By Dawn Omboy
This Beagle gets into the family game day spirit by sporting her team colors! She knows that showing support will get her into the treat zone real quick – and that’s no foul for her. Marzipan, a nine year old beagle, gets her prime time game design at Klippers, even though she lives about 2 hours away in Prattville, Alabama – but it’s worth the drive. This creative design is meant to last the season and will simply fade away as she sheds, and we all know how well beagles do that!
I chose to lighten a paw print design on the back of the dog so that I can later color it in with dyes and airbrush the finer details. We begin by first carding out all the loose coat. If your dog is not relatively clean, first bathe the dog. Then we will use a lightening crème mixed with developer; mix well in a plastic bowl.
Fig 1) Using a tint brush, apply the mixture by brushing it onto the coat, going with the coat growth direction. With this method we are not getting the mixture all the way to the skin.
I will usually set a timer to keep track of how long the lightening mixture has been on the dog. The developer stops working after about 30 minutes and should then be washed off the dog.
Fig 2) If it is not light enough after lifting color the first time, I will do a second lift using the same products and method as described before. Make sure to shampoo well after rinsing this product from the coat.
Fig 3 & 4) This will bring the hair to a lighter yellow, making it easier to apply other colors over it. With this part now done, you can dye the lightened hair.
Fig 5) Marzipan is a Kentucky fan, so her lightened paw print was then dyed blue and outlined with white airbrush ink to make it pop. The white was done with temporary airbrush inks for game day, which only last a few days at best.
Fig 6) And then, just to make it more fun, leopard print was painted onto the paw print using a paint brush and dyes. Oh, and notice her eyebrows? They were drawn on with paint pens.
The whole thing had shed out in about 3 months with no trace of the pattern. It was fun while it lasted. Now it’s time for another design, and with the holidays just around the corner, this will be some festive beagle fun!
Making the World more Colorful, one dog at a time…
Queen of Color