Fabric Dying

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The Chairman's letterhead complete with his photo and pawprint.

We already know the Kreatrix's marbles have been missing for a long time.

The Kreatrix flat out on her back surrounded by papers, a calculator, a bottle of Advil and the cat doll community.

And...

Cat dolls are sitting in front of an indoor tepee. All we see of the Kreatrix is her legs sticking out.

But now it seems she's passed this disease on to some of my newest community members.

She brought home this hand-dyed fabric from her friend, a well-known tapestry and textile artist, and presented it to me with a flourish:

Behold...I bring you marbled fabric.

catberrytails_marblefabric2
Hand marbled raw silk
Beautiful hand-dyed marbled fabric on raw silk.
Hand marbled raw silk

So if I understand correctly...her friend Lynda lost her marbles on some expensive raw silk fabric. AND. It's one-of-a-kind, original, yadda yadda yadda.

Ok. It's pretty. But I'm not so sure about people losing their marbles just for the sake of my World Domination plan. Hasn't the world lost enough of its marbles? Seriously, humans.

CAN WE PLEASE GO OUT AND PICK UP OUR MARBLES AND PUT THEM BACK WHERE THEY BELONG???

Sheesh.

So here's the result of people losing their marbles.

Two very cute cats seated with crossed legs. They are made from raw silk marbled fabric.
Seated cat measure 12.5" tall.

So how did marble tossing by humans create these fine chaps but cause so much chaos elsewhere in the world?

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU THROW YOUR MARBLES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?!!!

Dr.  Rascal put Jellybean and Popcorn (don't ask) through the initiation ceremony where they learn how to pose and how to understand humans. You heard correctly.

Dr. Rascal is seated with two other cats. They appear to be deep in conversation.

Jellybean in the Catberry Tails official portrait:

Adorable soft sculpture cat made of hand marbled fabric is seated in wicker chair.
Jellybean is approximately 22" tall (feet to ear tip)

Here is Popcorn from the back.

catberrytails_marblecatback
As shown here, seated height: 12.5" tall

The good news is Jellybean went to a forever home in Boise, Idaho! World Domination is panning out nicely! And Jellybean's new family emailed us some photographs!

Soft sculpture cat sits with a real life black cat.

Jellybean seems to be enjoying his new real live cats named Blackie and Periwinkle.

A real life cat gives Jellybean a sideways look.

Gotta admit, Periwinkle up there seems kinda skeptical about Jellybean. Not to worry. Dr. Rascal trained Jellybean on how to win EVERYONE over.

So I'm off to the backyard where I'm going to practice throwing some marbles around and see what I come up with.

Extreme closeup of the Chairman's face.

Please pick yours up after you've tossed them...no littering, humans!

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The Chairman's letterhead complete with his photo and pawprint.

They're Here! Our New Soft Sculpture Cats!

At looooong last, the Kreatrix wants me to introduce you to our newest Happiness Minions!

Meet Chester

Black cat with tan stripes. Fabric was dyed using the shibori technique and discharge printing.

Chester was created by the Kreatrix using a mysterious ancient technique of fabric dying called Arashi Shibori. Remember the whole pole dancing bit from the previous post? Welp...Chester wrapped himself around a pole and Kreatrix did her magic.

Meet Cooper

A soft sculpture cat made from an upcycled mans suit. His name is Cooper.

If Cooper looks reminiscent of a man's suit, then you're smarter than you think. Kreatrix calls this technique upcycled. I call it Uptown Funk.

Meet Chloe

Soft Sculpture cat made from raw silk and dyed using a Shabori technique that involves fabric folding and clamping.

Chloe is created from hand dyed raw silk using a magic method called Itajime Shibori. Kreatrix says it involves folding fabric and using special clamps. (Chloe makes me purr but don't tell Ginger.)

Meet Sami

A soft sculpture cat made from upcycled clothing. He is grey and has an adorable ivory belly patch.

Sami is one of the upcycle gang and began life as a stretchy man's shirt. Nowadays Sami is lookin' pretty smokin' and has a very cool belly patch!

Meet Sweetpea

Sweetpea, a soft sculpture cat made from Raw Silk dyed using the Arashi Shabori technique.

Sweetpea is another one of our pole dancers (Kreatrix doesn't think I should describe it this way). Sweetpea is 100% Raw Silk and hand dyed in the Arashi Shibori style. Hubba hubba.

Meet Toni

An orange tabby soft sculpture cat made from silk velvet and dyed using the Shabori technique.

Toni is quite the orange tabby tiger! Made from silk velvet and also a pole dancer using the Arashi Shibori technique, Toni is quite soft and very easy on the eyes!

There's more folks but these are the 6 happiness minions that are making the rounds with the Kreatrix. A gallery back East is already starting to carry some of my gang!  More details and photos coming soon.

And now for a very rare and illusive photo of the Kreatrix. I'm told this is called a PR Shot. Whatever. Kreatrix doesn't like her photo taken. EVER. So she may or may not have been blotto when she actually let the Professor take this picture.

The creator of Catberry Tails poses with the Chairman and numberous soft sculpture cats.

Stay tuned!

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The Chairman's letterhead complete with his photo and pawprint.A Lesson in "Things Are Not As They Seem"

Kreatrix likes horses, so I asked her if I could have one.

Voila!

The Chairman, whimsical cat doll, sits on a large plastic toy horse in a sunny back yard.

There's one problem. I can't make it move. Where's the button? I mean, I look cool and all but shouldn't this thing move forward?

So Kreatrix is taking this photo and, not wanting to give away my complete ignorance when it comes to horses, I quietly remarked

He's a bit lazy...doesn't seem up to going for a ride today.

Kreatrix gets this sweet look on her face like she feels just a little sorry for me. She says

Aww. Here, let me help.

She comes up behind me, wraps her hands under the horses belly, makes him levitate inches above the ground, and says in my ear

cloppity clop, clop, cloppity clop, clop...

She sets me down six feet further and takes this picture.

The Chairman on his toy horse not looking happy at all.

I exclaimed loudly

I wasn't born yesterday, ya know!!

Her sweet reply?

I know exactly when you were born. I made you.

But wait, there's more! She told me several weeks ago she was taking classes with someone named Shibori and is learning to Pole Dance and is going to die!

Well, well, well...I Googled Pole Dance and I was furious with her when she returned home. Not nice, Kreatrix. Very uncool.

Wait for it.

She gets that same darn sweet "so-sorry-for-you" expression and shows me this photograph.

Silk velvet fabric wrapped and scrunched on a large pole in preparation for Shibori method of dying fabric.

I did NOT calm down because I thought she was showing me what she wore while - you know - doing her dancey routine.

I. Am. So. Lame.

This is fabric she is learning to dye (not die) in a technique called Shibori that involves pole wrapping NOT pole dancing.

Here is what her "costume" looked like once she dyed it.

Shibori pole dyed silk velvet looks very much like an orange tabby cat.

The good news is, she's making my community out of this fabric!!! WOOT! Stay tuned for photos! That's silk velvet up there, folks. Very soft and cuddly.

Here's another style made by folding fabric and dying it.

Folded and clamped fabric ready to be put in a dye bath.

AND this, too!

More folded fabric ready to be dyed.

While nursing my wounded ego in the back yard with my lazy horse, I found this dude.

Whatcha think?

The Chairman is sitting on a large and colorful metal rooster.

The very nice lady who teaches Kreatrix how to do pole wrapping and dying (not die and not pole dance) can be found here and here. I am told she is a very wise and talented woman who has lived all over the world and imparts wisdom to students of all ages!