Rice Heat Pad Tip

I made Shadow a heat pad, but he didn't want to use it with his 'cone.' He seemed afraid of anything I put in there.
His cone is off today and he's been a very good boy. I supposed by now the stitches don't bother him. Later on, I'll heat up the heat pad and let him lay on it as he loves to do with other heat pads.

I have a book called "One Yard Wonders," in which there is a pattern for one of these. What they have done differently than others I've made is to make 'channel's for the rice. I like this because it helps the pad to 'conform' a little better to the body part in question.

But that means filling little openings with rice. I used a spoon at first but still ended up with a mess. Looking around my kitchen for a make-shift funnel (with a wide enough mouth), I thought at first of using a paper cup with the bottom cut out. Of course, the way things work, I didn't have any.

Then I spotted my set of biscuit cutters. Eureka! They come in different widths so it was very easy to find one that fit the opening. I inserted it handle-side down. Now I could fill the channel with minimal mess!

I hope, if you make anything you need to fill with rice or beans or whatever, you will be able to use this biscuit cutter trick.