If you're a serious collector of animal figurines, you are most likely familiar with Sandicast.
Sandicast was started in 1981 when artist Sandra Brue realized her dream of creating a business that combined her God-given artistic talent and her lifelong love of animals.
Sandra Brue has a unique style and ability to capture the personality and inner spirit of each animal with unmatched realism. Sandra studies and works with live models when creating her sculptures.
Sandicast animal figurines often take months to complete. Sandra's passion for perfection requires countless hours of painstaking attention to detail. Her Jack Russell Terrier Original has 65,358 individually sculpted hairs!
Artist Sandra Brue works with live animals when she creates the figurines. To truly capture the realism and individuality in her animal figurines, Sandra visits dog breeders. She observes and plays with the dog in its own setting to learn about different breed characteristics and get to know their unique traits. Accuracy is very important. Sandra strives to create a true representation of each animal. She never compromises their integrity for the sake of being commercially "cute."
For more exotic animal figurines, she is allowed to go behind the scenes at the San Diego Zoo. There, Sandra usually gets face-to-face with elephants, koalas, lions, and pandas. At the zoo, she met her 2 1/2 month old Tiger Cub model, "Chuffer." He was constantly batting his paws at Sandra and it took a few assertive "no's" to keep from being mauled by his sharp teeth. Sandra sculpted her African Collection Hippopotamus while actually inside its enclosure. Standing a mere six feet away from tons of muscle, Sandra says, "I felt an instant respect for these magnificent beasts."
After experiences like these, going to the local cat shelter to create animal figurines is tame stuff! When sculpting cats, Sandra may visit a breeder or use a friend or neighbor's cat.
