Spring-er Spaniel!

I love a good pun, and this one leapt up without hesitation, begging to join in. And with the Sharrow Lantern Carnival 2026 theme of ‘Spring Awakening’, my ears pricked up!

As the workshops were in different venues on Saturdays and Sundays, I decided the best thing would be to make a lantern in each. So at one place I made an orange tip butterfly, the other a springer spaniel.

From looking at a spaniel’s ears, it didn’t take long to think of using twisted hazel to get those lovely curls. A cheeky call out on my neighbourhood Facebook group, and I was off down the road with my secateurs to help myself to a bin bagful of cuttings.

The hazel was fantastic to construct with! I knew it must be. The branches gripped one another, sculpting, forming. My fingers obediently intertwined until I had a pair of ears before me.

Then, I whipped up a willow frame, reinforced the hoops with crosses and added a bamboo cane in the centre. The snout and bottom jaw followed as I pondered puppetry techniques to get those ears flapping, maybe even the jaw or tongue could wag. A couple of cable ties as hinges, and a washing line tied to both ears and down the central bamboo cane: very simple, yet effective. The laughter from the other side of the room when I pulled the line reassured me!

Rooting around at home, I found an 8cm diameter, plastic bauble (in two halves), so I picked up my glue gun and brought them along to the last session. I knitted in a couple of sets of fairy lights and papered it.

The character of the twisted hazel got a bit lost under the paper, but the spaniel definitely had plenty of spring in it. I’d like to make something using hazel again sometime.

Walkies! Time for the carnival!