To make this cute dog out of wood sola flowers (or possibly other types of flowers; silk, real…) Here is what you will need.
- Plastic eyes. I purchased brown animal eyes that are 12mm. I bought mine from Joann Fabrics, because I was already there looking for something else. If you only plan on making a few then Joann Fabrics would be a good place to get these, but if you plan on making several, then I would recommend buying in bulk from Amazon.
- Plastic nose, or make a nose out of felt. I purchased a plastic dog nose that is 18mm. Some sola flowers have skinned centers that could also be used for the nose instead of the plastic ones. I did not have any of these flowers on hand at the time. I bought mine from Joann Fabrics, because I was already there looking for something else. If you only plan on making a few then Joann Fabrics would be a good place to get these, but if you plan on making several, then I would recommend buying in bulk from Amazon.
- 6 wires to hold flowers (I recommend 18 gauge wire, but in this project I used spare ornament hooks (not the really cheap ones) that worked okay.
- Green grass filler or reindeer moss
- Greenery to decorate behind and around the dog. You can also add extra flowers around the dog as well, but I did not. I purchase my greenery from Michael’s, Joann Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, and Walmart. I just wait for them to have a big sale on their greenery.
- Container to put dog in. My container was purchased from Ikea when they had a sale on their valentines day items, but feel free to use what ever you have on hand.
- Great stuff (crack filler), green dry foam cut to fit inside container, or another way to fill the bottom of the container. Note there are different colors of Great Stuff to indicate the amount of expansion that will occur.
- Sola wood flowers: one 3 inch for head, one 1.5 inch for nose, four 1 inch for paws and ears for a total of 6. I used a mix of flowers I had on hand. Some of the types I used were Button, Eternity, Ken Ken, and Infinity from Oh You’re Lovely.
- May want water in spray bottle to soften flowers to fluff them and arrange them easier.
- Start by filling the container with dry foam cut to size or great stuff (crack filler). Note if great stuff is used it will need to be left to dry and foam up for at least 48 hours before working with it. (I recommend filling several container at once if using great stuff as it is difficult to get multiple uses out of one can.) Only fill container about a quarter of the way full and add more if needed. It will expand a good amount. It is also recommended to poke a few holes in it after about 24 hours to make sure the stuff at the bottom drys. Note the container in the photo below needs a little more. This is what it looked like after 48 hours.
- Next, start stemming all of the flowers. Apply small amount of hot glue to the tip of the wire being inserted into the back of the flower to secure it in place. Then fill the container with green grass filler to cover the opening of the container.
- Place the 3 inch flower in the location you desire the head of the dog to be. Place it a little higher so the paws and nose have room to go under it. You may need to hot glue at the bottom of the wire to secure it in place.
- Next, place the 1.5 inch nose flower in the desired location. I recommend around the center or just below the center of the flower being used for the head. Again you may need glue to secure the bottom of the wire in place. I would also apply glue to the back of the nose flower and attach it to the front of the head flower.
- Now it is time to place the 1 inch flowers as the ears and paws. Paws should go to the bottom left and right of the nose flower. The ears can be placed as desired, but it is recommend going higher up on the head. My first attempt I placed the ears more on the side of the head, which did not look as good. I also applied hot glue to the bottom of each wire to secure them in place. I also applied hot glue to the ears where they touch the head flower. The paws may also need glue to attach them to the nose so they do not move around.
- Now it is time to glue on the nose and eyes. This is when the dog really starts to come together and look good. I applied a good amount of hot glue to the ends of the eyes and pushed them gently into the head of the dog in the desired location. You may want to place the eyes into the head flower without glue first to visualize where you would like them to go. Do the same with the nose. Since the nose had a longer backing it required more pressure to push it into place at the center of the nose flower. It may be possible to cut some of the backing off of the nose to decrease the amount of pressure needed to go into the flower.
- Lastly add greenery as needed around the dog. I added it around the sides and popping out from behind. You could also add flowers to the greenery if desired, but maybe use colored flowers so they do not blend in with the dog. I also used hot glue to secure the greenery in place.
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