Last February I signed my piece Number 100. It was a struggling project of an Afghan Hound that was commissioned from Finland.
I’ve chosen a material that would let me express the energy and flow of this breed’s nature. It was not an easy task, the porcelain mix I used can be very flexible and elastic, but sticky and fragile. I wanted the piece in action. To me, Afghans can fly, and that was my idea at the time to plan this project.
- Afghan hound porcelain sculpture
- Afghan hound porcelain sculpture
It was nice to have the freedom to choose the pose and design of the piece. The color I selected for me transmits flow and lightness and, at the same time is powerful enough to have personality. I wanted something fresh and clear.

I worked the piece to be as big as possible, but having is standing in only two foot would create some instability, specially when firing and the material melts, there’s always a big risk. It surprisingly survived the two fires, first at 980*C and second with glaze at almost 1300*C… The piece was shipped from Denmark to Finland by post on a wooden box and a lot of bubble wraps and bubble beds hoping that it would survive the post service.
The piece in general arrived well, but the thin and complex shape of the tail might have created too much tension and it broke. It is sad, but hopefully it could be fixed and the work could be appreciated despiste that.
I try my best to deliver works in the safest conditions possible, but these works are all too fragile, specially porcelain. But, luckily we have a 95% of safe deliveries! Not bad I would say!
The challenge of creating DIFFERENT and ORIGINAL works remains intact, and I try to improve it all the time so you can all enjoy the best quality of the more original dog artworks I can give life!
If you have an inquiry, get in touch! I will be working back after June.
Barbara.
www.applerainart.com/cool
applerainart@gmail.com