New Glasses Are For the Birds.....

These are going to take some getting used to. Right now I am having to move my head a lot. I got a different shape and that makes it more difficult. They are more square than the old ones and have more distance viewing on the sides. I feel like I have to move my head and look straight at something up close. For a few days this is going to be the pits!

Anyway, I promised Katie that, if she was a good girl, I would show her how I did the dog collar for Spike. I don't have any way of telling if she was good or bad, but I will do it anyway. Here goes.

The pile of junk that you see here is what you need.

Tools: Needle nosed pliers(two if you have them), Side cutters (they don't necessarialy have to have a half beaded handle), Scissors(sharp).

Supplies: thin leather, 3 links of old chain from jewelry, a finding to make the tag if you want one and some metallic, dimensional fabric paint.

1. Detach 3 lengths of chain from the necklace and close two of them back to round. Leave the third one open to receive the tag.

2. Cut a piece of leather about 1/8 to 1/16" inch wide and about 3" long.

Yes, I know it's more than you need. I do the collar and then trim the excess when the dog is wearing it. It is much easier to handle that way.

3. With the side cutters, snip out the piece of the jewelry finding to make the tag. In the photo you will see the piece that I cut out. It was the top of a "frame" shaped finding. You could possibly get another one from the opposite end if you needed two.

4. Slip the tag on the open chain link and close it.

5. Slip that and the other two chain links onto the strip of leather. It is easier to do this if you cut a diagonal point on one end of the leather strip. You can poke the end through and grab it with the needle nosed pliers or a pair of tweezers to finish the job.

6. Center the end nearest to the end with the tag on the back of the dog's neck and glue it with a small spot of white glue. Then pull the tag down so that it is positioned center front of the neck. Keep going around with the rest of the collar and where it overlaps the other end, position the other two links with the top side outward from each other. That forms the buckle. Put a dot of glue on the underside and put the links directly over the starting point. Let this dry a bit and cut the end to the length that you want. Make a point by cutting both sides towards the center.

7. Use the dimensional fabric paint to put little dots around the collar for spikes. You can do it a number of times to build up the end of the spikes. I usually squeeze the bottle just enough so that I can see a tiny drop of paint coming out. Then I place it against the leather and pull up to get the spike. You might want to practice on a scrap before you do it on the dog.

P.S. I just put on my old glasses. The new ones are making my eyes hurt!

See you tomorrow.

P. P. S......Tessie approves.