Adding More New Items

MJ and I designed illustrations to for my Pet shop of the old ones stories last yr.

This yr I'm using the illustrations to create cross stitch patterns. The first offering will be the illustration of the little fluttercat Cinnamon.

I will be adding these patterns soon.

Cat Elementals- Air and Fire- Works in Progress

These 2 pieces have been problematic. First, I like to do winged figures that incorporate the wings into the arms. Making this apparent in so small a sculpt has been challenging.







So far, I've succeeded with wings on the Fire cat, but her tiny horns are going to have to be built up in the back so they can be molded more easily. I also need to incorporate the fingers into the edge of the wing.

The Air cat's feather wings need more work to delineate them from the background and fingers too. Both pieces need some serious smoothing.

I'm a bit concerned about the "good"- "evil" connotations some buyers might see in these 2 pieces, but trying to sculpt a 2 inch cat made of flames or a tiny cloud cat and make the flames and clouds identifiable seems ridiculous to me.

I know what I'm sculpting and why, so I'll just have to let it go. I can't be responsible for what ideas other people bring with them when they view my work.

I'm excited because I'm going to shop for paint this weekend. I'm anxious to see these pieces painted.

On being a kitty Mom- Ode to my cat babies

I love my cats.....I really do, but sometimes they do drive me a bit nuts.

I know they're just playing and don't realize they're being destructive.

and other times they're just too cute for words and I love them all over again.

Even with all the mess they make, my rescued kitties are a great joy to me.

Revamping my shop...Special Sale!!!!!!

I've been looking at my plush pieces and while they are cute...I'm finding that I want to get away from them.

I've been inundated with ideas for goth women, ghosts, sorceresses, disabled people....even vampires. Not to mention the eye jewelry I used to create regularly.

So if you want a plush hexcat or a monkey, now is the time to stop by my etsy shop. I set up a 25% off section. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=11088&section_id=5800372
There are a few older dolls listed there too.

Tara and The White Cat

The Tara's love was so great for us that when she achieved Enlightenment,
She took a Bodhisattva vow, choosing to continue reincarnating until all "sentient beings" are enlightened.

In a story I read as a child, a white cat named Sinh who was the guardian/companion of an elderly artist asked Tara for help. His artist was working on perhaps his last painting for the Temple. It was of Buddha and the animals that answered his
summons.

The artist was grateful to Sinh for all the years of affection and companionship they had shared and wanted to add a portrait of Sinh to the painting.
Since according to legend the cat did not come at Buddha's call, everyone objected.

Sinh watched his unhappy, feeble friend and feared he would die before his masterpiece was complete. The night that the weeping artist finished the painting without the portrait, Sinh meditated asking Tara- She who saves- to bring peace to the old man.

OM TARE TUTARE TURE SVHA was the mantra Sinh repeated. In his mind, he came upon the green Tara and with a gentle touch of his paw told her of his love and sadness. All was lit with a golden light and Sinh was reassured that "You can rely on me, you need seek no other refuge"

On the morning the monks came for the painting they found that the artist had died in his sleep and lay in bed with a peaceful smile on his face. Looking around, they stood in awe of the beautiful painting before them. All the animals glowed with a heavenly radiance and the artist was there too... praying. But most amazing of all, the faithful and loving Sinh was sleeping in Buddha's arms.

This is probably my favorite cat story. It just seemed that my first attempt at an appliquéd and embroidered piece should be about the brave and loving cat, Sinh. This is piece is called a Thanka. It is an embroidered piece that tells a Buddhist/religious story.

To create this piece, I secured the dark dreen tie dyed fabric with a piece of batting behind it to a scroll embroidery frame. I marked off the shape of the thanka and the width of the border with dressmakers chalk.

The figures were drawn on cotton fabric secured in a round embroidery hoop and stitched. I used a variety outline stitches, short and long stitches and satin stitches. I got the glowing effect on the cat by combining 2 strands of white floss with a single strand of golden yellow floss. When they were finished, the figures were cut out and satin stitched to the background. I deliberately varied the length of the satin stitches to add to the impression that the figures are glowing.

Finding the cotton fabric print that reminded me of Dharma wheels was such a lucky break. It was perfect for the border of this piece. I cut small groupings of the circles and carefully arranged them in an attractive sequence around the 2 figures. I used a satin stitch to secure these pieces to the background like I did with the figures.

The final steps were to embroider the tiny spirals in the back ground and the rays emanating off the Tara, quilt around the figures and the sections of the background and border I wanted to stand out. I then used Spider Wire to do the beading on the entire piece.

I cut piece of wood the shape of the thanka and covered it with batting. I stretched the finished piece over the wood and whip stitched it into place. I cut a strip of cloth to cover the edge of the wood and give smooth edge to the image side of the thanka. I whip stitched this into place. I used a piece of the background fabric to cover the back of the thanka. Sewing beads around the edge of the thanka finished this piece off beautifully.

