Okay, what is sculpting? It's where a shape is created by making the hair shorter in some places, and longer in others.
"Frosty" is an older Bichon that I have been grooming for over a year. He is groomed every four weeks. We had him in a relatively full trim for a few times, but lately, his owners have requested that I make it more easy to maintain. In September, I took him fairly short, or so I thought. Here's what he looked like:
Frosty After 9/06 Grooming
Frosty After 9/06 Grooming
Not a bad job, although I'd like to fix that long spot on the rear leg. :-) (You see the real deal grooming here on the GroomBlog, complete with imperfections. This was done with a Laube Speed Feed with a 3/8" snap-on attachment on the body, and the legs, head and neck were scissored. I thought it would work for Frosty, and kept it at this length the next time (November).
Not to be! In December, Frosty arrived at my shop looking like this:
Not to be! In December, Frosty arrived at my shop looking like this:
Oh, Frosty! When I saw him walking in the door like this, I knew what words I would hear from the owner: "We need him shorter!" No kidding.
Frosty's bedraggled condition had little to do with home maintenance. His "mom" is very good about combing him between grooming. But as he is aging, Frosty is becoming less and less cooperative about brushing and combing. And his hair is becoming thin and limp. Added to those factors is that as soon as we turn on our furnace in the winter, we create more static electricity in the home, which leads to fly-away hair.
After bathing and fluff drying, this is what Frosty looked like. Where it's really too long is on the head.
Here's how I went about taking Frosty shorter. I really did not want to just run a blade all over. I wanted to maintain some of his shaping.
First, I addressed the topline.
Using a 3/8" snap-on attachment on the Speed Feed clipper (#9), I went in reverse from the base of the tail to the approximate point where I wanted the neck arch to begin.The point is determined by the length on the back of the front legs. Picture a line straight up from the back of the front legs right up to the neck arch. Reverse clipping allowed me to be more assertive in establishing this point and in setting the length of the body. Reverse clipping generally leaves hair about a blade length shorter than clipping with the grain.
I used the next smaller snap-on, 1/4" #6, on the rest of the body, sketching over the short places, and skimming lightly down the legs.
The front is clipped straight down from way up under the chin.
I lifted up the foreleg to clip under the chest and shorten around the armpit.
You can also see that the side of the body is this same short length.
News Flash! I also clipped right down the front and inside of the foreleg. The leg on your left has been done below.
I also clipped right down the backside of the rear legs to the top of the hocks.
Here he is after all the clipper work:
The outsides of the legs are skimmed with the clippers so as to be level with the body. If you look at the Bichon from the front to the rear, the legs do NOT puff out..at all. You can see the sculpting here - the front of the forelegs is shorter and the back is longer; in the rear the reverse is true, it is left longer in front of the rear leg.
Feet, legs, and outline were scissored. Here we are after scissoring the body:
Working the head. I'll confess that I find shorter heads more challenging than leaving them full. Here's his head "before".
And a little while later...One thing that helped in making this head smaller was to start with the blenders, taking out a lot behind and under the ear. Frosty's mom will be glad to get rid of that stuff, as it was getting matted there, anyway. Instead of working from the front of the face, up and around, I actually started at the back of the ear and shortened going forward. This is, however, a shot of the shorter head from the front..
The neck arch is also shortened to fit the length of the top of the head.
And here he is, shorter, but still stylish!
This entire groom took only a little longer than a short clip would have. We still have a stylish Bichon Frise boy, who should be considerably easier to maintain between groomings.
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Your gratuities help the GroomBlog survive as a free offering by supporting my writing.
Thanks,
BBird
Frosty's bedraggled condition had little to do with home maintenance. His "mom" is very good about combing him between grooming. But as he is aging, Frosty is becoming less and less cooperative about brushing and combing. And his hair is becoming thin and limp. Added to those factors is that as soon as we turn on our furnace in the winter, we create more static electricity in the home, which leads to fly-away hair.
After bathing and fluff drying, this is what Frosty looked like. Where it's really too long is on the head.
Here's how I went about taking Frosty shorter. I really did not want to just run a blade all over. I wanted to maintain some of his shaping.
First, I addressed the topline.
Using a 3/8" snap-on attachment on the Speed Feed clipper (#9), I went in reverse from the base of the tail to the approximate point where I wanted the neck arch to begin.The point is determined by the length on the back of the front legs. Picture a line straight up from the back of the front legs right up to the neck arch. Reverse clipping allowed me to be more assertive in establishing this point and in setting the length of the body. Reverse clipping generally leaves hair about a blade length shorter than clipping with the grain.
I used the next smaller snap-on, 1/4" #6, on the rest of the body, sketching over the short places, and skimming lightly down the legs.
The front is clipped straight down from way up under the chin.
I lifted up the foreleg to clip under the chest and shorten around the armpit.
You can also see that the side of the body is this same short length.
News Flash! I also clipped right down the front and inside of the foreleg. The leg on your left has been done below.
I also clipped right down the backside of the rear legs to the top of the hocks.
Here he is after all the clipper work:
The outsides of the legs are skimmed with the clippers so as to be level with the body. If you look at the Bichon from the front to the rear, the legs do NOT puff out..at all. You can see the sculpting here - the front of the forelegs is shorter and the back is longer; in the rear the reverse is true, it is left longer in front of the rear leg.
Feet, legs, and outline were scissored. Here we are after scissoring the body:
Working the head. I'll confess that I find shorter heads more challenging than leaving them full. Here's his head "before".
And a little while later...One thing that helped in making this head smaller was to start with the blenders, taking out a lot behind and under the ear. Frosty's mom will be glad to get rid of that stuff, as it was getting matted there, anyway. Instead of working from the front of the face, up and around, I actually started at the back of the ear and shortened going forward. This is, however, a shot of the shorter head from the front..
The neck arch is also shortened to fit the length of the top of the head.
And here he is, shorter, but still stylish!
This entire groom took only a little longer than a short clip would have. We still have a stylish Bichon Frise boy, who should be considerably easier to maintain between groomings.
Was this article helpful? You can...
TIP THE TEACHER!
Your gratuities help the GroomBlog survive as a free offering by supporting my writing.
Thanks,
BBird