CALLING ALL CAT LADIES! Your views, please, on Crafting With Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya, available to pre-order from Firebox now for £10.99, and expected to drop some time this week - meaning the crafty cat lover in your life is in for a very special Christmas treat.
As with so many amazing cat concepts, this book hails from Japan (cross ref: the Maneki-neko, Hello Kitty, cat cafés). The tagline informs us that it's filled with "cute handicrafts to make with your cat", although I can't imagine any of the cats I've shared my life with, past or present, would be very helpful AT ALL in any kind of crafting extravaganza. Perhaps a more accurate tagline would be "cute handicrafts to make from your cat" - I can see why the publishers steered clear of that one, though. It could be misconstrued.
So, the crux of it is, you gather up all that pesky cat hair from around your house/person/casual visitors/cat, and turn it into felty, feline-shaped goodness. You can make finger-cats! (And certainly the cat on the front cover seems to be a) very interested in his, b) behaving himself, and c) possibly even being quite helpful. What wasn't photographed, however, was the cat mauling that poor woman's finger in an attempt to eradicate this weirdo miniature imposter cat that smells like him. Also, he's been plucked from the neck down in order to provide enough hair for the ten projects in the book.)
What do you reckon? Crafty cuteness or catty creepiness? Me? I think it is a work of genius. EVERYONE is getting it for Christmas. Even the allergics.
Oh my, that is beyond creepy.
ReplyDeleteHahaha I wonder how long it would take for you to collect enough hair :S a little creepy I think...
ReplyDeleteI strongly suspect that the original photograph showed a cat treat balanced on that woman's finger, and the puppet was photoshopped in afterwards. My cat attacks any clumps of fur she finds, there's no way she'd delicately sniff what is essentially her clone.
ReplyDeleteThis is very disturbing. It's a bit like making stuff out of dead people. My kitten would divorce me as his parent if I attempted to knit a sock from him.
ReplyDeleteNO! Creepy!
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of an idea I had years back "pube pants".
ReplyDeleteI was told that the idea was creepy, weird and disgusting but this book has inspired me to keep with it perhaps next year my book "how to make pube pants" will be reveiwed on this very blog!
I don't want to shatter your dreams, but...
DeleteHugely enjoying everyone's comments, here and on Facebook. I'm sensing it's going to be a unanimous CREEPY for this book... I am totally buying it, though. Watch out, cats of Britain. I need your hair.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the crafty hands, I have the cat hair - let's make lots of terrifying cat-relics!!!
DeleteCreepy. And I'm saying that as a mad cat lady!
ReplyDeleteYou can post off your dog hair and get it spun into yarn. I might shave the dog and knit her a jumper, à la Shaun the Sheep.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.customdoghairspinning.com/
DO IT!
DeleteHas anyone tasted cat milk? Future milk shake recipe perhaps?...
ReplyDeleteIs it legal to milk your cat?
I love the idea of shaving a cat ...now I have an excuse!
ReplyDeletePUT THE CATS DOWN, EVERYBODY.
Delete*screens call from RSPCA*
DeleteIt's both creepy AND awesome!
ReplyDeleteI love the sub head '...to make with your cat'... Does he hold the needle, helpfully, whilst you thread it? Or just offer critical advice as you craft?
ReplyDeleteThat's a typo, it should read "...to make from your cat"...
DeleteI think I'm in the minority here, but I am seriously thinking of buying this for myself. I would love to have a relic from our old cat who died and this way you get to keep a bit of them FOREVER.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my cat sheds LOADS and it seems a bit wasteful throwing the stuff away. My only hesitation is that I have Ham Hock Hands and am unable to do crafty stuff.
As regards the shaving and milking - I'm open minded, but Jesus, dudes, BOUNDARIES!!
I agree, I actually used to refer to our cat as 'shedding enough hair every week to knit a NEW cat'..! x
DeleteEmmy Lou - I agree! It would be lovely to have a little bit of cats gone by to cherish forever. I'm thinking cat hair Christmas decorations! Is that weird?
DeleteCath - yes, me too - when I brushed my cat Smudge 2 (RIP), I used to end up with enough hair to make a mini Smudge 2! He was always very interested in the resulting ball of fluff - I think he would have liked a finger puppet version of himself!
Someone my mom knew in the 60's knitted her a sweater out of cat hair and my mom was like 'ummm'. But that's what you get when you hang out with hippies.
ReplyDelete