Valentine Kitten (b.6 January 2010)

The other day I found out that UK Handmade were planning a new gift guide for Valentine's Day. Now, some of you may remember that Wee Horses were featured in the UK Handmade Gift Guide, released just before Christmas, and I have been keen to repeat the experience because it was such a well-made publication.

And so I thought about what sort of Valentine's gift I could make, and Valentine Kitten was born!

Valentine Kitten has four paws, rather than the normal (for me) two paws. I think the precedent for this was set when I made Hurty Paw Cat, who had three paws on show and a very plaintive expression. I wanted to incorporate a heart in the Valentine design, and then it came to me - a wee kitten holding or offering a large heart!

I made the heart first by cutting a double thickness of red metallic clay with a heart cutter. Then I had to decide on what colour the cats should be, and I took my lead from Santa Cats - because of the red hat, more natural colours worked best, and I adopted the same principle with these Kittens.

As with all my wee creatures, I have used liquid polymer clay to fix the paws and the heart to the body, which creates a very strong bond. A coat of satin varnish really brings out the metallic sheen of the heart. He stands 4cm tall.

I'll be listing these on Folksy and Etsy soon for £5 ($8) plus postage - I'll let you know as soon as they're up there! And if you'd like to order any in the meantime, just drop me a line!

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