Elizabeth has been kind enough to record how this will be made and more of her work can be found on her web site so over to Elizabeth.

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The first photo shows the final designs that I settled on for the adult and the four-month-old puppy. I used the recorded growth sizes of my own deerhounds, as well as their siblings, to determine the correct size for a puppy that age in relation to an adult. The drawings are rough specific detail will be perfected on the carvings themselves. I intend for the puppy to be running and playing with a largish feather while the adult trots along - though I may change the feather to something else as the carving progresses.

The second photo shows cut-outs of the deerhounds, done so that I could determine just what size they should be in relation to the walnut base. I had to do a few of these - my original drawings showed the sculptures would have been too small for the base, imo.

Next steps will be actually starting to carve, and also finishing the base, which is sent to me unsanded and unfinished. I will be doing several coats of tung oil as a finish. Elizabeth

Here's a photo of the rough carving of the two deerhounds. Because of the nature of wood, long, thin pieces like legs and tails are carved separately and then glued (also sometimes pegged) to the wood body. The long, thin pieces must run lengthwise with the grain of the wood, otherwise they will break easily. In some cases, the legs and tails must be done in two pieces, because the leg or tail changes direction - and they always have to follow the grain of the wood. I rough carve them, then attach them to the body and fine carve the entire dog.

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I've enclosed two photos. They show both dogs with the finer carving done, and then painted with a rough approximation of deerhound color. This is so that no light wood will show through the fur. It also gives me an idea of where I need to put fur of different colors - gray, white, dark gray. I've put a couple of white toes on both dogs, as well as white chest patches. If you don't want those, let me know in the next couple of days. I intend to do the youngster in dark gray, not quite black, but if you'd rather have a more brindle look, let me know. You'll also see where I've inserted a brass rod into one foot of each dog. Those rods will be inserted down into the base, and will hold each dog in place securely. I haven't taken a photo of the base, but it has several coats of tung oil now. I also haven't taken a photo of the feather I carved. When I finish the youngster, I'll insert the feather into her mouth. That comes last, because the feather is thin and fairly fragile.

Here are the photos of the deerhounds after furring, but before trimming, grooming, topcoating and detail painting. The fur is applied one tiny bit at a time and is laid in the direction that it naturally occurs on a real dog.  

Hi - Here is the next photo. It shows the first, dark coat of fur on the deerhounds trimmed, and the second coat of fur underway. This is the lighter fur and will only be used in some areas on the dogs. It shows up white in the photo, but is really a light gray. You wanted a darker adult, so I won't be using as much silver fur on it as I might on a different deerhound. The pup will just have wisps here and there. The silver coat needs to be completed, trimmed, and then shaded into the rest of the fur. The final look won't show as much light gray as you can see on the dogs at this point.
 
After the light gray coat is completed, I begin the final stage which is detail trimming, detail painting and then a final coat of sealer. The next photo I send will be of the finished dogs on the base. 
 
Liz

we cannot wait

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