“I go to flea style every year to look for new artisans,” says D Home associate creative director Jamie Laubhan-Oliver. This time, the trip led her to a piece of custom artwork that honors a cherished four-legged friend.
Chaucer, Laubhan-Oliver’s 16-year-old dachshund, is now enshrined in that most timeless of mediums—Etch A Sketch—thanks to Samantha Watt of Ellie Bear Productions. “I loved her pet portraits and thought it was a fun way to honor or memorialize your pet,” Laubhan-Oliver says.
Watt, who named her company after her own French bulldog Elvira, has been creating depictions and pet portraits on Etch A Sketches for 15 years. For $65, she will create a pocket-size sketch; $150 will buy you the full-size rendering. The only subject Watt doesn’t do are human portraits. Laubhan-Oliver ordered her golden, commemorative edition Etch A Sketch on Ebay, but Watt typically uses the standard red ones.
In order to up the artistic quality even more, Laubhan-Oliver had her finalized sketch encased in acrylic by E&D Plastics. The craftsmen there are accustomed to building all sorts of mounts and casings, but they had never received a request for an Etch A Sketch design before. “I wanted to make it a richer piece of art,” Laubhan-Oliver says. With another $150 for the custom case, her ode to man’s best friend is ready for its permanent place in her home office.
