The dolls house club project of the push along dog was a big success, just wish I had taken my camera. It was so good to see so many different dogs made and the looks on everyone's faces as the project came together. I have to say they were all a bit concerned at the start as it didn't look very 'dog like'. But all were very happy at the end.
Here are the instructions for any of you who would like to make a push along dog yourselves. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. For some reason blogger makes them look grainy if you enlarge them on this page.
You will need:
1 fat lollipop stick cut in half
2 cocktail sticks
1 chenille pipe cleaner in white
4 press studs for wheels(they must have holes though the centre)
4 bead pins/ cut down pins
3mm drill bit and 0.5mm drill bits and mini drill
Small black seed beads for eyes and nose
Scrap pieces of leather for ears and collar
Small piece of white felt
Scrap of black or brown felt
Saw
Sand paper
Scissors
Cut the fat lollipop stick in half and glue together. Once dry cut 2 pieces from the strip, one 3cm long, the other 0.5cm long. Drill holes in the pieces 3mm in using the 3mm drill bit.
Drill 4 holes in the larger piece down the edges 0.5mm in using the 0.5mm drill bit. These will be the holes for the wheels (pins and press studs)
Sand both pieces to a smooth finish then paint both pieces using acrylic paint, leave to dry.
Next make your dog using the pipe cleaner. Fold the pipe cleaner in half.
Make a head shape by bending the pipe cleaner down.
Bend the 2 ends back up on themselves to create the front legs
Bend the 2 ends of the pipe cleaner back to create a body the. Make some back legs.
Using one end of the pipe cleaner make a tail
Wrap any remaining pipe cleaner around the body to fatten it up.
Your finished dog should look like this. At this point your dog will have lots of bits of wire showing through. To reduce this you need to cut up your white felt into small pieces and stick them carefully over the parts where the wire is showing.
Continue until you are happy that all of the wire is covered up.
Your dog should now look like this.
You can use the same technique to add a coloured patch to the dog as required.
Cut 2 U shaped pieces of leather for the ears. Stick them on the dog pointing upwards. Allow to dry then stick down to the side of the head.
Cut a 3mm leather strip for the collar and stick around the neck. Keep the join at the front. Stick on a small round silver disc to cover the join and represent a tag. Use black seed beads for eyes and a nose.
Put the trolley together. Cut the cocktail sticks to size for your particular dog. Use them to join the base and the handle as seen in the picture below. Thread the pins through the press studs and glue into the base for wheels. Finally stick on your dog.
Your dog is now finished. Enjoy.
I hope you liked this project. Please let me know if you have a go at making it.
Natalie x