Layla Among the Stars

Layla is a pit-bull/dalmatian mix who was adopted by a friend of mine. She's an incredibly sweet dog and I wanted to make a keepsake for my friend for the holiday. Being a classic rock fan, he named her after the Derek and the Dominoes tune. The reference wasn't lost on me, but as an amateur bellydancer and fan of Arabic music, my own mind went to songs like "Laylet Hob" ("Love Night") and "Auf Layla Wa Layla" ("A Thousand and One Nights"). That's where the stellar theme originated and why I decided upon using the Middle Eastern-inspired frame.

This is the reference photo which I used for the portrait. It was taken with my cell phone so it's not spectacular in quality, but it sufficed. I decided to change the angle of her neck to suit the composition.

Here she is carved and her name pyrographed into the lower banner:


The leather stains were applied to lay in some base shading and coloration:


Acrylic paints were layered over the stain to add highlights and more prominent color (although you cannot see in the photo, some metallic gold was added for the stars and to accent her name):


An acrylic resolene finish was added to provide some protection and seal the piece. It ended up a little more glossy than I had anticipated. The higher gloss finish really upped the contrast and allows some of the more delicate sculpted details to catch the light:


This is the completed ornament with the leather cameo layered over felt and embellished with bead and thread embroidery. Three little sequin stars are sewn near the top to continue the stellar theme:


I really enjoyed creating this ornament, and I'm considering offering the occasional custom pet portrait in the future via my Etsy shop. Would anyone be interested if I presented the option for pet portraits similar to this piece and the one I previously did of the thoroughbred Tully? I would probably set it up where an initial deposit would be due to get the project started and then the remainder would be due upon completion.

Horsing Around

I've been plugging away at some projects for the shop but have been remiss in sharing them. This one in particular is not for sale as it was created as a gift for someone in particular, but I wanted to share it anyway because I took photos throughout the entire process. Since it was a Christmas present and I found myself a little bit rushed for time, I didn't have the opportunity to have a proper photo shoot so unfortunately these iPhone photos will have to do.

I've toyed with the idea of doing custom pet portraits in leather and I decided to try it out. I asked my fiancee if he could take a picture of his mom's favorite horse the next time he visited his parents' house, and he brought me back a nice, though slightly blurry, photo of Tully the thoroughbred.

Normally I start by making a sketch which is then turned into a pattern. The pattern is what I use to inscribe the basic design onto the leather itself. This time I used the photo reference from my iPhone and sketched with an awl lightly onto the leather. After cutting the major lines with a swivel knife and some tooling, I was really happy with the dimensionality I was beginning to see.

I didn't want to complicate the background too much as it is a small piece and I didn't want to distract from the portrait, but it definitely needed something. I decided to pyrograph some Celtic knotwork to add some interest. I also used a matting stamp around the horse's head to help visually separate it from the smooth background. I later found out that Tully was born and bred in Ireland, and my fiancee's mother had actually met the breeder there when they visited many years ago.

   

Then it was on to painting! The photo was a bit overexposed so it was even harder to get a true-to-life color match, but I know that Tully is a bay with a white star.

This photo really clarifies the scale of the leather cameo (I forgot to take actual measurements but I'm estimating that it was about 1.5" wide by about 2.5" tall).

It was originally intended to function primarily as a brooch, and it does in fact have a pin back attached, but after I was laying out the felt and other fiber notions I wanted to use, I realized it would make a good ornament, so I added an eyelet to the top so it can be threaded with some ribbon and hung.

Here's what it looks like as an ornament:

My future mother-in-law really liked it, and I freely admit it made my inner, 12-year-old, equine-obsessed self very happy to make it.

A (slightly belated) Happy Holidays to you and yours!