Chippy and Dale the Malteses and Daisy the Yorkie

My friend commissioned these three pups as a birthday gift for his Mom. Chippy, a 10 lb Maltese; Dale, a 6 lb Maltese; and Daisy, a 4 lb Yorkie, the smallest of them all!! These adorable little pups are so petite as it was, I could hardly see how I could make them any smaller with pipe cleaners! I tried to make them proportional in size based on their weights. I think it made her day!

Mia - The Yorkie

Mia was a whole new challenge for me because of her fluffy hair. This is when I developed techniques for working with thicker pipe cleaners to give the animals a fluffier look. I really wanted to capture her adorableness (I think Mia is dog speak for "adorable."), especially with the little pink bow in the picture.

Riley - The Golden Retriever

Riley (who, btw, is a girl dog-- apparently "Riley" is a unisex name... kind of like "Taylor," I guess) is my co-worker's family dog. She lives in Boston, and loves to play in the snow. This commission was a Christmas present for his sister. He requested that the pipe cleaner Riley have a pink leash or collar, but given winter is pretty darn cold in Boston, I gave the her a pink scarf instead!

Hannah - The Doxie

Hannah is an adorable little Dachshund that belongs to a lady who loves all things Doxie. The owner wanted a custom creation of Hannah to add to her Doxie collection. Hannah loves to play with her little blue ball, so I gave pipe cleaner Hannah a little blue polymer clay ball to carry around in her mouth whenever she likes!

Winnie - The Bull Terrier

This creation is very special to me because it's the first custom creation I ever did, where I really pushed myself to a new level of artistic creativity. Winnie also had a birthmark on his back that resembles the silhouette of a dog, and I tried my best to add in the special detail. I kind of surprised myself with how it turned out!

The story behind Winnie is also very touching. Winnie had passed away from cancer the previous year, and the owner wanted a custom pipe cleaner version of Winnie to give to her husband, who was very attached to the dog, as a Valentine's Day present. I was really honored that she chose me to create this memento, knowing how much it meant to her and her husband.