so you wannabee a Domestik Goddess?

Kay Turple is a Canadian artist who makes amazing 3-dimensional dog portraits — all sorts of dog breeds, like this gorgeous fluffy Old English Sheepdog — working from your photographs to make a tiny true-to-life model in felted wool.

How does Kay make her miniature pets? She gives an overview of the needle felting technique at KaysK9s.com, but simply put –

Simply put, needle felting is the process of taking raw wool roving and using a barbed felting needle to sculpt it into shape. The sculpting is done by poking the wool thousands of times until the fibers interlock and felt together. This process is extremely time consuming, and each dog or cat normally takes 10 - 25 hours to create.

Indulge an urge, add something very special to a collection of dollhouse-scale miniatures, or commemorate a beloved companion animal. They run from 1″ to 4″ in size, or are made in standard 1:12 dollhouse scale. (She does cats and other creatures, too.)

These are true art pieces, not toys — and are priced accordingly, reflecting the many hours of skilled handcrafting that goes into each felted dog.

Best yet, a portion of all proceeds is donated to support the Ontario SPCA and local animal shelters. As well, Kay sponsors a shelter dogs — see a picture of Chico, the Chihuahua mix who is her current “foster pup,” at www.kaysk9s.blogspot.com. What more could a dog lover ask?