Ah the satisfaction of completing my little replica. I watched our little mini wire Aldo sleeping and thought – that would be good to needle felt – so my needle came out and I started.
The base was pink – really harsh wool that enabled me to get the shape easily. I made the legs and head separately and before I attached them I covered his tummy in brown Shetland combed top. I then dressed the legs with a mix of Icelandic and Shetland top – cut into tiny pieces that I hand mixed to get the wild boar look of the coat. I left the tops of the legs un-felted so I could attach them to the body and I used a long doll needle to stitch through the front legs so they stayed in the right position whilst I felted them on. I then attached the head – still in its un-dressed state and looking really odd – the pink made it look like an alien! It took a while to cover the body in its mixed wool coat and once done I added the tail and started on the head – that was very fiddly – adding eyebrows and a beard, felting on the black nose and doing a fine line for the closed eyelids.
When I was happy that he was in the correct sleeping position and his beard was well needled in, I put him aside and made the basket from Green Perendale batting. The banket came next, a small piece of doubled Sherpa fleece (that I use for my real dog beds) I embroidered a small paw print on one corner and overlocked it.
I finally had my mini miniature – 5 inches long in a basket 6 inches wide!
