Friday, September 25, 2009

Palm Leaf Dog - handmade in Cambodia by Bloom!


Check out this cutie! I am so pleased with this cute doggy which was fashioned out of dried palm leaves by one of the Bloom staff members. I had bought a Chinese handicraft book on weaving and another one on Chinese knots to inspire the women and one of them succeeded in making this! We stuck on the eyes with scotch tape because we weren't sure how to create the eyes - marker drawn or button eyes. We'll keep experimenting. What do you think?

If money is no object, you may prefer Vivaterra's Recycled Rover, made out of corded recycled newspaper for a cool USD$129.

Bloom Puppy will cost less than 5% of Recycled Rover. If there is demand for our puppy, it will be another income-generating project for the villagers. Yay!


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

great job!

Tanya said...

How about using a seed like the ones used in necklaces and threading it right through the middle so the knot becomes the pupil that way it stays all natural and recycled?

Anonymous said...

That dog is so cute! I would definitely buy one although I'm not sure how I'd get it home without it being crushed in my luggage.

On a somewhat related topic, have you ever heard of the SCAD organization? I am a big fan of their work. I keep fantasizing about adopting one of the cute dogs on their website but it's just not feasible right now.

http://www.scadbangkok.org/

feddabonn said...

i'm an opinionated git, but then you asked. [grin].

might it be possible to make a button sorta thing out of the same material and paint it black? keeps to the whole theme better, i'd imagine. i feel sticking on bits of paper or drawing eyes will spoil the attraction of the piece.

annamatic said...

oh, he's adorable! ...but i might not buy a palm leaf doggie maybe because of my perception that the palm leaf would dry out or not look so nice over time... Is there a way to make him out of stiffened fabric or maybe to give him some clothes that could make him seem more "cuddly"? He really has a very cute shape!

Diana Saw said...

Wow, thanks for all the comments and ideas guys! Awesome. We'll try all of them! Seed eye, palm leaf painted black and a stuffed version made from recycled cloth. Great ideas, all!

Hey Alison, thx for the info on SCAD. Last year I went to Nepal to see the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre, a very successful animal shelter because I considered starting an animal shelter in Cambodia. http://cambodiacalling.blogspot.com/2008/04/dogs-in-nepal-and-cambodia.html

I have 5 Cambodian dogs myself - you can see photos of our family here :) http://cambodiacalling.blogspot.com/2008/12/our-family.html

cheers
diana

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