The latest custom mobile I finished up is called: The (Mis)Adventures of Phoebe & Paige. This client wanted a mobile that captured the fun and silly personalities of her dogs Phoebe and Paige for her son's nursery and she presented me with some great ideas and information to start off with. Both of these lovely lady dogs seem to have very strong and yet lighthearted personalities. One of the greatests parts of working with this client was to read how playfully and lovingly she described her dogs personalities. It might sound silly, but it's these kinds of details that let me get a sense of perspective on the dogs themselves, but I also learn about the personalities of the client, their owner.
First we have Paige, a dainty little Min Pin. My client described Paige as "shy and girly. She sits
with her front paws crossed like a lady." Paige also sounds like she can get excitable as she spins around in circles a lot, but she also gets a bit nervous and skittish at times. So, I sort of envisioned her as an excitable yet proper Southern Belle who maybe gets the vapors from time to time.
Here is a baby photo of Phoebe the Boston Terrier. Phoebe was described as, "is basically exactly like Elmyra Duff from Tiny Toons." She adores her owners and anyone who comes to visit. She also loves to take time to smell the roses (except she's too enthusiastic and she ends up sticking her face in the flowers and then sneezing her face off.)
Just look at these ladies. How cute are they?!!
Here is Lady Paige as the uber-Southern Belle, complete with pearl necklace and lace gloves.
Here, Paige is showing off her sort of spastic and constant movement in rollerskates. Paige is also partially blind so her sort of clumsy sort of excitable manner is only heightened because of this so I added a blind fold to play up the loving inside joke for her owners.
This piece features both ladies in a hot air balloon - but with all balloons. It's a play on a piece of art called Mr. Penguin Balloons Print by Showler & Showler that my client said served as an inspiration for decorating his room.
Here Phoebe is taking time to smell the roses (and also sneeze because she does it 100%). I made really small flowers and added some white cotton fabric to her other paw to give her a hanky.
These flower details are in the early stages of drying. My long tweezers and sharp scissors definitely came in handy for these.
Phoebe is apparently quite the adventurer. She apparently is so adventurous in fact that she's permanently injured her leg from being so carefree and jumping off of things more often than she should.
As always, I like to add a few subtle extras to add layers and depth to the mobile.
The finished product is one I'm really proud of, and one I hope their baby boy loves looking at! This client was also a dream to work with. She had some great ideas to get me started in the right direction and she gave me so much fun backstory that I felt like I really got to know not only her, but her personality, and that helps me translate what she's looking for in the perfect mobile for her baby boy.
xoxoxo
If you have an idea for a custom mobile, I'd love to hear it!! You can contact me through my Etsy shop Lavender Paper Hearts.
