It’s Reigning Cats And Dogs At

Jacqueline’s Originals

By Nancy K. Crevier

From floor to ceiling on three sides of her Mt Pleasant Road basement workshop, Jacqueline Adams is surrounded by pullout drawers filled with cast resin heads and figurines of over 150 dog breeds, and long or short-haired cats, some as small as one-half of an inch, others 6 inches tall from neck to top of head. The thousands of items are only a small portion of her raw working material, though. The rest is stored in 2,700 square feet of warehouse space over on Simm Lane.

For more than 40 years, Ms Adams has been sculpting realistically detailed dog and cat heads that are cast in resin and hand painted to become the focal points of whimsical creations that include a dog/cat headed angel tree topper, a “Santa-dog/cat,” holiday ornaments, kitchen timer toppers, clock faces, and even sponge “butlers” that hold damp sponges up off of the counter.

When she moved from her home state of Texas to Arkansas in the 1960s, Ms Adams, who holds both art and occupational therapy degrees from Texas Women’s University, was a “starving artist,” painting oils and acrylics.

“There were no animals, at all, in my paintings,” Ms Adams said. “Then I did a portrait of a Pekinese dog for a woman upon her request, and delivered it to her at a dog show in Little Rock.” That was the start of her career as an animal artist.

A vendor at the show saw her work and suggested that she do a line of dog-themed jewelry. “I knew I needed to do something to make money,” said Ms Adams, “so I taught myself to make little ceramic dog pins of various breeds, and the vendor was going to sell them for me.”

Because her customers at dog shows demanded authenticity in a product, Ms Adams also gave herself a crash course in dog breeds, reading up on the many types of dogs and scrutinizing the head shapes and facial features in order to make a realistic pin that would appeal to those buyers. The partnership with the vendor fell through, but realizing that there was promise in the future of the business, she began bringing her product line — expanded to include necklace pendants, mugs, plates, and trophies, as well as custom orders — to dog shows herself.

“I loved it,” she said, “but I became so busy developing the product line and a customer base, that I spent less and less time actually painting artwork.”

Moving to Connecticut in 1981, she soon discovered that the increased traffic and unreliable weather made going to dog shows “not a lot of fun anymore.” It was then that she decided to turn to wholesaling her line of items, and began attending trade shows to market them.

“It took a little while to build up new wholesale business,” Ms Adams said, “but now I have over 600 businesses, mostly smaller boutique pet supply shops, to which I sell, as well as through catalogs.”

One of the wholesalers is Orvis, the longest running mail order business in the US, with a flagship store in Manchester, Vt. Since becoming a customer of Ms Adams, they have purchased over 12,000 of one of her best-selling creations, a dog or cat-headed angel tree topper.

“I had a Christmas party one year with some dog show friends, and when a friend was looking at my tree, she said, ‘You need a tree topper,’ which gave me an idea. I ran downstairs and crafted an Italian greyhound head, put it in a tissue paper angel skirt, and everyone loved it,” Ms Adams recalled. She began making them with other dog heads for friends, and her mother, since deceased, made the puffy white dresses and angel wings. When she took them to a trade show, a representative from Orvis saw them, “and they’ve been ordering ever since,” she said.

While Ms Adams continues to sculpt the original animal heads, the molds and castings are now done in China

“I got so busy that I found I had to have the molds and casts made elsewhere,” she said, but she remains extremely particular that the molds and resin casts are exactly to her specifications before she will accept them. “There are a lot of poorly done dog and cat breed items out there,” she lamented. Base painting is sometimes also done in China, but Ms Adams adds the details and features to each item herself, working 12-hour days to meet orders during the busy holiday season.

The cats, one longhaired and one shorthaired version, were added to her product line a decade ago, and are painted to represent numerous cat breeds.

Her product line features holiday items such as the Santa Dog/Cat, the angel toppers, and ornaments that range from the jolly jack-in-a-box dog in a Santa hat to a wistful pooch seated next to a tree, behind a tiny window frame.

The off-season demanded a product line as well, so over the years Ms Adams developed items for decorating pet lovers’ homes throughout the year. Pooches revolve atop a kitchen timer, poised outside of a hand painted dog house; or choose the bust of a favorite dog or cat breed to top a paper towel holder or to personalize the “draft dodger,” Ms Adams’ newest creation for 2010 that fits snugly at the base of a door.

Themed pet figurines come dressed as golfers, gardeners or fishermen. Ms Adams’ products also include dog breed wind chimes, pot pets, desk caddies, picture frames, and bookends. Light switch covers feature dogs or cats of any breed, or preserve that last half bottle with a bottle stopper sporting the head of a Persian cat, golden retriever, or any other of her hundreds of specialties.

Rescue pet owners need not worry: Ms Adams can customize any of the dog heads or figurines to match your special “Heinz 57” canine or feline friend. “And the [American Kennel Club] keeps adding new breeds, so I find that I am sculpting two to three new breeds each year,” she said.

What keeps the business pleasurable year after year is the constant learning process. Each new breed or custom request requires that she put in time researching the details of that animal.

As much as she loves drawing and painting, new technology has made her job easier, too. She utilizes a computerized tablet and software to draw up the designs for her new ideas, and it is the creative process that she most enjoys. Working with her manufacturers in China, she has designed graphics for note cards and T-shirts, many purchased by rescue animal groups for fundraisers.

“And I’m about to teach myself animation on computer, just because I can,” she declared. Learning that procedure will open the door to the creation of animated e-mail cards of the AKC breeds that she hopes to market in the future.

Ms Adams’ product line can be viewed at www.JacquelinesOriginals.com, but that site is only for wholesalers’ orders, she pointed out. To place an order, she directs customers to either the Orvis Company Catalog (www.orvis.com) or www.InTheCompanyOfDogs.com.

To purchase locally or for a custom order, call Ms Adams at 203-426-9169 or e-mail her at Jacqueline@jacquelinesoriginals.com.

“It’s a lot of work,” she said, “but it’s been a lot of fun.”