Waking up with cats

Here comes a photo story who has no visible horses to see. It's just about one of my dolls, Kippura, and her cats Tumpula and Ryysis.

We start the story with a pic where Kippura seems to be putting her scarf on. Cats know what she is doing, where she is going to and when she comes back to home too. It's her workday. And cats really know that when their staff needs to leave the home for a day, they make it to be difficult as possible...

The old man, Tumpula, 16 years old, is yet only stretching when the more black young dude had already flied around...

...and is now demanding food.

"Hey two-legged rat, I said I WANT FOOOOD!!"

How much attention that scarf needs?

"Well, maybe she reacts if I stare."

"Wow she walks to the foodcups!"

Then Ryysis notices Tumpula, who is scratching something under the cover. Maybe going to fill a nice warm spot after the staff sat on it... Cats just love warm too much. Old ones yet more.

Ryysis has hyperactive imagination, and he sees Tumpula as a prey.

While Ryysis uses his adolescence energy to tease the old guy, Kippura spends a bit time to fill their foodcups.

Well... The bigger dose is for Ryysis, as he is younger, not castratized and needs more energy.

After his breakfast Ryysis spends some purring moment with Kippura, as every morning.

...until he realises that the staff really goes. "Noooooo you didn't stroke me enough yet!"

Kippura: "Ryysis, EVERY day, I come home after work. I can't be late or then I lose my job. Without job I can't buy food for you."

Then she closes the door after her, and the black cat yet stands on the bed.

"What she said - no job, no food? Do furries need work that cats can eat?!"

"...but it makes sense. I better do a cat's job, so I drop a ton of fur to Asko's bed. I love spying when he curses it."

But Tumpula just continued to sleep after his breakfast. It seems to be a bit too warm there.

Or then he just is too relaxed.

Ryysis clearly understood what Kippura told him. Still, not sure that he could not give same comments to her at the next morning.

I wonder how much things change when Kippura needs to move away from the house, as the official resident's girlfriend moves there later. The house just has no enough space for everyone...


Artistic info:
I didn't think this photo story could be that easy to create, as I took a lot of pics and many of them are not really a part of it.

Anyone wondering why I write the cat's replies in words, instead of using some 'meow's? Because of humor and knowledge about cat behavior. That didn't mean that he could have literally talked to Kippura, I just wrote in English what he meant when he meowed. Also, those newer Schleich cats often have really good expressions, who give them more personality and possibilities for funny stories.

Our Lauha.

Of course every cat staff (we are not owners, because cats own us) could like to stay home with cats instead of going to work... Because of cats.

Let's keep this as a celebration for cats. And clever cat people.

I apologize that Kippo has no trousers. I have no idea of how to make some.  

Third doll!

Today it happened... I got a third rider doll in scale 1:9. But this is a bit different from the typical, because this is not a Breyer doll. I didn't buy it or custom it - I made it by myself!

I know, he's not that good, and I even didn't wait it to be good. I only wanted to see if I really can make a doll. I think I could; after making this one for test, I know a bit more how to do and what. It's possible, at least, that I do not later use any tape to base a sculpt.

His materials are simple: metal wire, tape and black silk clay. I taped the wire armature just because I had nothing clever for that, and I don't understand humane anatomy that well yet that I could just splat the clay pieces and make shapes... I also can't wait, I have never that magical thing called patience, so I decided to do that way. Also the silk clay is not similar to anything else what people really use, so that explains the messy look.

After leaving him dry some hours, I glued some fabric to his limbs and tail to give him moving paws but no too difficult sculptings. That also made it possible to position the tail how I like! After gluing the limbs, I added him pawpads and nose color with a dark brown acrylic paint; inner ears I painted with some skin color only because I didn't want them to be one and same everywhere. And as this is a test doll only, yet, I didn't care that much how well he is made.

For eyes I had beads, what I painted. It was horrific as always, because I wanted them to move, but after some finishing I decided to glue them to their place.

