New Mexican Icons (as Cats) for My Cat Days of the Dead Altar
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When I made my first Days of the Dead Cats Altar a couple of years ago, I didn't have any way to bake the polymer clay from which I made my little cat versions of famous Mexican female icons. Now I do so I resculpted all three figures. I've had Fur-ida up on the index page for some time. The other day I made La Cat-rina (now on the index page) who has a black body with a superimposed sugar skull cat face, and an exoskeleton underneath an unbaked clay purple dress. She also has a great violet hat I made her from clay with marigolds and roses and feathers, glitter glue jewelry on her wrists, ankles and tail, (and one claw. No need to overaccessorize) and bead necklaces. Her boa is made of eyelash yarn in varigated pinks, purples and corals and she carries a tasteful bouquet of calla lilies.
The Fur-kin of Guadalupe is a pure white cat with a saintly long-suffering expression as she looks down at the little gold cat angel floating on the cloud at her feet (a Kirk's Folly charm from an old necklace). Her green veil is studded with golden stars and trimmed with gold glitter glue. Her whiskers are gold too. Behind her is her halo of gold clay with red and gold glitter-glue and a rick-rack of extruded red and yellow clay. She is sitting on a can lid covered with blue and white clay trimmed with silver glitter blue to symbolize the clouds and at her paws are roses, which are, I'm told, another of Guadalupe's symbols. I tried to get a good close-up of her but with uncatly but rather saintly modesty she refuses all attempts to do so.
Unfortunately, I don't think I now have the energy to put the whole altar back together in time for Nov. 1 but if neither I nor my cats break these before next year I'll do a proper one then.
These and the necklace I made my friend Charley are the first polymer clay projects I've done.
All images and patterns © copyright 2004 Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. All rights reserved.