After the huge hit with our po-jama dogs, we were inundated with requests to create cats. I mean, who can resist those sweet furry felines, right?

We decided to make them smaller than the dogs, cuter and perfect for wearing.

Handling those tiny kitties proved to be quite the challenge. Fragile at every stage, more than a few ended up in the scrap bag. Luckily, clay has nine lives too. The broken ones will get reincarnated in a mug, a bowl, or a bothy!

After the have thoroughly dried, they are loaded in the kiln to be bisque fired at 1000°Celcius after which they will be glazed individually.

It’s a thrill to never really knowing what it will look like once fired. And unlike what the label may say, “what you see, is what you get”, no, it isn’t. Not really! When different colours dry as shades of white, it requires concentration to remember which dot is which colour. At my age, any distraction (phone, mail delivery, a dog in need of relief, ) is enough to forget what I was doing. The outcome can be hilarious and makes it super exciting to open a glaze kiln. Magic every single time!

Come firing time, the pieces make the perilous journey from our drying rack, through the house… into the kiln. So many things can and do go wrong. A stumble across the path, a knock against the kiln bricks, a drop from height, a hefty hand. 

After a glaze firing at 1220 degrees Celcius and last sanding to give them that smooth finish on the back, when they survive, they look like this:

I am pleased to say that we do not abandon our less fortunate ones!   Just like we rescue real life furries, we caringly nurse the broken limbs and let them join the pack of mishaps on our happy wall. They’re in good company!

We all need pets in our lives, right? and if for some reason, a real animal is not an option, why not adopt a ceramic one?

😻🐾Furry greetings 🐾🐶

Chris