Northern California Angora Guild: 6/16/19

What's My Name?

Sharing this comic strip with old timers. Do you have problem in naming our beloved buns? After 38 years in breeding, raising and showing English Angora and 7 years in French Angora, I feel exactly as this bunny mom in the comic strip.

Dazu Rock Carvings in China

Photos here were taken by Albert during his trip to China. This attraction is called "Dazu Rock Carvings". Using direct translation, it means "Big Foot Rock Carvings". These carvings are grand scaled, they dated back to 9th to 13th centuries, highly influenced by Buddhism, Taoism and Confucian. Enjoy the photos; if you wish to learn the history and background of these carvings, visit United Nation site https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/912 and Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazu_Rock_Carvings

Chocolate Fawn and Black Fawn

French Angora, ears of a chocolate fawn.

French Angora, ears of a black fawn, they have dark ticking.

French Angora, face of a chocolate fawn.

French Angora, face of a black fawn, lots of black tips on the fawn wool.

French Angora, wool of a chocolate fawn. It should have wide bands but the lighting is not the best.

English Angora, wool of a young chocolate fawn. The French Angora above should have similar orange/fawn wide band but the French Angora photo does not have good light thus an English Angora wool photo is added to clarify the proper color.

French Angora, black fawn that shows grayish band of wool, considered a fault. (This French Angora is in the process of being cut down, the left side shows her skin).

The new standard is coming out in 2021, the wording of the fault remains the same but the fawn is being recognized that there are two kinds: Black and chocolate, and cream will be recognized that there are also two kinds: blue and lilac.

Breeding advise: The Standard does not give any preference to black tort or chocolate tort (dilute version: blue tort or lilac tort). Having black/blue mask and ears is as good as the chocolate/lilac face and ears in the tort group. However, in fawn there is a strong preference given to chocolate fawn and lilac cream as they are considered as "clean". The black fawn and blue cream are considered as a fault in color. If you wish to avoid your show animal being faulted, use chocolate (bb) based parents to achieve the "clean" look. Once again, be reminded that color only carries 5 points, it should be considered as the icing on the cake but not the cake itself. If the rabbit has wool and body, color fault is not going to be a deterrent in doing well in shows.

Chocolate Fawn and Chocolate Tort

We have met Fawndella and Rocher a few days ago when they wish their daddy a Happy Father's Day.

Let's take a look at their colors. On the right is Rocher who is named after the delicious chocolate Ferrero Rocher, a chocolate tort. aabbC-D-ee In Rocher's case, there is one more known factor: he carries dilute gene d because his daddy Brighton is a lilac tort. So his color genes can be updated as aabbC-Ddee. In the case of tort, if it's chocolate based, it has bb and called chocolate tort. Tort in the current SOP is actually black tort (will be changed to black tort in the next SOP), the color genetics is aaB-C-D-ee. The black tort and the chocolate tort are clearly distinguished.

As the name suggests, Fawndella is a fawn. Our current standard does not distinguish black fawn and chocolate fawn, just call it fawn. It listed in the fault "Any smut, ticking, ear lacking, or faint grayish band in wool". In order to get a fawn that is totally "clean", it needs to be chocolate based A-bbC-D-ee. And Fawndella is a chocolate based fawn; since her mom is a chocolate fawn but dad is a lilac tort, so her specific color genes are AabbC-Ddee. Her color is considered as desirable because there is no smut or grayish band or ticking. If the bb is replaced by B-, the fawn will be considered a "smutty fawn" thus not as desirable according to the current standard. In essence the current standard considers black fawn as a fault. We will compare the black fawn and chocolate fawn in tomorrow's post.

To be realistic, there are only 5 points assigned to color so this is more of a discussion than a selection guide. The wool and body are much more important on the show table. In Betty's barn, the English Angora with the highest number of winnings is Chu's Zeeva, see

https://ncag.blogspot.com/2019/05/happy-8th-birthday-zeeva.html and Zeeva is a black fawn.

Noh Dancer Doll

Carolyn takes classes on Japanese doll making. We have seen her earlier creations three times in the past:

https://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=japanese+doll

She also participates in a certification program that requires her to accomplish different levels of skills. Each doll is made with precision.

Each placement has specific locations.

Everything has to be in clear detail.

Carolyn is happy to report that with the successful completion of this doll, she is getting to into the advance doll making class. The name of this doll is called "Noh Dancer Doll". To learn about "Noh Dancer", go to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh