Started From Love and Passion for Dogs
If you are a husky parent, you know how much hair they shed and might have thought what to do with all the hair. I had always wanted to make something using my huskies' hair. I have made two pillows stuffed with their hair, and put appliqué of their faces on each of the pillow. But it was not until a few months after my first Husky's passing away when I tried needle felting using wool and my dog's hair. I had never tried needle felting before so I needed to learn it by watching YouTube, other websites, and books.
Needle felting is a technique to make a sculpture from wool by stabbing it with a felting needle, which has tiny barbs on the tip. The wool fibers will interlock together and start forming a shape eventually. I missed my late dog so much and was desperate to create his small clone. I incorporated his hair with wool and made my first palm sized needle felted dog, the Mini-Pup.
Now 4 years have passed, and I have created a lot of Mini-Pups for people - small breeds to big breeds, curly hair to straight hair, short hair to long hair, or no hair, different hair color, different eye colors... the more I make, the more I adore each dog's beauty in details as well as a whole.
I put a great effort to reproduce their expression of "connection" with his/her owner as well as their "spirits". This is what makes him/her special for the owner, I believe. Such connection and spirits are reproduced by their eyes and body posture, and I hope my customers feel it with their Mini-Pups.
I also love to make Mini-Pup in action. I have made pups catching a frisbee or tennis ball in the air, digging a hole or jumping on the snow. It amuses me to create such lively actions with full expressions!
My customers ask me to make a Mini-Pup as a present for friends or family, the others ask it for themselves. Some customer ask to use their dog's hair, and others ask for just wool. Whether the dog is with them or already passed, their dog is a significant part of their lives. I feel honored to make a Mini-Pup for them, and I put my heart when creating their Mini-Pup in return.
Mini-Pup started with my grief over the devastating experience of losing my dog. But now I am very happy to be able to create Mini-Pups. It is a simple joy for creation, and joy of precious encounter with people who ask me to make one.
While I'm making a Mini-Pup, my three huskies are playing in the yard, and two chihuahua mix sleeping on their blanket, and a border collie mix resting by me.
Yes, I am a dog crazy, and happy to be the one!