Abstract Runway at Groom Expo

As I wrote in another post, I decided to compete in the Abstract Runway instead of Creative at Hershey this year.

My daughter also competed with her Bichon 'Cooper'.

This was the first time that Hershey had the Abstract Runway competition.

I knew that the contest was going to be held sometime during the Saturday night awards dinner, but that was about all the I knew ahead of time.

Friday at the trade show I asked about what time we were supposed to check-in and where.

None of the Judges or the Barkleigh staff could answer my questions.

This did not surprise me.

It was a new contest.

I didn't find out all the details until Saturday afternoon. :)

We were to show up in the hallway outside of the dinning room by 7:30pm.

The Abstract contest was to go on after the dinner, and after the Best in Show Awards.

As I told you in a post before Hershey, I changed my mind from competing in Creative this year to competing in the Abstract Runway.

I had already cut out areas in my girls coat for my creative design.

After I scissored her up you could still see some of the cut out areas of the creative design.

So I had to come up an abstract design that would cover the other design.

The rules called for a design that was simple enough to do in your salon for a customer.

I decided on a simple funky shaped heart design.

The first thing that I did was take a blow pen and try to draw the design on her hair and then cut it out.

Her hair was too long to use the blow pen.

I didn't have time to cut her short, put on the design and then let her grow out.

She hair takes forever to grow.

So I used the last couple of teeth on my comb to draw my design in the hair and then scissor the design freehand.

After I used the scissors to get the shape, I cleaned it up with the clipper.

Using the comb to draw out a design only leaves a small indent to work with.

So I scissored the hearts in sections.

I used the very tips of my scissors to scissor out the shape of the heart.

This is a rough scissor of the design.

 This is after I cleaned up the design with the clipper.

Over the next few weeks I continued to play with the design.

 Two hours before the competition we bathed and groomed the dogs, getting them ready for the competition, and putting on the finishing touches.

Here is Jess drying 'Cooper'.

Jess had a peace sign on 'Coopers' back.

It is amazing how fast two hours can go by.

I should have planned more time.

I didn't know it would take so long to put the rhinestones on her design.

I was using clear Elmers glue instead of the tacky craft glue that I had used in the past.

Big mistake.

The Elmers glue took forever to dry and take hold.

The Tacky Craft glue always held right away.

It is also safe and washable.

I don't know why I decided to use something different.

The rules called for little to no color in your design.

So, I only used a small amount of  red rhinestones to help the design stand out.

My son was in charge of getting pictures of the other dogs and one cat in the Abstract contest.

He had to take the pictures out in the hallway, because the dinning room was too dark and he would not be able to get close enough to the stage to get good pictures.

We tried to get pictures of all the entries, but everyone was arriving at different times.

I think that we missed a couple. :(

Here are the ones that we got.

I am afraid that I didn't get names of all of the contestants.

I know that there was at least one more small Poodle, because she was standing next to me on stage.

Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of her dog.

The contest was fun.

I liked it a lot, because it was not the least bit tiring for 'Hanna'.

'Hanna' did really great walking up and down the runway.

Jessica and 'Cooper did a great job too.

'Hanna' and I made it into the final six.

The winners were.......

THIRD PLACE

 SECOND PLACE

FIRST PLACE

After the competition we went back to the room to chill for the rest of the night and get ready for the Rescue Round-up the next morning.

 Coop was pooped.

He found his pillows and went right to sleep.

I hope that they have the Abstract Runway again next year.

It was fun.

Oh, Beth Cornell Rex was the brave groomer with the cat.

Such a sweet cat!

Awesome job on the cat. :) 

I wish that we had gotten a better picture.

Tomorrow I will be posting about the Rescue Round-up. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF