The Alternative Legal Profession

16th August 2011

It took me quite a while to pluck up the courage to make some creatures decked out in the garb of my former profession, but once they started appearing, there was no stopping them!

First up is Mortimer the Barrister Mouse, whose inspiration is Rumpole of the Bailey. Standing at about 3.5cm tall, his diminutive stature is no indication of his prowess in the courts.

Barrister Cat and Anaesthetist Cat Tree Decorations (b.15 December 2009)

I received another commission this week from another former colleague of mine, who had seen Springbok Cat and wanted to know if I could make up a couple of tree decorations for her grown children based on their occupations. And I was delighted to do so!

This is the third Barrister Cat I've made up, and each one has had a very different demeanour - I love the different characters which show up each time! I have to say that I had certain misgivings about putting a screw eye top pin into his barrister's wig, but in the end, by using a tiny silver hook with white organza ribbon, I don't think it looks to intrusive. It just goes to show that any of my designs can be adapted to a tree decoration, as long as I'm willing to impale the head with a hook!

The second request was for an Anaesthetist Cat tree decoration. This was a little more challenging, but I based him on Surgeon Cat (as yet only seen on Facebook - I consider him as a bit of a work-in-progress).  However, I decided to go with blue scrubs this time, which I made up by mixing turquoise with white to get the right shade. I also decided to make more of the surgical mask, and I think that adding the piping to the edges does make it more realistic (or as realistic as a cat in surgical scrubs can be!) Having two sets of ties coming from the mask also helps to make it more realistic, although I used the thinnest setting on the clay gun which meant tying the knots at the back was rather fiddly!

I completed the look by making up double thickness white paws - I think they look rather like a pair of clogs. I'm pleased to report that my colleague was suitably delighted with both characters!

I'm going to develop both these character cats over Christmas. For the Barrister Cat, I'm going to include a brief (pile of papers) tied up in pink ribbon, and there's so much scope for a whole range of specialty medical profession cats!

Barrister Cat (b.17 November 2009)

Well, it had to happen one day. All that legal training has seeped into my creativity, and I could resist no longer.

And so, my learned friends, may it please the Court to call Barrister Cat to the stand. He has been in my imagination for some time now, and after reminding myself of how a barrister's wig is constructed, I decided to use two different thicknesses of extruded white clay to create it. I also played around with doing a full white collar (they tend to have starched points too), but in the end, less was definitely more.

Barrister Cat stands at about 4cm tall, and after straying into the realms of larger cats (for example the Army Cats seemed to want to be bigger than usual), this was a welcome to return to daintier proportions. The most challenging part of the design was keeping the white clay pristine when it was brought into contact with the black clay - there wasn't much room for trial and error (pun entirely intended)!

I am toying with the idea of a Judge Cat with red robes and a more elaborate wig, and that has also got me thinking about period character cats - as always, watch this space!