Bringing Back an Original Design for the Holidays

I know I disappointed some people when I changed my HexCat design. So I decided to bring back the original little fuzzy cats that
started my business.
Shadow and her
friends will start
showing up in my etsy shop this week.

I'm working on a pair little kid cthulhu monsters for this week too. I'm hoping to keep adding more unusual creatures for you to give as gifts or to buy for yourself.

If you want something custom designed....you'd best contact me now. I sew everything by hand and need time to finish and mail the creature!

Sleek is the word for my Hex Cat Redesign

I am trying a new combination of textures to create my original essence of catness... HexCats. I like the contrast of the 2 textures and I'm not missing the yarn ruff.

I'm going to have fun playing with this new design, but I will make a few of the originals.

I'm seeing velour and plush, satiny print and faux fur, maybe even vinyl and velour or any combination of these fabrics.

Yes, this will work. As to the ruffs, I really am so over specialty yarn. Faux fur and plush... yes. I think I've made these cats more interesting to work on.

If you have any fiber suggestions for me to try.... please feel free to suggest them. I just might try a vinyl and chains sort of kitty.

The Cat That Wouldn't Die!

Have you ever had a design come back to haunt you? When I first started making HexCats, they were little blobby figures like the cats shown here. I was trying to create the essence of catness....an eye, ears and fangs.


These cats are cute and the handmade eyes and the poses do give them personality, but my goodness .... they' re not very challenging to make.



This is why I designed the Boogaloo Hexcats. They have faces and
bodies which are more difficult to get right. The personality quotient is higher too.



I mean aren't these more charming?
I think little Lightening here is a real sweetie. Lyla has a great deal of charm and WinterSky looks ready to play.


But, I've had people ask about the first design and I like to keep my customers happy.... so of course I'm going to make more of the original HexCat design . I just have to come up with some little fabric and plush changes to make them unique and interesting. I'm trying out combining plush and velour on the same cat and giving them eyelids.

Orchid came back

Last summer a young feral cat, who was at least part siamese, came by regularly for food. He or she ran with a wild group of cats in our area. I got to know her better and called her Orchid. She had lovely lavender eyes and a funny tuft of fur on her head that seemed to go the wrong way. She was always sickly and I wanted to tame her down and take her in with the rest of my rescues.

I always looked forward to my morning visits with her. After breakfast on the porch, she'd play with her felt mouse and chatter to me. When I finally felt she was tame enough to be boxed, I made a vet appointment and waited for the next morning to come. Orchid never showed up.

Living here in the Mojave Desert, I know that feral cats are food for many predators, but I had hoped she'd be round 1 more day. I felt so guilty.

About 4 weeks later, I heard a familiar meow out on the porch. Grabbing a food bowl, I rushed out to see Orchid pacing around the porch. I put the food bowl down and reached out to pet her......

And put my hand right through her.

I've seen ghosts since I was a little girl, so seeing Orchid just made me sad. She's visited me periodically since late last summer. The last time I saw her 4 months ago, I asked her to let go and come back to me as a live cat. She cocked her tiny head at me and squeezed her lavender eyes shut. I 've always thought of this as a cat smile.

About 3 months ago a black feral cat gave birth to 5 black kittens and one siamese kitten with lavender eyes and a funny tuft on the top of his head on my back porch. I'm still looking for homes for 4 of the black ones if any one is interested.

But since I promised her, Orchid/ Rorschach or Rory lives with me.

Sunday Morning Sleep in

Hey, Pink Monkey ! It's time to get up! We NEEED to eat Noooow!
I rarely sleep in. The cats are traditionalists and hate Any change in their schedule. Also MJ seems to think that if I'm asleep getting candid shots of me is a great idea.


Pixie's glare wasn't enough to get me moving this Sunday morning. Max's leap from the window sill onto my head was.

I really do love my cats, but it would be nice to sleep in once in a while.

A Day of Mourning

This morning one of my older black cats had to be put to sleep.

Roswell was an unusual cat. He looked like a tiny spider when my husband, MJ, found him in a shopping cart at Walmart and brought him home.When he was 4 months old he survived a black widow bite, but he was never quite same afterward. Ros was a loner and made nice on his terms.

He was loved by one of my black and white females named Pixie. He had no clue what she wanted, but seemed to like to sit with her. Poor Pixie, she's searching the house for him now. I wish I could tell her what happened. He never liked to get his picture taken so I can't share how handsome he was with you.

Ros said "Hello" to me one morning and was able to steal the lids off full 2 liter bottles of soda with out using his teeth or spilling a drop of soda. He had mastered the house vortex and seemed to appear and disappear at will.

I will miss you Roswell and I'll do my best to comfort Pixie.

All my love.

My Ode to Cats- In My Life and in Art

I love you my darling cats. Jackie, even when you jump off the
plant shelf and land with a huge bang on MJ's drawing table.... I may jump 10 feet, but I still love you.


Or when you have a wild game of "run and tumble" with your siblings at 2 am, I'm usually up sewing anyway.


Even little Kirby's turning into a vampire that one night wasn't that bad. He was abandoned at such a young age I guess the suckling thing is to be expected.

