Crafting With Cat Hair
Cute Handicrafts To Make With Your Cat
Author: Kaori Tsutaya
Publication Date: October 11, 2011
ISBN Number: 978-1-59474-525-6
Are you a crafter seeking innovative ideas for your next crafting project? Are you a cat lover looking for new ways to demonstrate how much you love your favorite feline?
If so, then Crafting With Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya is right up your alley!
Crafting With Cat Hair is easily the most unusual crafting book I’ve ever come across. In this book, Tsutaya shares her creativity through 10 easy craft projects – all which are made, in part, from the shed fur of cats!
Now I know that the idea of crafting with cat fur will sound strange to many of you. To be honest, although I live with two huge fur balls, I don’t see myself making feline finger puppets out of Legend’s and Tsunami’s hair anytime soon! However, if you are intrigued by unusual, out-of-the-box projects, Tsutaya makes an excellent case for why crafting with cat hair isn’t as hair-brained a scheme as you might think!
Tsutaya emphasizes the eco-friendly benefits of cat-crafting, and provides lots of great tips for caring for your cat throughout the book. She shows how traditional crafting felt is made from sheep’s wool, and how her projects simply substitute the wool with the shed fur. Although some of the projects sound like they would require a lot of cat fur – in actuality, the larger projects incorporate a small design that is decorated with cat fur, so the quantities of fur required to complete the projects are reasonable. All of the cat hair collected for the projects comes from regular brushing and grooming, so in the end, the bond between you and your cat increases as a result of your crafting!
All in all, I found Tsutaya’s book quite charming. She does a nice job of blending crafting projects with cat care tips. I particularly enjoyed meeting all of the cats who contributed to the projects at the end of the book.
This is the perfect gift for yourself and your crafty, cat-loving friends!
More Great Resources
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book from Quirk Books for review. I did not receive any form of monetary compensation and was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Well, it’s certainly different. I just don’t think I’d have the patience.
It’s not that I don’t have enough hair around here to make a life size finger puppet, but I just am not sure it is a craft for me! I think it is fascinating and love that you posted about it, even though I would not do the craft, I would LOVE to read the book, curiosity has me by it’s grips
Carol
never would i have thought of this!!
what a clever idea!!..i have 3 cats..pity this wasn’t around when we had 12!!! think of the crafting i could have done!!
I have 6 cats. This really interests me, but IDK if I want to play with that shedded fur or not! LOL!
Stopping by from the blog hop!
*Come link up at my linky party!! 🙂
Wow, that’s pretty cool! We have six cats (two long-haired) so plenty of hair but my attempts at crafts always seem to go a bit wrong so I’d probably end up with some very strange results. Great idea though.
It is really weird to think about using cat hair to craft, but I guess it is like recycling. It would be interesting to peruse this book.
Following you from Finding New Friends blog hop!
http://attackofthehungrymonster.blogspot.com/
I have a friend who had a wall tapestry made which incorporated the hair of her departed kitty…..I thought it was an interesting idea but have not really considered saving clumps of Buddy and Holly’s fur for a project. This book sounds interesting……
Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for linking up today to our blog hop, Love U! and I have been following but while the list is still small and manageable, I wanted to take the time to say thanks! Have a great week!
Mary@http://www.mmbearcupoftea.com
A great review of this quirky little book. I, too, was pleasantly surprised at how clever and beautifully put together this book is. Definitely charming and a perfect gift for crafty cat lovers!
Jenn/Rook No. 17
Thanks for sharing both the lovely photos of your cats and the information on the crafting with cat hair book. In addition to three cats, we have two dogs…one of which is a husky. Since we live in Florida, he seems to shed all the time. I need to investigate this process :>
Wow-this is quite different.
I used to mix our cats’ fur with wool and spin them together years ago before I left home – we had 2 white Persian cats that used to be very generous with their fur. Just recently I’ve been thinking of doing the same again, as I recently bought a Furminator (has to be the best cat comb in the world!!) and both kitties simply adore it – it’s the first thing I’ve discovered to get Phoebe to sit still on my lap, the fidgetty kitty! I’m saving their groomings. My legs probably aren’t up to my spinning wheel at the moment but one day maybe! Meantime, I think this book is worth checking out! It sounds quirky and fun and right up my street! Thanks for sharing.
Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
says:
We use the Furminator too! 🙂
All linked up and following you!!!
coming over from alexa blog hop!!! did an alexa review for you as well!
Thanks
http://www.africa18.wordpress.com
Sounds like such a unique book! I never would have thought crafting with cat hair was possible.
Wow that’s crazy! I think I remember seeing a book on crafting with dog hair on Awful Library Books – as one that you should definitely weed from your collection.
This sounds neat! I’m a new follower from the Social Parade hop 🙂
Amy aka (Mimi)
following you now, can you do the same for me?
Thanks.
Hi, I’m a new follower from not so moody monday. I’d love it if you followed back.
Your cat’s are so cute!
I’m all for repurposing and upcycling….I guess cat hair would work….;) Very interesting. I’m stopping by from the Alexa hop.
From the looks of it, your cats give you a lot of material to work with!
At first, I was a little bit weirded out by the idea of this book (and I think a lot of my readers were too, judging by the comments I got). But the more you sit with the idea, the more logical it seems. It’s not much different than using other animal fur or feathers to make things. And how much more eco-friendly can you get? You’re using something that would just get thrown away anyway.
We’re not allowed pets where we live and it’s so sad. 🙁 . I love animals, but I have to say, their hair holds less regard 😉 X
hey there, cruisin thru via the Alexa Blog Hop and I followed you via GFC. Hoping you can come back by at http://lovingthefamlife.blogspot.com/
Thanks for having me,
Cathi-Loving the Family Life:)
HI! I adore all the cat features you have,I am following you now. I have a great giveaway for cats on my blog also! I am playing Blog Tag…YOUR IT!, tag me back at:
and &Twitter@bloggityblogg
I would never have thought of this in a million years although I have a dog who sheds enough to cover a lot of cats in sweaters. What an idea. Do you think your cat would wear a dog hair shirt?
While crafting with cat hair is a bit beyond me, I have used their fur to make cat toys for quite a while now. I collect the hair I brush from them and when there’s enough to compact down into a nice sized ball I roll it in my hands, applying a bit of pressure. The heat from my hands, coupled with the pressure felts the fur, then it’s just a matter of tossing them their new cat scented toy. I also “steep” them in a jar of dried cat nip for a quite hilarious effect. Cheap, sustainable and fun-filled….
Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
says:
Cool – it looks like you are already applying some of the techniques in Kaori’s book! You should check it out – you may actually find that you would enjoy this one! 🙂
LOL… I own the book. It’s how I found you. 🙂
Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
says:
Oh, how cool! How do your cats like playing with the toys you make them?
What I really want to do is invent a car that runs on cat hair. I could retire rich and happy (in a mansion surrounded by cats).