After that, he was ready for some test ride with Sam (Cigar mold). (The photos I took about that ride are so deadly horrific in quality that I don't want to torture anyone's retinas with them. Enjoy.)

The doll really has wires in limbs, so they move and do not stay in one position forever, but I just didn't photograph him with hands open. 

He's a black Finnish farm cat. And I called him Juoru (rumor), now, although I had thought a name Walter too... But as he is Finnish, and one of the rider rats (Breyer CM doll) has a middle name Walther, I decided not to call him that then.

Waiting for eyes to dry.

Yet waiting for eyes to dry... And possibly waiting for pawpads to get painted.

Not the most cat-like cat of me, but for a first doll it's almost OK.

He holds reins better than the Breyer CM dolls I have.

The cheek fur is meant to look similar to fluffy cat cheeks I see often at home.

Lauha has very fluffy, round cheeks todays.

As you see from the photos, I made him a scarf... Quickly and badly, but that's better than seeing his clay-less neck. I also do not like what his eyes look, because of the less well planned creating (meant to be moving, and then decided to glue), BUT I think that if I stay gluing eyes with the future dolls, then I have no problem with that anymore. One doll with ugly eyes is OK, if others are better.

I'm a cat person. That is why I made a cat. Another reason was my childhood, because I have yet my childhood toy horses here, and we always played (and drew) their handlers to be cats. Juoru was meant to be in 1:12 scale, but he got to be too tall and large at all, so he's traditional scale. Not bad still, one cat with rats is just nice for me. And now I know yet better that I CAN make a rider doll for my classics too. A cat doll. Because I have some nicer horses and tack to photograph.

And oh dääämn how long time ago I sculpted a cat! Nothing easy this time, I almost gave him a rat head... Thehe. Have planned to sculpt just normal cats from some clay (not silk clay) for a while now, but I haven't started. I should. Also customizing Schleich cats seems to be a nice idea.

Juoru is yet a bit unfinished, but as he is already that well and has face and working body, I am not going to hurry. He needs quickly something to hide his torso, and I wish he could also get more meat to there as he looks too anorectic to me yet (I don't want cats to be thin! They need muscle!). And to hide that lack of body, and my mistakes (...), I tried to make a stupid little red cloth for him BECAUSE I have no idea of how clothes are made... Blll. It didn't work, but well, now he wears it before getting anything clever, and because as a cat he 'has' a fur coat... And for the most important, he is at stables with my rider rats, who DO have clothes. Why one should not have, then? Cats do not belong alone to Finnish nature at wintertime although they have coat, the weather can be simply too cold. (It's illegal to leave your cat run freely!)

Anyway, get some photos of these three being together! Asko and Juoru seemingly have already good moment, they discuss about riding. Omar then feels that he is not welcomed to the talk and just rolls eyes and moves randomly his legs as he has yet energy to use, after too less riding.

From left: Omar, Asko, Juoru.

My dolls surely are not the most well made or the most beautiful at all, but I think they are still personalities and live their own life... Like seen in those photos: After testing his riding skills, I just wanted to put Juoru to sit to the photography studio's edge before coming here to my computer, but then I got an idea to set Asko and Omar there too. And I didn't bother to move Omar's eyes, so he didn't talk with the others then. Asko had his hands nicely positioned, and I had carefully moved Juoru's face that he could talk to the dumbo guy. For me the result looks just nice enough not to photograph.

Hmm, my work room is mostly cat-free area, and I keep the door closed. That's how my dolls can sit and lay everywhere they want, and I can leave my projects to the table that I can easily continue to them when the time is right. If the door could be always open... Then the 1:1 cats could love to roam there and taste everything - everything dangerous - and ruin my dolls, custom models, tack and so on. And just throw things down from the tables and shelves, aagh! I'm always scared that cats harm themselves.

But yea, that's it now! I have been in some model horse cloud recently, resculpted a lot, so I really have things to publish here too, but for first I should write them and and... Yee.