A life-size fibreglass cow has been blinged up with 10000 pieces of mosaic to thrill the children who come to stay at the Choc Childhood Cancer Foundation house in Beacon Bay.
Time Out Mosaic Studio owner Lorna Gardner said she was immediately compelled to add her mosaic magic to the cow when she saw it languishing at the Choc house last year.
“She was painted white with green horns, tail and udders and looked forlorn so I wanted to make her beautiful for the children,” said Gardner, who has mosaiced everything from fish to butterflies, before taking on the cow.
“Also we are mosaic people so this was a nice challenge.”
The Choc house provides comfortable accommodation for children and their carers, who travel from out of town to access cancer treatment in East London.
Once known as Daisy, the perfectly moulded cow was originally part of the national Cow Parade fundraising initiative about 12 years ago, which saw companies sponsor a fibreglass cow in aid of Choc.
Individually decorated by South African artists, the cows were put out to “graze” in public and private areas.
“The Johannesburg company that originally bid for her moved and couldn’t use her anymore so they contacted Choc about two years ago and I said we’d love to have her,” said Choc East London regional manager Debbie Kleinenberg, who is thrilled with Daisy’s makeover and wants to rename her with a more chic moniker befitting her shimmering new look.
“Perhaps we can have a competition for the public to name her.”
Gardner said she and a core group of five or six women spent “hundreds of hours” and seven litres of glue affixing mirror and glass tiles to the cow, which sports a cancer awareness ribbon on its back as well as glossy pink ears and beige glass udders.
Gardner said she and her nimble-fingered mosaic students worked on the cow come rain or shine and on rainy days applied mosaic under umbrellas.
“When the sun is shining the mirror pieces reflect light and it was blinding, so at one point I moved her head through my door and worked on it inside.”
She said the toughest part to clad was the cow’s underside. “We had to lie on our backs like Michelangelo !”
It took seven people to unload the dazzling bovine when she arrived back at the Choc house upon a flat-bed truck and was greeted with delight by Kleinenberg.
— barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Artist adds mosaic magic to Choc cow
Time Out Mosaic Studio owner Lorna Gardner said she was immediately compelled to add her mosaic magic to the cow when she saw it languishing at the Choc house last year.
“She was painted white with green horns, tail and udders and looked forlorn so I wanted to make her beautiful for the children,” said Gardner, who has mosaiced everything from fish to butterflies, before taking on the cow.
“Also we are mosaic people so this was a nice challenge.”
The Choc house provides comfortable accommodation for children and their carers, who travel from out of town to access cancer treatment in East London.
Once known as Daisy, the perfectly moulded cow was originally part of the national Cow Parade fundraising initiative about 12 years ago, which saw companies sponsor a fibreglass cow in aid of Choc.
Individually decorated by South African artists, the cows were put out to “graze” in public and private areas.
“The Johannesburg company that originally bid for her moved and couldn’t use her anymore so they contacted Choc about two years ago and I said we’d love to have her,” said Choc East London regional manager Debbie Kleinenberg, who is thrilled with Daisy’s makeover and wants to rename her with a more chic moniker befitting her shimmering new look.
“Perhaps we can have a competition for the public to name her.”
Gardner said she and a core group of five or six women spent “hundreds of hours” and seven litres of glue affixing mirror and glass tiles to the cow, which sports a cancer awareness ribbon on its back as well as glossy pink ears and beige glass udders.
Gardner said she and her nimble-fingered mosaic students worked on the cow come rain or shine and on rainy days applied mosaic under umbrellas.
“When the sun is shining the mirror pieces reflect light and it was blinding, so at one point I moved her head through my door and worked on it inside.”
She said the toughest part to clad was the cow’s underside. “We had to lie on our backs like Michelangelo !”
It took seven people to unload the dazzling bovine when she arrived back at the Choc house upon a flat-bed truck and was greeted with delight by Kleinenberg.
— barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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