Cat Jewelry for Three Decades!
I can hardly believe that I’ve been creating cat jewelry for so many years. But by now, making cat pins, cat earrings and cat necklaces is a normal part of my life. Way back in 1983, when I first started as an artist, my cat jewelry line was born.
When I was 12 years old, my very first real kitty arrived. It was a bedraggled little tabby orphan, which I adopted instead of the lovely white angora kitten my mother wanted me to have, and had already paid for with a beautiful portrait of one of the breeder’s cats. (My mom was a fine artist)
This seems typical of me. I never did go along with the accepted!
I know Mom’s professionalism as an artist influenced my eventual career, even though our paths were quite different. But I think she would be happy with all the cat jewelry I’ve created since then. Mom was an animal lover as well.
In fact, that little bedraggled tabby cat became Mom’s cat when I moved away at the age of 18. And “Pif” lived for 22 years! Mom thought she was long-lived because of the paint water she drank. (Mom continued to work as an artist for many years, and rinsed her water color brushes out in a big vase of fresh water which Pif loved to lap up.)
Different Kinds of Cat Jewelry
I have so many different kinds of cat jewelry now. Lots of fat cats, but also some tuxedo kitties and other skinny cats. I love how cats are all over the rainbow as far as color and pattern goes. (I just can’t help looking at them as an artist)
Here are some of the playful cat jewelry designs I’ve come up with in recent years:
• Tuxedo cats
• Calico cats
• Purple cats (really!)
• Brown cats
• Grey and white cats
• Solid grey cats
• Black Cats
• Pewter cats
The fat cats have a few designs representing them:
• Topaz colored brown fat cats
• Multi colored fat cats
• Pewter fat cats
I wonder if I haven’t gone a little overboard on the dog jewelry at the expense of the cat jewelry. But I think eventually the cats will catch up. Or maybe I’m just dreaming! There are so many more dog breeds than cat breeds. And all the dogs look so completely different from each other.
Do You Consider yourself a dog lover or a cat lover?
Have you noticed that dog lovers often want their breed in a piece of wearable art? Not that I blame them! But cat lovers, on the other hand, seem to enjoy wearing all sorts of cat jewelry. This is good for me, but also kind of interesting.
When I choose which jewelry to put on, I usually go by what outfit I’m wearing that particular day. And since I have so many different designs, I opt for a Magic Zoo piece to wear nine times out of 10. This is a very nice benefit of being a jewelry artist!
By the way, quite often it’s cat jewelry I decide to wear.
Fat Cats or Skinny Cats?
Fat cats are sort of funny, don’t you think? True, they may not be as healthy as their svelte cousins, but they do have a sort of clown-like appeal.
Now skinny cats…I do have a lot more of them. Persian cats don’t count as fat cats or skinny cats, but those I them too.
Which would you like to see more of? Is there a special cat breed that you think would make a nice bit of cat jewelry? I would love to hear from you. After all, I design year round, and you never know when I may take you up on a suggestion!