Cattastic Crafts: DIY Project for Cats and Cat People by Mariko Ishikawa
My rating: 3/5 cats
WELCOME TO NOVEMBER PROJECT!
NOVEMBER PROJECT IS OVER!
and late to your doorstep – i apologize.
is maybe hubris to do a cat project when the cat in my life has just been diagnosed with cancer. i considered doing a different project, but then i thought “sheeeeeeeit – if she’s going out, she’s going to go out with a bang of internet ‘look at me’s’,” so here we are. i’m gonna make stuff for her, and if she’s not feeling too unwell, she’s gonna participate/appreciate/ignore it as she sees fit.
which is her prerogative as a cat, sick or not sick.
so let’s get to it.
and while we’re here, i might as well post the link to where i am shamelessly begging for financial assistance with maggie’s expensive health care, with heartfelt thanks to all who have already contributed so generously:
https://www.gofundme.com/maggie-needs…
and now – project!
CRINKLE CRITTERS 1
here, you take a bunch of bags and turn them into a little catface:
and then you watch maggie go wild for it!
okay, maybe not wild, but she sort of acknowledged that there was something there displacing space. and what i learned from the other maggie-project, when she wasn’t even a little ill, is that maggie just isn’t into material things. i will try to break down her indifference.
*while maggie continues to stubbornly ignore all the new toys i have made for her, please enjoy this drawing of my attempts to amuse her.
FINGER TEASERS
this stuff:
makes these!
and they will stalk her until she is ready to play…
DO YOU LOVE US??
completely shunned. not cool. maggie. not cool.
CAT NAP PILLOWS
turns into:
and are met with as much enthusiasm as anything else i have made for her
at first – startled!
moderate interest
catnip gives this some extra pull, but it’s medium-attention at best
i’ll keep trying….
FINGER TEASERS 2
ta-daaaa!!
now where’s that cat at??
say hello to my fingies!!
gentle fingie caresses
sneak attack
and an escape
CRINKLE CRITTERS 2
becomes
and no one even notices
we interrupt your grooming to bring you CRINKLE CRITTERS!
she is just completely unimpressed
later, this happened, which i am counting as an unqualified success
*i may need to switch focus for this project. maggie is not being a cooperative cat.
TISSUE BOX COZY
okay, trying something different and making something from the section of the book designated for “cat people” rather than cat-cats, since SOMEONE is being very picky about what she will and will not play with.
makes
and look at how much she loves it!
maybe she will like it more once the tissues are accessible
or if i put her food bowl near it
yup, works every time…
i’m sorry she’s not being more of a champ this time ’round…
TINFOIL TEASERS
makes
but first, a word. many of the directions in this book are ungreat. the tissue box one, for example, was both unclear and inaccurate and the final product came out fine, but not documented here was the first attempt; during which i wasted a whole ‘nother dish towel after it endured many hours of sewing, cursing, ripping out sewing, starting again, sewing, cursing, ripping out sewing until the towel was ruined beyond repair. (thank you, 2 for a dollar package of towels from dollar tree! i was very glad to have that spare on hand!)
and this one was supposed to be a colorful toy, where aluminum foil was made pretty with markers
and then rolled into balls. i thought i was using permanent markers, but at any rate, the color slicked right off when balls were formed, absorbing into my hands and making them less pretty than shiny colored balls would have been
so i said ‘forget you, colors!’ and went with plain, classy silver
i think maggie would have preferred the colored balls. cuz she certainly didn’t give a hoot for these!
LOOK AT THE PRETTIES, MAGGIE!
she also did not like being a pretty may princess
she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep but i know she was just faking
and before anyone gives me grief for bothering a poor sick cat – know that she is not this weak and pathetic looking every morning from 1-4 am, when she delightedly shreds my leather ottoman and grins at me when i get up to feed her every hour on the hour.
she just hates crafts all of a sudden. which i guess is an underreported side effect of chemo.
but she can be near them:
GHOST HAT
makes
with little ear-holes!
she didn’t mind smelling it
but wearing it? that was another matter.
she endured it, but she gave me a very baleful look
*she had a couple of bad days after this, so i might have to pause for a minute. not bad-bad, but sleepy and a little unwell. i do not like that she has to be on meds. i’m hoping that this is temporary until she adjusts, and i don’t wanna make it worse by making her wear hats.
okay, we were only able to do one more, which is a shame, since there were a lot of things in this book i was looking forward to making for her.
FAN-TASTIC TEASER
makes
with dangles!
and look at all the ways she loves it!
this one she actually did play with a little, but i never got it on camera. and yes – i used a flyswatter instead of the fan the recipe called for, because apparently no one sells fans in october even when the temperature feels more like july. i knoooow i could have gotten one in chinatown, but i wasn’t about to make a special trip to go buy a fan that there was a good chance she wouldn’t even sniff at.
so, yeah – not the most successful project, and it was foolishly optimistic of me to try to cheer up a sick cat with such geegaws. BUT, in knock-on-wood news, she’s been really good the past couple of days, after a few bad days in a row around thanksgiving. she seems like my old maggie-goose, and even played ribbon with me in a really energetic way. and honestly, i wouldn’t put it past her to have been faking it this whole time just to get out of crafting, the clever girl…
there are other things i will make from this book, but they will be of the “here’s a gift for you, human!” variety and not the “play with this crinkly thing, cat!” chapters.
the book gets three stars cats because some of the directions were unclear.
the project gets three stars cats because of poor craft-hostage kitty.
i get one star cat because i’m terrible at things.
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