Martha Stewart Living Television

Pet Food Mats

Martha Stewart Living Television

Martha shows you how to make a food mat for your cat or dog.

Collapsible Dog Bowl

This collapsible dog bowl is perfect for traveling pet owners.

Tools and Materials
Dog bowl template
Scissors
Ruler
Brayer
Bone folder
Pinking shears
Oilcloth
Heavyweight plastic from three-ring binder
Petronio's All-Purpose Cement
Paintbrush
Heavy-duty adhesive Velcro dots

Collapsible Dog Bowl How-To
1. Cut two 20-inch-square pieces of oilcloth.

2. Download the dog bowl template and print three copies.

3. Using the template and a ruler as a guide, cut the stabilization pieces from the plastic. Cut one large triangle, three small triangles, and three large curved pieces.

4. Brush cement glue on one side of the plastic pieces.

5. Brush cement glue on the wrong side of each cut piece of oilcloth, leaving a clean 1-inch perimeter.

6. Wait for cement glue to get to dry-tack stage.

7. Lay one piece of oilcloth glue-side up. Lay the plastic pieces down onto this piece of oilcloth, pressing them into the glue, in the formation shown in the assembly key on the template. Leave about 1/16 of an inch between the large triangle and the curved pieces; leave about 1/4 inch between the curved pieces and the small triangles.

8. Lay the second piece of oilcloth over the first piece, with glue-side down, aligning edges of both pieces of oilcloth and sandwiching the plastic pieces between them.

9. Use a brayer to smooth out air bubbles.

10. Use a bone folder to trace the edges of the plastic pieces.

11. Trim 1/4 inch around the entire shape formed by the plastic pieces with pinking shears. The cut line is represented as a dotted line in the assembly key on the template.

12. Turn entire piece over. Place adhesive Velcro dots, with male and female pieces stuck together, on each of the small triangle tabs.

13. Turn the piece over so the Velcro dots are on the bottom. Fold up the 3 curved sides of the bowl, pulling the area under each of the triangle tabs in toward the center and folding them flat against the inside of each side. Fold each triangle tab over the lip of the bowl, sticking the other side of each Velcro dot to the outside of the bowl.

14. To collapse the bowl, separate each Velcro dot and flatten.

Resources
Oilcloth can be found at oilcloth.com. (Martha used the Faux Bois Birch design.) Petronio's All-Purpose Cement is available at instantshoeshine.com.

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Pet Food Mats

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