An adorable little book on how to make your own fuzzy needle-felted dogs from raw wool – or combings from your own dog’s coat!
The book measures 7.5 x 8.5 inches and has 80 pages.
Title – Fleece Dog
Author – SINCO
Publisher – Mitchell Beazley
ISBN – 9781845332891
Cuteness Overload
OK, even if I never ever wanted to make a fleece dog, I would still be glad I bought this book. The dogs are really adorable and the photographs of them are charming.
There are instructions to make 17 breeds of dog from sheep’s wool, then an extra 3 that incorporate your own dog’s hair if you wish. I am sure it would not be hard to adapt many of the designs to create other breeds of dog.
Each dog is illustrated in the first part of the book, together with a little bit of information on the breed.
How to Make a Fleece Dog
There is a detailed section that outlines the tools you will need (very few!), how to mix the colours of fleece, how to create and assemble the basic dog and additional techniques such as implanting dog hair and adding markings.
This section is fully illustrated and very clear, however I personally think that this book is probably not for the absolute beginner in needle-felting. A little previous experience with simpler designs would be advisable. Having said that, the instructions are very detailed.
The instructions for each dog explain how much wool is needed, and what colours are recommended. There are detailed illustrations that show the various shapes you will need to make and how they join together to create the dog. Measurements of various parts are given together with illustrations of special parts that need to be made.
At the bottom of the page there are black and white illustrations of different views of the finished dog so you can ensure you have everything right.
Lots of dogs
The included breeds are:
Labrador Retriever, Miniature Dachshund, Shiba Inu, French Bulldog, Wirehound Fox Terrier, Siberian Husky, Chihuhua, Miniature Schnauzer, Pomeranian, Papillon, Dalmatian, Catalan Sheepdog, Bernese Mountain Dog, Scottish Terrier, West Highland White Terrier, Afghan Hound, Toy Poodle, Shetland Sheepdog, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen.
Once one had made a few of the dogs I think it would be easy to convert the designs to make other breeds. A larger version of the Sheltie would be a Rough Collie, Toy Poodles could be enlarged to make Standards, Dalmatians could have a colour change and be Pointers and so on.
Summary
This is one of my favourite craft books. Ideal of course if you want to capture the likeness of a furry friend, in miniature. I love the idea of including the dog’s own hair in the model.
The range of included breeds covers a lot of the most popular ones plus it would be easy to convert them to cover many, many more types.
These are very detailed little models so may be a bit fiddly for very new needle-felters. However the instructions are very clear and detailed.
The sections on topics such as how to blend new colours of fleece should prove very useful indeed.
This link leads to the item on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. If you purchase from these links then I would get a small commission from Amazon for sending custom their way. At no extra cost to yourself. Thank you.
Fleece Dog book by Sinco on Amazon.com
Fleece Dog book by Sinco on Amazon.co.uk
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