Working on self promotional postcard this week..

Here is the pencil drawing that I am painting this week to create a self promo postcard to send out to publishers. I will post when finished. Also working on an illustration for Illustration Friday.

How to make an all natural dog toy for under $3 in ten minutes.

Instead of buying a rope made of dyed fibers costing $15-20, I decided to make my dog a rope toy on the cheap out of natural materials.

Supplies:

4 foot length of hemp/manila rope - $2.60
5- 6 " of Recycled Fabric - free
Iron on velcro squares -$ .40

Step 1:

Buy a length of hemp rope from a hardware store, I bought mine at home depot labeled as manila rope. (It is about 1/2 " thick ) I bought 4 feet so I could tie a few knots in it. Tie four knots in the rope- one at each end to prevent fraying and two more in the middle somewhere.

Step 2:

Find a soft piece of fabric scrap (I used a cotton sweatshirt fabric) and cut about 5 inches in length and 3-4 " wide - this is to wrap around your rope for a hand hold so your hands won't chafe when pulling on rope when playing with your dog. Test out scrap to make sure it will fit over rope with an extra flap the width of your velcro.

Step 3:

I used sticky iron on squares of velcro, you could also use a whole length of velcro if you wanted. Place squares along one edge of outside of fabric, and along the opposite edge on the inside of the fabric. (see below) Iron the back of the velcro for a few seconds and let cool till it has fully adhered to fabric.

Step 4:


Wrap your handhold around one end of rope and play tug of war with your dog!