This Jack Russell is cut by hand from copper sheet with a jeweller's saw and fired multiple times in a kiln with vitreous enamel.
Clever Dog is the perfect present for someone with a Border Collie especially if they have a working dog.
They are incredibly clever, loyal and loving dogs.
This sheepdog wall hanging is handmade from 1.2mm sheet copper, then kiln enamelled. I used a combination of opaque and transparent enamels for this one. It is fired about five times at 800 degrees.
The copper "tile" is 8x4 inches and the frame is about 13 inches x 8 inches
The box frame is double-mounted with glass at the front (no glass in this photo to stop reflections).
The green background is so rich and gorgeous. I used transparents blues, yellows and greens to achieve the shades. I burn the copper sheet before I enamel it by putting it in the kiln at 800 degrees for several minutes which makes the copper oxides come through. The oxides create a random pattern onto which I lay the transparent enamels. There are four thin coats of transparent enamel colour and on the Jack Russell I used opaque colours.
I wanted to achieve the smart, curious and spritely nature of these creatures! I have a little tiny terrier myself and she is a live wire and so clever. A real joy in my life.
This can also come with a transparent turquoise or teal background.
I cut out each piece of the dog so that I get lovely clean lines and a black border around each section. Then I enamel the pieces and when the enamelling is finished I put them back together like a jigsaw puzzle for mounting.
With all my enamel pieces the colour can change somewhat from what you see here; sometimes the colours are more affected by the copper oxides than others (particularly transparent blues and opaque whites), but this variation in colour and the resulting texture it creates is one of the things that makes every piece unique.
