This week’s Tickle Paw Tuesday installment is part craft and remembrance—two of my favorite combinations.
I recently ran across Hiroshi Hayakawa’s book, “Paper Pups – 35 Dogs to Copy, Cut & Fold” and couldn’t wait to see what I could do with the enclosed templates, particularly the Siberian Husky. The book contains a wide variety of breeds, including a few accessories like a dog house and dog sweater. This paper crafting book combines origami (paper folding) and kirigami (paper cutting) to create three-dimensional dogs
You’ll need only to score, fold, and cut the print outs you make of the templates in the book. You are free to color and personalize the dogs as you see fit. You can try it out with some free projects available online at Lark Crafts. You can create a Chow Chow, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Schnauzer, Puli, Saint Bernard, long-hair Yorkshire Terrier, Dalmatian puppy, or the Basset Hound hat and pipe accessory set.
The book is beautifully laid out, and thanks to the text and illustrations, one shouldn’t feel too overwhelmed to start the craft. There are beginner templates to start with, but the Siberian Husky is an intermediate template. I struggled with a few folding lines, but I eventually got it.
These paper crafts are not only great crafts to engage children in (with adult supervision), but they make a wonderful project to help one memorialize a pet. I certainly enjoyed making this little pooch. The time it takes to make one certainly provided me with the quiet concentration necessary to sit and reminisce about Tristan, our beloved Siberian Husky. The 21st of July was the three year anniversary of his death.
This pencil colored miniature version does not do justice to the real deal, but he certainly makes me smile as wonderful memories are brought to the forefront of my mind. That is time well spent, I’d say.
Happy Tuesday!
