Wee Lily (b.18 March 2010)

On 10 March, I got a message through Folksy from Lucy Westwood of The Sleep Valley Co, where she sells her own handmade gorgeous soaps and bath bombs. The message title was most intriguing - "Can you quernus my beagle??" I'd never seen Quernus used as a verb before, and I loved it!

And when Lucy sent through pictures of her gorgeous beagle, Lily, I loved her too - she's the gorgeously doe-eyed pup ever, and I'm sure she knows it!

I made up a special fur cane for the patches on Lily's back mixed up with nearly black and a darkish brown, and also blended a lighter tan colour for the markings on her face and her ears. I drew sketches of where the markings should go, and for the darker patches, I cut thin slices from the cane, laid them out into a sheet, and then cut the markings in one go, to help keep the fur looking smooth. As usual, I made the tail with a short wire armature for extra strength.

For the head, I repeated the process with the tan clay, and then added those wonderful long floppy ears. However, there is a sad tale to tell about these ears. As explained in her blog post, Lucy tells how when she was

photographing Wee Lily beside Big Lily (and the photos are just gorgeous), Wee Lily became quite attached to Lucy's elbow and sadly ended up on the floor. As a result, Wee Lily's left ear became less attached to her head. However, an express trip back to Leeds resulted in some remedial surgery, and Wee Lily's temporary deafness was swiftly reversed.

It's well worth checking out Lucy's wonderful Folksy shop - she very kindly sent me some lavender soap as a thank you for fixing Wee Lily's ear, and it's just lovely stuff! And all entirely handmade with only natural ingredients. Mmmmmm!

Pin It