It must be Mascot Love!

Here's another fun commission I did for a couple who met while he was attending University of Central Florida (the Black Knights) and and she at the University of Florida (the Gators.) They saw my gator bride and groom couple and we tossed around a few ideas before settling on this design for their wedding cake.

Another week, another new wedding cake topper set!

Bride and Groom Donkeys!!

(even the most conservative of your friends will love them...)





click here to see my listing on Etsy.

and the winner is.....

Last week I made a trophy for the recipient of Art on Alberta's community service award. We honored Julie Bernard, who hosted a local radio program Art Focus for 25 years! You may recognize that critter on top as Boom Boom Boy!

Billy (and Bartholomew) Goat

A special order prompted me to try my hand at making a goat. I couldn't resist throwing in a tin can for humorous effect--something I was rather charmed by as a child to think a goat's appetite was so voracious that it would even eat a tin can! Click here to go to my Etsy listing for this item.

Custom Bride and Groom

I have been working on another custom bride and groom wedding cake topper set and thought I'd share the story with you. The customer wanted to commission a special set for her dear friends and saw my Etsy listing about the unique Indian bride and groom set I made last year. We worked together to come up with a unique set that was a challenge for me, but worthwhile because I'm very happy with the results.

Here were the parameters: the bride is Sikh and was wearing a Seafoam tea-length tutu dress similar to the one Carrie wore on the last episode of Sex and the City, except it's red. There are tiny red rhinestones embedded in the dress. The groom's suit will be black, and lined with sari fabric. (That's too detailed to render in my minimalist figures, but the idea is so lovely, sweet, and symbolic so I thought I'd share it here.) He's also not wearing a top hat, and the boutonniere is a purple Scottish thistle.

Here's my solution. I did a few drawings first, and then when we had agreed, made this figure with Swarovski rhinestones embedded in the skirt.

what a bunny gives her special somebunny

Hey Beautiful Person! Thought I'd show you the valentine present I made for my sweetie--a little model of our dog with his favorite accessory, a big orange ball. (He's a mix between a Dachshund and a German Shorthaired Terrier, for all you curious dog lovers out there...) I chose to represent his unusual merle pattern with a series of tiny flocked white spots in all the right places. Although I've worked from images for many special orders, it was great to have a live model around. Hope you had a good one!!

Just in Time for Darwin's 200th Birthday!!

Hot off the press-- Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil Monkeys! Click here to go to my Etsy listing, or here to learn the real history of these cute little guys!

Fabulously Furry Wedding Cake Toppers!

Have you ever heard the argument from the radical right that if they let gays and lesbians marry, then you it just opens the door for anyone to marry anything? Well, that door has swung wide with my new critter-friendly wedding cake toppers.







For more information on any of these sets, please click here to visit my Etsy site!

More precious pet commissions

Some friends of mine in San Francisco commissioned me to make small renderings of their beloved pooches Truman and Red. I was more than happy to do it, since these two are some of my favorite furry friends. Behold the results....

Gator Love

I had been thinking about adapting my alligator to make some hilarious wedding cake toppers, but it was an inquiry from someone on Etsy who finally got me to make it happen.





For product or ordering information, click here to go to my Etsy site!

Custom Bride and Groom Birdies!

I am so excited about this custom bride and groom bird set I just made--someone contacted me who saw the listing on my Etsy site and was curious about my willingness to alter the colors to match her wedding colors, which are persimmon and charcoal gray. She specified which colors would go where, and I think the results are quite elegant.






I will post more images this week of the four new wedding cake topper designs I came up with this past week, or if you just can't wait, see for yourself on my Etsy site!

Penguin Wedding Cake Toppers!

I am expanding my wedding cake topper line and the latest edition are these cute penguins! Available for $50 (plus $5 shipping) on my Etsy site by clicking here.


If there's a wedding cake topper you'd like to see, email me!!

The Heart of the Matter

I made a series of wine corks in stands for Guardino Gallery's "The Heart of the Matter" show which opens this Thursday! There's a limited number available, so get them while you can. Alberta Street has two great wine shops as well, so you can make it a quickie shopping experience for your valentine.

Also on display at Guardino will be my lovebugs!

The group show will also include blown glass, etchings, mixed media, clay & carved wood and presented in a variety of forms: from prints to tin hearts that hang on the wall and convert to pins; from steel cut hearts to hand carved wood & mixed media by 13 different Portland artists.

IN THE WINDOW & FEATURE AREA at Guardino Gallery through Feb 22, 2009.
Opening Reception on January 29, from 6-9 PM
2939 NE Alberta Street, Portland, OR 97211 503-281-9048
(click on the image below if you want to see it larger!)

A young bunny in training!

Last fall I was approached by a high school student who had chosen the Bunnywood Show at the Museum of Contemporary Craft for a school project. The assignment was to write a report about the work and recreate part of it in order to better understand it. I invited her over the studio for a visit while I was working on the window at Guardino Gallery and she and her mom got to ask questions and see how I put together my window displays. Above is a picture of the section of Bunnywood she chose in the actual show, and below is her recreation in self-hardening clay. Great job, Rachel!!

work I like

Got a nice email from another Etsy artist who works under the name "Gilhooly." These are two pieces I think are very special, a found object airplane and a cute little bird toy. Click here to visit her Etsy site and see more work by this artist.

bunny with a tool!

My friend Peggy gave me these cute socks sporting a bunny carrying a handy crescent wrench. Made by local sock company Sock it To Me.