Go Dog Go!!

A friend is involved with a greyhound rescue group in town and she put out a call to anyone who would like to donate something for their upcoming fundraiser.  Because this immediately pop into my head I knew that it had to be made.  There were a couple of challenging aspects that I had to work through, the first being that I wanted to create the dog by felting roving.  Sounded easy enough seeing that I have dabbled with needle felting on and off in the past.  Checked out Pinterest and a couple of YouTube videos and off I went.  While their greyhounds looked like greyhound, mine, or at least as much as I attempted,  did not.  Not to mention just how long I worked on this 3 inch by 2 inch dog.

That is not to say that at some point it may have resembled a dog of sorts but this was time sensitive and the actual want to continue down this path was quickly waining. So, per usual, I broke out the wire and had something that looked close enough to a greyhound in a short amount of time.

The next challenge was to have the dog being walked only by his leash, so this meant he would be floating instead of being attached to the swing bar.  Also, I was not sure if the weight of the suspended dog would upset the balance and not allow for spin.  It took a bit of finagling to get the dog leashed and stable, and I was thrilled to see that his weight did not topple the couple.  In other words, I did not have to reinforce the legs attached to the bar.

Due to the extra weight on the sculpture side, next time I will make the counter weight a bit larger.  I used my existing pattern for the moveable parts and was all set with added color, holes drilled and parts fitted.  Because I did not have the time nor the want to remake the parts, I had to slide the swing bar much more centered on the fulcrum to get the piece to freely spin.  It still looked in proportion, but next time I now know to think about counter weight when making these.  Also, as you can see in the picture, I had yet ( forgotten) to stabilize the swing rod so the dog was starting to walk down hill.  Another thing to remember, especially since it is a bit tricky drilling a hole and hammering in the tiny wooden dowel with the wire attached.

All in all the project went well.  My friend was happy and I learned a thing or two, so it was not time wasted, unlike with a few unfinished projects that haunt me on occasion.

The calendar says that fall is here and our temperatures are starting to drop (slightly), as well as the leaves. Trader Joe's have their shelves full of pumpkin everything...bread, pancakes, butter... (now, so do I). Tomorrow we are going to watch the movie Goonies (1985) in a cave with friends and end the afternoon rooting for our college team.  What a glorious Saturday!!

Saving all the laundry til Sunday!!

Peace,

Hilari