Here’s TV’s favourite animated dog Gromit looking well-heeled after an artist created a sculpture of him – made out of 10,000 GOLDEN TILES.
Mosaic specialist Julie Vernon, 45, took six weeks painstakingly gluing the tiny handcrafted gold-coloured tiles to the 5ft porcelain sculpture.
The mum-of-two completed the work around her kitchen table and had to use a step ladder to reach top parts of the iconic character.
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She used over 1,000 tiles for Gromit’s dog collar alone and 100 for each of the loveable character’s paws.
Julie, from Edwalton, Notts., said decorating the sidekick of madcap inventor
Wallace had been a marathon effort.
She said: “I have been working non-stop for the last six weeks, sometimes in my pyjamas and my bones are starting to ache – I feel as though I’ve taken on an assault course.
“Long days and every weekend, so I’m feeling pretty shattered right now.
“I’ve been surprised at how physical the work has been – crouching in between the legs to work on difficult sections, working up on a stepladder to tackle the ears and lying on the floor to get to the underneath of the body.
“I wanted to put my heart and soul into it.
“If I had have done something straightforward, it would have been a lot quicker, but I wanted to do the very best I could.”
The statue will be displayed around Bristol – home of Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman Animations – as part of an outdoor exhibition.
Julie was chosen from over 500 applicants to have her work displayed alongside statues decorated by top international artists and celebrities.
They include Turner Prize nominee Mark Titchner, illustrators Raymond Briggs and Sir Quentin Blake, designers Paul Smith and Cath Kidston.
Comedian Harry Hill and One Direction Star Zayn Malik have also contributed to the ‘Gromit Unleashed’ project, due to run between 1 July and September 2013.
