Introducing Ocean Paradise an Art Glass Mosaic Doghouse
Finally, the day I’ve been looking forward to for months is here! I’m unveiling the large scale mosaic project you’ve seen close up, teaser pictures of for months. Ocean Paradise is a full size, functional doghouse covered with an art glass mosaic design. It was made for the Outdoor Arts Foundation, BowWow Haus Tampa II. The doghouse is on public display and will be sold to benefit the Outdoor Arts Foundation.
As the saying goes, pictures are worth a thousand words. Here are some fun facts and images of the construction and fabrication of the doghouse. Enjoy!
Outdoor Arts Foundation
Presents
BowWow Haus Tampa II
Ocean Paradise Dog House
Designed and built by Lisa and Joe Vogt
Medium, Wood Frame and Art Glass Mosaic
Dimensions 3’ x 4’ x 4’
Ocean Paradise Fun Facts
It took hundreds of hours to decorate the dog house with the stained glass mosaic. The project took us 8 months to complete. The ocean was my inspiration for the mosaic designs. The front gateway design was inspired by the lost city of Atlantis.
Joe built the sturdy plywood substructure with his amazing wood working skills. The house is made with 1” x 2”, 1” x 8” boards and ½” thick plywood, so it would be strong and light weight. The feet were made with 2” x 8” pressure treated boards to improve longevity if it’s ever displayed outside.
There are more than 75 square feet of stained glass on the dog house. Each piece of glass was hand-cut one at a time. There are thousands of pieces of art glass in the mosaic design. Some of the beautiful glass used to make the mosaic is no longer available.
Family and friends helped me cut and glue glass on the wood frame. Everyone who worked on the dog house said they had fun. Some of my helpers had never cut glass before. With a little coaching, they did a great job!
I’ve always loved hidden picture drawings. I wanted to give the viewer different treasures to discover on every side of the dog house. I designed different subjects on each side to keep the fabrication fun and engaging. An iridized green moray eel swims on the back side. There’s a small sting ray on the side with the mermaid.
I drew some of the designs on the computer and then transferred them to the wood frame. The octopus celebrates a stunning sunset with a flashy dichroic martini glass.
Thanks to watermelon martinis, the mermaid’s scales were glued on upside down! The next day, I scraped each scale off and re-glued them the correct way, and then celebrated with another martini.
It took days to cut and layout the glass strips to make the subtle color transitions on the roof of the dog house. One side of the roof is a beautiful sunset. The other side of the roof is twilight, complete with an exotic ripple textured glass moon.
The clown fish, sea turtle, and dog weather vane are fused glass. The clown fish turned out so cute, I almost didn’t use them. I wanted to keep them for myself. But they added so much to the design I had to include them.
The dog weather vane is made out of CBS 
dichroic glass. Did you notice the cute heart design on his chest? The dynamic weather vane also turns.
The glass was glued onto the wood substructure one piece at a time with clear caulk. We used four tubes of caulk. The background glass pieces were custom cut and glued to fit around the fish, mermaid, and octopus.
A silver thread of mirror winds around the dog house, visually connecting all of the sides. The hibiscus flowers are made with pink iridized glass. There’s a cute window box with sea weed growing out of it on the back side.
It took five pounds of grout to seal the stained glass mosaic. It took 6 hours to grout and clean the dog house. The finished dog house weighs about 100 pounds.
I signed the artwork on a piece of glass near the front door with a diamond bit and Dremel. I don’t have a favorite image in the design. I love everything! We spent many fun, family nights and weekends cutting and gluing glass.
Pictures don’t do Ocean Paradise justice. The live, in person 3-D experience is amazing, almost overwhelming. I took thousands of process pictures. It took hours to sort and arrange the images. It was easier to cut pictures of my kids than pictures of our pets.
After so much time and effort, it’s not hard to see it go. I’m happy the rest of the world will now be able to enjoy our dog house as much as we enjoyed making it.
Why did I do it? I love new creative projects, sharing the beauty of art glass and making people smile. I enjoy inspiring others to wonder and explore their potential for giving their own gifts generously. It’s not much, but I hope my art makes a positive impact and brings a little magic to everyone who sees it.
Ocean Paradise was made for the Outdoor Arts Foundation, BowWow Haus Tampa II.
Ocean Paradise is my second full size, functioning mosaic dog house. Tropical Retreat was my first BowWow Haus mosaic dog house. It was built in 2003.
Thank you to Jay Gould at the Outdoor Arts Foundation for inviting us to participate in the BowWow Haus Tampa II project. Thank you to our sponsors, Jay’s Aunt Rochelle and Uncle David.
Special thanks to my family and friends who generously helped me with the doghouse. Joe and Niki Vogt, Jessie and Jake Battin, Kelly and Emily Miller, Tony Varandas, Elise Hardesty, Caitlyn Ward, Barb Chenowith and Jonathon Amerman.
Thank you to our furry family who supervised the entire project beginning to end. Trixie, Titan, Tyke, Natsu and Lucy. Special thanks to Titan for being a very patient doghouse model. He earned extra cookies.
Ocean Paradise is currently on display at the Reeves, Volkswagen showroom in Tampa, Florida.
For more information about the Outdoor Arts Foundation visit. https://www.outdoorartsfoundation.org/
To see more fun process pictures, check out the construction and fabrication video here.
Cheers!
Lisa
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Sculptural Fused Glass, 4-Day, Hands-on Workshop, October 15-18, 2019
I’m offering a 4-day workshop with a focus on sculptural fused glass. You’re invited to join me and take your fused glass to a sculptural level. Register www.lisavogt.net
Wesley Chapel, Florida, 4-Day, Hands-on, Class size is limited.
Creative Slumping Webinar, November 19, 2019
Videos for every skill level and interest.
Pattern eBooks for fun, easy to make fusing patterns.
This is an amazing piece of art! Kudos for all the hours you put into creating this beautiful doghouse that will be auctioned off for charity. You’re a phenomenal talent!
Thanks Kelly you and Emily were a big help.