Feline Friday : Cat hair crafts
Crafting with Cat Hair: Cute Handicrafts to Make with Your Cat |
Crafting with Cat Hair, the perfect book for Feline FridayWhen I saw this book, Crafting with Cat Hair, it made me laugh. The book is so perfect because now is Pinkie’s and Midnight’s shedding season with Arizona starting to heat up into the 80s (yesterday hit 83F/28.3C). I just had to share it with you on Feline Friday. The book is written by a Japanese woman Kaori Tsutaya and translated by Amy Hirschman. I love how Kaori’s love for cats shine through. The cat crafts and the cat photos are so cute. She creates them from the cat hair of her own and friends’ cats. (note on the scan. The text is black, not rainbow, in the book. I don’t know why my scanner is creating rainbow text. Hope you can still read the table of contents page one below. note: on the book link. I am an Amazon affiliate, see disclosure at page bottom.) |

She wants to ensure cat hair is gathered in a kind, gentle and friendly way so she also gives instructions on brushing and how to gather cat hair. I love her advice on brushing cats. “Do not overbrush a cat who does not like to be brushed. The cat will get angry and try to scratch you.” and this one “Even if you usually forgive your cat for scratching you, you should still do your best not to get scratched in the first place.”
She teaches you how to felt the hair and then make these cute little cat figures that you can then sew onto book covers, totebags and other things that she tells you how to make.
Kaoru obviously worried someone might love making cat crafts toooo much so she warns you to not shave your cat but only collect the hair through “gentle brushing”. She also admonishes “Your cat’s hair is not for sale. Keep your beloved cat’s hair for your own personal use” and that these crafts are not appropriate for someone with cat allergies.
Kaoru’s chapter on craft care admits you have to be very careful or they won’t last very long. She warns “Cat-hair felt is delicate. It is subject to falling apart if too much friction is applied or if it gets washed too often, so handle it gently.” In her washing instructions (gently by hand, of course), she warns not to wash it with anything else unless you like things covered in cat hair.
In the back of the book, she introduces the cats featured throughout who contributed their hair for the various projects. One adorable contributor is Yuki below who scratches the shoji screen so they patched it up with cat crafted figures from Yuki’s own hair. Another cat, Gabi the camping cat, has his own blog which if you click here takes you to a 2015 entry. I think something happened to him because when I scrolled to 2019, it’s a different calico cat. It’s still a cool blog even though I can’t understand a word — it’s all in Japanese! I like the cat photos.
It’s a fun book. Don’t you think it would be fun to make cat crafts? Especially with the way they are starting to shed now that it is warming up.
Looks over at the cats. Hmmmmm. I have to teach Pinkie and Midnight to enjoy being brushed so I can make my own cat crafts. Now why did that thought send them running? Kaoru’s cats love being brushed. Hey Pinkie! Hey Midnight!
Next I need one for human hair because the cats are not the only ones shedding, lol.
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18 Replies to “Feline Friday : Cat hair crafts”
This is a really neat idea! I never would have thought of this in my life! The book’s author sounds like an absolute sweetheart too, which only adds to the appeal.
I’m quite sure any objects crafted from cat hair would pique our cat’s interest to the max! 🙂 It is a sweet way to memorialize them though.
Thanks for sharing this! Have you tried any of the projects yet?
I haven’t tried any of the projects but I am thinking of doing the book cover one maybe. Have to save the hair up first though.
That probably won’t take you long this time of year 🙂 It is a very unique idea. I can see the cat’s faces now watching you….
This is true. They both are shedding like crazy right now.
I love that she features the cats that made the project possible, that’s so sweet. But crafting out of cat hair? That’s not something I’d ever contemplated before!
Have a lovely weekend 🙂
xx
Yeah, it was the first time I’ve seen crafting from cat hair too. I saw the book on an Amazon search so was curious and checked it out from the library. It’s pretty cool though.
HOpe you’re having a great week!
That is pretty cool, we all get brushed here and have enough brush furs to build a life size kitten!
That would be cool — you all could have little cathair mittens to play paw puppets with
I know someone who did something like this. I not sure I like the idea–haven’t made up my mind!
As long as people are just brushing their cats the same amount as usual to keep the fur, I think it’s cool. I’d be worried if someone tried to make a business of it because then the cats might get overbrushed.
The professional cat groomers would be good supply source. I think people would only want something from their own cat.Memorial pieces might be desirable.
I think most people would want something only from their own cat. But I could see some crafters might like it from any cat and soft and a renewable resource. I think they would be in a minority though.
I believe, Mary, I have seen cat hair items in general for sale somewhere, but I forget where. . . What day is it anyway?
Today is Feline Friday!
My cat loves to be brushed. This was a great post for Feline Friday, but I am not gathering/keeping Cleos gray hair!
I wonder what Cleo would think if she smelled a finger puppet and it smelled just like herself. The author had a lot of help with the fur — several families would give her their cat fur. I think it takes a long time to collect it with just one or two cats but the crafts are cute.
How fun and how wonderful to have What a lovely keepsake after they go to the bridge. Sure wish I would have thought of this with our Little Bit.
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Have a purrfect Feline Friday and weekend. My best to your mom. ♥
I agree with you. It would be cool to have a journal to sketch cats in (although since i haven’t sketched in decades, I’d be afraid of what they looked like, lol)
Love your Feline Friday blog hop, hope you’re having a great week.