any affordable acetate display boxes the right size, some other way had to be found.  My husband came up with the brilliant idea of fashoning a crate for him to stand in! It was perfect and materials easily scourced from a local DIY outlet.  He disappeared into his shed and a little while later produced the crate you see here.
I made a cardboard plinth to sit in the bottom, and onto which I could secure Lord.  I also handmade some rosettes, a collar and lead, a bed, and to-scale newspaper to place on the floor of the crate.
I secured each foot with one strong stich that went through the plinth.  It was all finished off with a sheet that covered one side, and so highlighted him better.
Lord was a big success on the Dogs Monthly stall, and all hands were kept away by the clever idea of the crate, which fitted in perfectly with Crufts.
Much of my childhood was spent at dog shows and I was really proud to be able to say "I have a dog at Crufts this year!"