Need a gift for a dog lover; customized dog art ideas??

[Woofless]

I want to get a really nice and unique gift for someone this Christmas; I have a general idea what I'm looking for but I am wanting to get some feedback & ideas of what else might be out there. I could spend forever looking through Etsy and the like, but I know we must have some artistically gifted Basenji folks (or folks who know other artsy folks, or folks who've had artists do custom stuff of their dogs) here so if I can patronize a "local artist" so to speak, all the better :)

The recipients of the gift are "dog people"….not Basenjis, but suffice to say they are very passionate about their breed so I am sure they would like something related to it. I know they have had paintings done of at least 2 of their foundation sires; excellent artwork and not cheap. I am thinking of getting something customized with one of their current top dogs on it; something nice that would do justice to their dog & add to tasteful home decor, but not quite as much of a 'focal point' in the room as an expensive oil portrait, lol.

My upper price limit is going to be about $200; I am looking for anything that would count as "home decor"....something that'll look nice hanging on a wall or sitting on a shelf basically. My initial idea was to have a stained-glass window hanging made, with a head study of the dog (based on a photo of course). I found a few online artists who do custom stained glass and it seemed like I could get a reasonably sized piece made for that price; but again I figured I'd see if anyone here did it as well.

Going along that train of thought.....I was wondering about other artsy handmade home decor type pieces that can be similarly customized with their dog(s) on it? Tile mosaics? Needlework? Pillows? Pottery? Sculptures? I have no idea what else might be out there or where to go beyond taking a chance on Etsy and hoping for the best. I am hoping maybe somebody will come out with a neat idea I didn't know about :) If any of you do this sort of thing for a hobby OR you can personally reccomend an artist, or you just plain have a better idea for me altogether......please share any info you have!

Thanks!

[curlytails]

I think stained glass is nice. You also mentioned tile mosaic – have you seen this artist?

Akliah by siriusmosaics, on Flickr

Yes, she's on Etsy too, but the stuff that she currently has up doesn't really showcase what she can do. Check out her flickr photostream for more.

[Woofless]

Oooh! I love that, it's beautiful! Thanks I'll definitely have to check her out!

I can see this being a problem for me, LOL….I'm going to end up not only buying a gift for our friends but having one made for myself with my dogs on it too, LOL :)

[lisastewart]

I have had a couple stained glass made, but there is normally a 3-4 month lead time as the artists are already booked up for Xmas this yr. Most of the artists on etsy will be booked this late in the yr, I had two quilts and a needle felt made a couple yrs ago and I placed my order in June in order to guarantee Xmas delivery. If you have a nice photo, there is a company called treasure knits that does wonderful woven afghans out of a photo with about a one week turn around. I have had both afghans and pillows made from photos as xmas gifts from them and they do great work.