An ode to my first kitten

I wanted to make something small and sweet, a little reminder of my cat, Kitsune. I had some polymer clay I keep meaning to play with and figured now was as good a time as any. I looked through my cupboard of art supplies which is full of things that look interesting and I don’t have a use for yet, or old mementos and second hand things I’ve bought for reuse. I found some tiny box frames which always inspire me but never enough to do anything about. This time was different. They looked perfect for some 3D elements.

Next to the drawing board. I knew I wanted kitsune in the frame, and I thought him in the garden was a good idea. He loved it, smelling flowers and watching the birds and butterflies. He deserves an eternal garden spot. I thought including all the flowers and plants we have in our garden would be nice. Bougainvillia, black eyed suzies, succulents, blue sage and lavendar. I draw them often.

I sketched a few different body shapes to see what would work, and settled on a simple seated pose with his tail covering his toes. His most common. So regal. I did some vague sketches of where the plants would go, but I knew I’d have to wing it because I wasn’t sure how small I’d be able to sculpt yet. It’s been a while since I’ve worked in Polymer clay and it was always a nightmare. Why did I choose to use it, you ask? Good question, I’d like the answer too.

I chose to keep Kitsune quite simple in the sculpt stage and paint in detail. I just wanted him sweet and fluffy. Basicall an egg shape, two triangle ears, a small round snoot and a huge tail sausage. Those are technical sculpting terms. The leaves and flowers were made from thin rolled out sausages cut into discs, then flattened, curled, twisted and stuck together. The thing with polymer clay is you can’t really… sculpt it. Smooth it out or texture it, or add any detail like you would in river clay. You kinda just have to make shapes that look right and stick them together.

I really liked his tail hanging over the edge of the frame, and it inspired me to add plants around the edge as well, even though my original idea was to fill the inside of the frame spilling out.

All the pieces had to be taken off the frame and put on a silicone mat for the oven baking. I had some clay left over so I made 3 teeny cat beans to represent my other cats.

I also tried making some worry stones, by pushing my thumb into a ball of clay and rounding the edges. I really liked these, they still have my finger print in the middle, and it feels nice to the touch.

The one has cat ears, obviously.

Necessary quality inspection after baking. Seeing as he nearly ate a piece I guess it was acceptable.

The painting begins.

I ended up choosing the cream frame instead of the green, which I think makes the colors pop more. The composition is also looking much better.

Here’s a little video showing what they look and feel like.

I’m not sure how anyone has a clean enough surface to work with polymer clay and not need to paint it. Especially in a studio! Notoriously full of random “stuff” on every counter. It picked up every bit of pigment, dirt and cat hair in existence. Which is a lot. Interestingly they’re more full of memories now.