But sometimes I like my cats to be artwork. It's nice to look at a painting or sculpture of a cat. No biting or scratching or craziness. Just beautiful cats.

Cellic http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5412690
the etsy shop run by Cheryl Ellicott shows cats in all their regal beauty. I am so in love with Devon Rex Prince M. I love to look at this beautiful
painting.

But sometimes the joy of having
a cat is witnessing it's occasional zaniness. Papermoongallery's cats are so charming. I love the giant eyes and teeny legs these sculpts have. Sophisticated Kitty Cat is quite the charmer. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021458

Yes, I'm a crazy cat lady and I do love my cats.

New Cat Preview

This is the first Cat Woman in MJ's beautiful new series of ACEOs. The image is drawn in graphite and colored digitally.
It's funny how different artists see things.When I suggested doing a Cat
Woman Series to MJ, I was thinking along the lines of Cat Women like My Mystic Cat Dancers. More cat than human was the way I approached this idea.

As I look at MJ's Lady Blue, I want to try a new series more like her, but I suppose that the way I work I would end up with another figure similar to my Calliope.

Adding More New Items

MJ is adding a new line of Limited Edition Art Cards to our shop.

The Bleak Girls are the first set.


His next series will be Cat Women.






The Pet Shop of the Old Ones Coloring pages will be listed this week.




I'm finishing off a new Futhark Feline and a little cat soon to be either a Moonlight Cat or a short haired HexCat. I'm still undecided. It depends on how the body turns out. I've only made one short-haired Hexie so the idea is appealing. Micah was one of my first HexCats. I was looking in my files for a picture and came across this one of him and it got me to thinking about getting out the velour for a Hexie.





I'm starting a couple of new pieces too. This sad story made me want to do a memorial to poor George. Since I want to call it St. George, I'm going to do it in accordance with traditional portraits of Saints. He's going to be all battered from his fight. But I don't believe all angels are pretty.... Especially when they're being brave. http://tinyurl.com/38mnv5


I'm also staring a medium sized longhaired Hexie. I just got the most beautiful black,white and purple faux fur and MJ made me some beautiful deep purple eyes. I love fabric sales.

What a Month!

So far this month,I've had major dental work done; started several new projects for the holidays; tried to learn about

how to use my new embroidery machine with little luck and feel really behind on all the things I wanted to produce for this
Holiday season.

MJ is working on drawings for our first Pet Shop of the Old Ones coloring book. I'm designing a flying monkey and some special dragons; as well as trying to
get a couple of new chihuahuas and a few Futhark cats done too. I just sold Miguelito a few days ago. I'm working on a new kitty his size in red. I want to call her Ruby Tuesday.

This little fluttercat and Ruby have the new glass eyes I got from VanDykes. I'm really liking them because I don't have to worry about the glass eyes changing color or scratching so easily.

I hope I can get everything done. We'll see what happens .

Feline of the Day Princess Fluffy

Her Daintiness is one of the smallest of the four 2 week old babies we found in the backyard. She always looks perfect, plays with her siblings gently, uses sweet meow and feline wiles to get her way, and snores louder than a truck driver.

When we first took the 4 in, she was one of the sickest and I had to constantly ungum her eyes and wash her teeny face. I used to rub her back and she'd sneeze gunk everywhere. She'd sneeze and sneeze and flop over in my hands and let out this tiny sigh and fall fast asleep.

Now she can hold her own with the biggest of my grown cats. She just blinks those lovely peridot eyes and puts out a tiny paw and swings it with deadly accuracy. Max (one of my biggest Toms) now sports a nasty scratch over his right eye because he had the audacity to touch "Pinky Mouse" (a pink fabric mouse ... not a food item for hawks) while Her Daintiness was having her late afternoon romp.

Fluff usually finds the highest place to sit and look about her domain. Those eyes just seem to say, "Yes. This is all Mine." When she rubs your hand with her soft little head and holds a finger in between her paws, it's hard to disagree with her.

Work Habits--Or It's nice to pick which 12 hrs a day to work

I have done many different things in my life. I've been an Art Teacher, a Retail Store Manager in a collectible toy store and a thrift store. I even lasted 4 months as a Bill Collector. I was a very bad collector.

After I left hell job, I tried to find other work, but being in your 40's and handicapped isn't usually on most employers most favorable traits in an employee list. I threw myself into my doll making and I have been seriously trying to make it work for me for about a year and a half now.

Will I be a success? I hope so. I'm working my tail off creating and promoting. I know my work is going to appeal to a limited audience, but frou frou girly dolls just aren't me. I'm a different sort of person and I'm sure there are others out there like me. I just have to find them.

Right now things are exciting for me. I'm making art dolls that are either one of a kind like Captured or done in a limited series like my Crawling eyes. I've also started designing magicked animals like the cat Amber Moon, with their own backstories that I want to collect together and self publish. I want to design a line of tiny animals and maybe some animal or Crawling eye patches. We'll see what the future holds for Le Chat Noir.