After spending most of Thursday exploring Folksy.com (and lovingly fussing over my shop like a mother hen!), I got up at 7am on Saturday to get down to some proper crafting. I made this pair of Spotty Cats as a present for my good friend Jo's 30th birthday.The tall cat is pretty large by my standards - he's 6cm tall and 2.5cm wide. The small cat is 3.5cm tall and 3cm wide (he's rather chubby!)
I used a sapphire Fimo Effect clay for the tall cat, and a deep fuschia for the small one. After making the body, I rolled out a thin sheet of the fuschia clay and cut out over 30 small circles. I applied these carefully to the body and then rolled it to make sure the circles were all properly incorporated and bedded in. I repeated the process in reverse with the small cat, and once they were baked, I applied a coat of satin varnish. This really brings out the metallic sheen of the blue clay, and adds an extra layer of protection. 
After experimenting with rolling cut out shapes onto the clay body, I tried the true inlay method, where I cut out the shape I was going to insert, cleared out all the clay, and then placed the new shape to match. This was painstaking work, hence the rather small number of hearts on this cat (also 4.5cm tall). I also inserted a pink heart in each ear, although it's a little hard to see this in the photograph.
