All
About Pet-Paws
....and
the woman who makes them
Tracy,
Dawn,
and Miles on a trip across the U.S. - the Oregon coast.
Hello!
My name is Tracy, and I make the Pet-Paws. I live on the
Palouse in the state of Washington with my human, animal,
and plant family which includes six Miniature Schnauzers,
12 cats, 2 horses, 1 yak, 4 turkeys, 2 chickens, about
50 pigeons, several koi in the pond, and lots and lots
of trees and plants.
Our cats are all rescue cats. They are all spayed and
neutered and they eat homemade catfood. They all have
their very own Pet-Paws! Some of my chickens do too. We
practice "coyote curfew" every night with our
cats. At dusk, when the coyotes start to howl, we call
our kitties inside and lock their cat-door for the night.
In the morning, their cat-door is opened up and they are
free to come and go as they please. You can read the stories
about our cats and how we make their catfood here: www.starsunmoon.com
We
raise and breed Miniature Schnauzers. You can read more
about our Miniature Schnauzers here: www.palouseminiatureschnauzers.com.
Tracy
holding the puppies
The
cats and dogs at the top of our website have all passed
away and are waiting for us at the rainbow bridge. From
left to right: Molly, the best little Schnauzer pup in
the world (rest in peace Molly, we love you); Wotsie,
the Asparagus Forest cat (rest in peace Wotsie, what are
you doing? I miss you so much, I love you Wotsie!); Sun,
Star, and Moon, my beautiful babies (rest in peace Star,
Sun, and Moon, I miss you so much, I love you!); Planet,
or "Acktwillinhannering" as I call him (rest
in peace Planet, I miss you Till, I love you); Ghoulie,
my beautiful Border Collie (rest in peach Ghoulie, I love
you and miss you); and Tripper, Ghoulie's brother (rest
in peace Tripper, I love you and miss you).
We
live on 20 acres. I have planted hundreds of trees, shrubs,
and herbaceous cold hardy perennials over the years. It
is an edible arboretum. I do sell plants, mostly Egyptian
Walking Onions: www.egyptianwalkingonion.com.
Marvelous
Egyptian Walking Onion Plants
I
have always followed my dreams. When I was 8 years old
I announced to my mother and father that I was going to
ride horseback across the United States (I also told them
that I was going to rope a wild zebra in Africa, but that
hasn't happened yet). Thirteen years later, I left New
Hampshire with my horse and dog and rode for 3-1/2 years
through 23 states to Washington. You can read about my
horseback journey here: www.starsunmoon.com
Why
do I make Pet-Paws?
Once
upon a time I went to Washington State University to become
a veterinarian. I signed up for a sculpture class in between
my heavy load of science classes. I wanted a "fun"
class and I loved art and working with my hands. Going to
sculpture class was such a joy. It turned out to be my favorite
part of going to college. I loved working with the clay.
My hands magically sculpted a lump of clay into two tigers
playing together. I was taught how to transform them into
wax and then into bronze. I was blown away. To me, it was
pure magic to melt a chunk of metal into liquid and pour
it like water.
After
I graduated college, it was ok that I never made it into
vet school. I thought that being a veterinarian would be
my key to living a life with animals and helping animals,
but I was already living with animals and helping them right
in my own home. After I got my BS degree in Zoology I was
done with school and I went on to get jobs (one was even
based on my degree!). But I never stopped thinking about
sculpting and that molten metal pouring like water into
my mold. I knew I would be building my own backyard foundry
someday, there was no question about it. I thought about
the things I would make and turn into bronze.
My first
bronze sculpture.
Over
the years I have shared my life with many special cats and
dogs, and many of them have passed. I was always drawn to
their paws. Zuzu, my beautiful Husky/Wolf always slapped
her paw into my hand when I offered her mine.
Zuzu
I have always held my cats' paws and kissed them. I thought
how great it would be to have each of their paws in bronze
to hold. I went about getting paw impressions from all my
cats and dogs, and even some of the cows, chickens, and
pigeons. There was a bit of a learning curve as to what
made the best impression material, and just how do you go
about getting a paw impression from a cat? It was actually
pretty easy, and the cats actually enjoyed it because they
got to have their favorite treats in the process. The dogs
didn't really care one way or another, they were just happy
that I was holding their paw. I poured wax into all the
impressions and wound up with little wax "sculptures"
of all the paws. I still didn't have a foundry, but I had
the paws!
My first foundry was a waste oil burner that I built myself.
It was unpredictable, dirty, smoky, stinky, and hard to
get fired up. But I did get bronze to melt in it, and I
poured my first Pet-Paws back in 2008. I was elated! I carried
my little kitty-cat Pet-Paws around with me everywhere.
It was sad for me to make the Pet-Paws from the cats that
had passed on, but I was so glad to have them. I could hold
their little paws in my hand once again. It doesn't bring
them back, but it's something physical and permanent that
was made from them that I will always have. All my Pet-Paws
are very sacred to me. Every so often I will get a new impression
from one of my cats or dogs (or chickens) and make another
Pet-Paw, maybe this time it will be in brass, or aluminum.
I love having Pet-Paws from all my animals so much. Since
it brings me so much joy, I thought that other people would
love to have them made from their pets as well. So I created
this website in order to make them for people.
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